Comments on: Rude Mechanicals Two No Gentlemen of Verona

By: Mari Davis

Mari Davis — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 02:26:44 +0000

Rachel,
Thank you so much for the clarification. Either I’m thick-skulled enough that I just didn’t get it, or it was not conveyed effectively on the front end. Whatever the case may be, you ladies did what you were supposed to do and you played your parts well.
Your portrayal of Thurio was highly amusing. I just realized that I failed to mention in my review (I’m sorry!) that my favorite Thurio moment was during “What Is Silvia?” when you went nuts with the triangle. I laugh again just thinking about it!
I also failed to mention Nell Codner (Duke). I liked her costume very much. It seemed the most authentic to me. Her scene with Valentine was very effective–it sticks out to me the most. Her portrayal of an angry father went a long way to rounding out her character and shaping the audience’s opinion of him.
Well done, ladies!

By: Calvin the Deeple

Calvin the Deeple — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:33:21 +0000

Why yes, I did steal the show now didn’t I? Thank you for noticing. Hugs and Kibbles to all.

By: Rachel Duda

Rachel Duda — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 01:57:50 +0000

First, I want to thank you so much for reviewing the show. It’s always great to get an objective view of our work, and you did a thorough job of it.

However, I wanted to clarify something. The women playing men weren’t supposed to be “convincing” as men. They were actually supposed to be WOMEN playing men. The idea behind the show is that the men had not returned yet from the war and the women decided to put on a show to raise morale.

That’s why none of the women (except me) had facial hair makeup. I added it as a personal character choice. I imagined that had Thurio actually existed, he may have tried to “emphasize” his masculinity somehow.

We wanted to audience to simply acknowledge that the actors wearing suits were supposed to be male and the actors wearing dresses were supposed to be female. When Julia disguised herself, she was, in fact, wearing a suit, but still had her lipstick on and didn’t tuck her hair into her cap the way the other “men” did.

I’m glad that it didn’t dampen your enjoyment, but I wanted to let you know where the show was coming from.

Thank you so much for coming!! 🙂

Rachel