Happy Birthday, Bill
EXIT PURSUED BY A BEAR
Learned Shakespearean scholars have written billions of words discussing every aspect of Shakespearean drama, and on this anniversary of the Bard (born 23 April 1564), no one expects me to join that hallowed group_ not that I delude myself that I am a scholar. However, a simple but ardent admirer of the man from Stratford-0n-Avon, I would like to share three little gems that I have picked up in the almost three-quarters of a century that I have been aware of him. Other readers would obviously have their own collection, and I, for one, would like to read them.
The most famous stage direction in the history of world drama comes from Winter’s Tale, about schemes and plots involving Sicilian princes. Shakespeare is very economical with stage directions, his idea being that a stage director who knows the play would know exactly what to do. However in that play, the instructions “Exit pursued by a bear,” appears. Interestingly in the thousands of productions that have been presented, the aforesaid bear has been an actor in a costume, but it seems that there have been instances of real bears appearing on stage.
The porter’s scene in Macbeth has often raised more than a chuckle on stage. Strangely, I have seen productions where the scene was deemed unnecessary and excised, but my view is that these little scenes form an integral part of the Shakespearean canon. The drunken porter imagining that he is responsible for the gate of hell, acts accordingly, and raises some hearty laughs. In one production I caught, the director was uncharacteristically daring, for as a rule few dare tamper with the text:
Porter: Knock, knock, knock …
Voice: Who’s there?
Porter: Duncan
Voice: Duncan who?
Porter: Dunc an disorderly.
My third gem comes from Julius Caesar. The conspirators Brutus and Cassius have exchanged bitter words; Mark Antony against whom they are fighting is drawing upon them. They must know that the end is nigh. Cassius is gone and Brutus is weary. He calls Lucius, and asks him to play something. The young servant sits down with his lute and plays a tune, but overcome by exhaustion he soon nods off. At this point Caesar’s ghost appears to Brutus and tells him he’ll see Brutus at Philippi. The conspirator shouts in fear, whereupon Lucius wakes up in a panic, and imagining he’s still playing says, “The strings my lord are false.”.
Happy birthday Will.
