Week 1 Session – Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor – 2 scenes – The Rehearsal Room [Video, Audio, and Transcript versions]

Juls Hoover

Hi there. I am Juls Hoover and this is the Working Actors Journey Rehearsal Room where we have the time to deeply explore just one scene. Over a month’s period of time, we will be stepping, I will be stepping in as guest host this month. While Nathan enjoys the first few weeks of being a new dad. Now I have the privilege of observing and learning from this month’s immensely talented company. And in just a moment, you will get a chance to meet them. It has been a true pleasure to be a part of this process myself. And just this past spring, I was lucky enough to act alongside Paul in Simline, where we got to mine the text of Imogen and Yakima. 

And this month we will be diving into two scenes from Shakespeare’s the Merry Wives of Windsor Act Three, scene three and Act four, scene two. 

For those of you who are new here, this is an opportunity for artists of different generations, backgrounds and backgrounds to collaborate and learn from one another and to continue the lineage of honing this craft by doing. The rehearsal Room continues the great theatrical history of apprenticeship where newer and younger artists get to see up close how the pros work after 30 plus years. The questions to ask, how to explore, how to communicate, how to take direction. And it’s never been a top down structure. 

Great ideas and questions come from all directions. And everyone has been so welcoming of that dynamic. 

We can also explore different casting being more conscious to gender, age, or race than production sometimes choose to be. 

We also have the pleasure of bringing artists together from all over the place and sometimes reuniting people that haven’t worked together for over 20 years. There is no expectation by the final performance for the work to also be final. This is just a, as with everything, a continuation of the work in progress. We will continue posting the weekly sessions on YouTube for free for all to enjoy. So be sure to subscribe to our channel and click for notifications if you still, if you can still support the project via Patreon and get early access to all the sessions. Plus a podcast version starting at just $5 a month. 

Thank you to our patrons at the CoStar level and hire for helping as we continue who continue to support this project. Specifically thank you to Joan, Michelle, Christian, Jim, Magdalene, evar, Claudia, cliff, and Jeff, if you have any questions, thoughts, or feedback for anybody, please leave a comment below and now to meet our artists. And everyone’s just gonna kind of go around and introduce themselves and get a little bit of, give a little bit of background on where they’ve been, what they’ve been up to, and their experience with the rehearsal room. So let’s start with Paul. 

Paul Nicholas

Thank you Juls. And masterful job taking over. Paul Nicholas. This is my, I don’t know, fourth, fifth time in the rehearsal room as either an actor or a director. And it’s a lot of fun and we just get to nerd out and play. 

I live in Philadelphia and it would be cool as we go around if everyone would say A, where they’re lived, where they live, and B, what if any connection they have to this play. I was in a production of it this past summer at Pennsylvania, Shakespeare Festival, a very good production I thought played Mr. Page and it was a lot of fun and people loved it. And I will hand off to, let’s go in order of a, of who was here first. Todd Schofield. 

Todd Scofield

Well, I actually should have spoken first ’cause I was here before Paul. 

My name’s Todd Schofield. I know Paul from, we were in grad school together getting our MFAs in Washington dc, the Shakespeare Theater, and George Washington University Academy for classical acting. 

I have lived in Washington DC since we moved here for that program. So that’s 2002. Been an equity actor for a few more years than that. 

Done quite a bit of Shakespeare, I hope to one day before I retire, have done every play at least once. I’m two thirds of the way there, maybe. Yeah, about about two thirds of the way there. 

I have done this play. In fact, this is the play. 

I did this, let’s see, I closed this play maybe just a month before the shutdown in March of 2020. And I played Sir Hugh Evans 

Paul Nicholas

And I guess Gideon’s next. Hello, 

Gideon Rappaport

my name’s Gideon Rappaport. I have been a teacher of Shakespeare for nine on to 45 years or so in college and high school. I work as a theatrical dramaturg. I’ve just come out with my latest book called High School Homilies, and I’m in San Diego and my job is to bite my tongue as much as possible, but chime in when the meaning of what Shakespeare wrote has to be made a little clearer. 

And that’s my job. And it’s a whole lot of fun. And the reason is ’cause when I get to work with such good actors like these, I only have to suggest something and boom, there it is. They do it and it’s thrilling. It just makes Shakespeare come alive when, when, when the actors know what they’re saying and mean, what they’re saying. My motto is, if you want the audience to mean their applause, you have to mean what you’re saying. And these professionals do that. And it’s very exciting work. So I love doing it. 

Paul Nicholas

And Carina that say, right? 

Corinna Christman

Yep, that’s right. My name’s Corinna Christman. I am from Chicago, Illinois and I did this I think three years ago. I was in King John. I had a small part and then I’ve mostly been an audience member since then. I’m largely a teacher and director. I do some acting for fun. This past summer I directed the Merry Wives of Windsor outside in the park. So that’s my closest connection. And it was super fun. It was perfect outside. It got dark just at the right moment. We all ran over across the forest. We made the audience move to the Great Oak. It was really cool. And I love to act, but I mostly, like I said, end up on the other side and I’m just really excited to learn from Gideon from all of you. So yeah. Hi Michelle. And I think Michelle, you? 

Michele Schultz

Yes, Yes. I’m Michelle Schultz. I am Los Angeles based actor and practicing entertainment attorney. I am naturally by Dialectal, as I grew up in England, but have lived most of my life in the United States. 

I’ve done two or three of these workshops, I think all with Gideon, which has been a wonderful, wonderful gift. He’s a tremendously wonderful dramaturg. And I really don’t have any connection to me wives, other than as a reader and a spectator of, I think just television productions. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen it actually perform live. 

Paul Nicholas

I forgot to say that I directed this once, 2015 in New York, this tiny little theater in New York. I forgot about that 

Juls Hoover

Tiny little theater in New York. This feels like a big production. It can be. Yeah. It would be interesting to see in a tinier space. 

Yeah. Well thank you everybody. I will be listening in if you need anything, but I’m gonna hand the floor over officially to Paul and I will bow out and then pop back in towards the end. So have fun. 

Paul Nicholas

Thank you, Jules. 

Juls Hoover

Thank you. 

Paul Nicholas

I wanna start by saying that I’m very, very grateful that Gideon is here. I asked Nathan specifically, is Gideon available because this play, I ended up, the time when I directed this play, the, the producers asked me, do I like the play? And I said, no, I don’t don’t like it at all. Which is why I kind of wanna direct it. ’cause I wanna try to figure it out. 

A lot of it is baffling to me and especially the language. And I can think of no person on earth to better dig into it with than Gideon Rappaport. So I’m very grateful that you’re here, Gideon, 

Gideon Rappaport

Thanks for building me up. So I’m sure to disappoint people. 

Paul Nicholas

No, no chance. And I will say to all of you that normally I have an agenda when I’ve directed in the rehearsal room in the past. Like I know that this week I wanna work on this, and the next week I wanna work on that for this. I think we just keep plowing through it and when our time is up, we stop and we come back next week and pick up where we were and just keep plowing through it. 

There is something I would like to experiment with in the second scene, which I will talk about when we get there, which might make Gideon climb through the screen and try to, 

Todd Scofield

I’m not doing nudity, Paul only, 

Paul Nicholas

it’s only from the bottom down. 

Todd Scofield

All right. You 

Paul Nicholas

keep, keep the T-shirt on. Yeah, unless anybody can think of anything else. I think we just read it. What do y’all think? 

Gideon Rappaport

Maybe I should say, say a word or two about the play. 

Paul Nicholas

Oh yes, of course. And let me ask, I forgot to ask a question. Todd, do you wanna read the Ford stuff or should I, 

Todd Scofield

I would love for you to read it simply because I think it’d be better for the audience to have somebody other than the guy they just saw as ball staff. 

Paul Nicholas

I can tell you if that’s your reasoning, I can tell you that’s not an issue. It’s not that type of, I mean, they’ll get it, but you’re gonna, you can put a hat on or something. It’s not, it’s not a typical audience. Okay, 

Todd Scofield

then Sure, I’ll read it. 

Paul Nicholas

I mean, it’s up to you. I don’t mind reading it. 

Todd Scofield

Yeah, I’ll read it. It’s Fine. 

Paul Nicholas

I’m so sorry, Gideon. Of course you should go for it. No, 

Gideon Rappaport

no, don’t apologize, I’m just asking. No, 

Paul Nicholas

no, you definitely should. 

Gideon Rappaport

I, I don’t have that much to say, but I’ll say a couple things there. There is a tradition unverifiable at this point, starting in about 1702, that Queen Elizabeth asked the company to produce a play that will show false staff in love. She loved the Henry the fourth play so much, and particularly was interested in Falstaff. And she had a sense of humor. So she wanted to see Falstaff in love. And the tradition suggests that Shakespeare wrote this play very quickly for a performance for the Queen, not actually at Windsor, but in London, celebrating the order of the garter, which it was always completed at WinDor. 

And there are all kinds of arguments, pro and con, the historical implications, which I don’t get, won’t get into. But what we see in this play is false death, not in love literally, but trying to make a little, a few bucks by convincing these two ladies that he is in love. 

And I wanted to read you one sentence from the den edition, the introduction to the den edition. This is edited by HJ Oliver, and he has a sentence about the two women that are featured in the scenes we’re gonna be reading. 

He says, Shakespeare has made the point that a woman can be virtuous without taking herself or the world too seriously. And with such a woman, a false, excuse me, a false staff is hopelessly out of his element. I think that really sums up what we’re gonna be seeing. The women are joyful and virtuous, both, they don’t take themselves or anybody too seriously, but they take seriously their respective honesty or chastity and also their, their, their devotion to each other in being honest and chased. Women, the wife of one is a jealous man. The wife of the other is not particularly, but they, they share this outrage at false deaths attempt to seduce them. 

And his motive, which we don’t hear in the scenes we’re in, is, is to get, is to get them to pay out and support him. So it it’s mercenary his intention. He’s not actually in love too old for that when the play takes place in relation to the other Henry IV plays. And Henry the V is not, it’s not revealed. There’s no particular time relation to the other plays. There’s no particular any relation, but it’s pretty much the same false staff. Lots of critics have felt that he’s not quite so funny as the one, the ones in Henry iv, but he’s quite elegant. He’s got the same habits of speech and we can point those out as we go. 

In any case, the the point of the, of what we are doing with this play is the, the hilarity and the enjoyment of setting false staff up to think he can seduce these two virtuous women and their fun in playing with him and their husbands in rejecting his advances. And that’s probably enough to say for what we’re going to do, 

Paul Nicholas

Taking notes. Got it. Anybody have any questions to, for what? For Gideon about what he just said? No. 

Okay. 

Gideon Rappaport

Questions would be fine. Arguments. No. 

Anyway, if questions come up as we go, please feel free. 

Paul Nicholas

I 

Todd Scofield

mean, I think, I mean, it’s certainly aff, but, and he’s, I mean, yes, he is still funny, but he doesn’t have nearly the, the power, the rhetorical power, the, the razor sharp wit. I don’t think that he shows in the other Henry in the Henry’s. 

Gideon Rappaport

I think I, I think you’re right. Part of the reason is he doesn’t have Prince Hal to bounce it off of. 

Todd Scofield

Yep. And part of it, 

Gideon Rappaport

if you, if you read false theft description of his being dumped in the river from the buck basket, it’s pretty eloquent and it’s pretty false, ian, but it’s, it doesn’t have the same dramatic punch partly because we’re in on the fooling of him from the start. We’re not discovering him. 

But I, I think ultimately you’re right, if you made a list of all the great moments in Henry the fourth part one and compared it to the great moments in this Henry the fourth part one is a, just a greater play. But It’s 

Todd Scofield

also interesting to me that this is how Shakespeare chose to do it. Because we’ve already seen in those other plays, we’ve specifically seen fall staff get pranked. 

Gideon Rappaport

Yes. And that happens again 

Todd Scofield

And we’re doing it again in this play. So 

Gideon Rappaport

I 

Todd Scofield

was curious that he decided to do the same thing. Well, it’s because he knew it worked, I guess. Yeah, this works. So let me just do that again. 

Gideon Rappaport

What he’s done in this play is taken a lot of the characters and repeated them in a way. So Shallow is here and several other comic characters, he’s added pistol and Nim and Bardo are here. And so it’s, it’s good salesmanship. ’cause the other player was popular, so he, he is, he’s, you know, it’s like, it’s like the sequel. It’s like whatever Star Wars, you gotta have a sequel because they’re still paying to come and see it. 

And if it’s true that Queen Elizabeth asked for it, well that’s so much the more recent, however, this is a different kind of play. This doesn’t have the same depth of seriousness. It’s not aiming at the same kind of overall effect. It’s meant to be much lighter serious. It, as all Shakespeare’s comedies have a vein of seriousness. But overall it’s meant to be much lighter and it’s much less concerned with England and government and much more concerned with local Englishmen in a country town. 

Todd Scofield

Yeah. Gotcha. 

Paul Nicholas

That’s tough. Do you think Gideon, that that Fallstaff is different in this play intentionally, that Shakespeare wrote him this way intentionally? Or do you think there is some effect of him having less time to do it and him rushing through it? 

Gideon Rappaport

And 

Paul Nicholas

I know that we can’t know for sure. I’m asking you what your opinion is. 

Gideon Rappaport

My opinion is trust Shakespeare to know what he’s doing no matter what he’s doing. If he knows he has a shorter time, he take, he bites off as much as he can chew in that time. We don’t e we’re not even sure that he was given only those two weeks to do it. It’s just a tradition of 

Todd Scofield

A good story. 

Gideon Rappaport

It’s a story. So some people have felt, ’cause it’s not as good a play, he must have rushed it. I don’t feel that. I think there’s a lot of consistency in the play and, but I think what I think the difference is in his aim in terms of his audience and in terms of the kind of play, it’s, so I wouldn’t start by assuming anything that we don’t get is because he rushed it. That’s probably not the way to start. We need to start the Shakespeare by assuming that Shakespeare knows what he’s doing and then if we really can’t figure it out, maybe we can have recourse to that theory. But most of the time I think we can figure out why he’s doing what he’s doing. 

Todd Scofield

It’s interesting what Harold Bloom says about the the me wives 

Gideon Rappaport

Yes. 

Todd Scofield

False staff. Because I mean, if you’ve read what Shakespeare and the invention of the human right and essay on each play, I don’t think he goes one particular one essay talking about any of the plays without mentioning false staff, it seems. But 

Gideon Rappaport

He absolutely worships how 

Todd Scofield

He’s worships false staff. And then for this play, I, I can’t remember his actual words, it’s been a long time. But he calls basically this false, have an imposter, basically. 

Gideon Rappaport

Yes. 

Todd Scofield

Well, 

Gideon Rappaport

I I would like to say that Harold Bloom is a profoundly knowledgeable person. 

Todd Scofield

Yeah. 

Gideon Rappaport

He Was very, very nasty to his women’s students or some of them. 

Todd Scofield

Ooh. 

Gideon Rappaport

And he was half right in that book. Half right. Shakespeare does not invent the human being, but Shakespeare gives us a picture of the human being that didn’t exist before. That’s true. But you have to take what Bloom says with not just a grain of salt, but a little grain of skepticism. 

Todd Scofield

A whole tablespoon 

Gideon Rappaport

Well, salt imply wit and humor, but 

Todd Scofield

Gotcha. 

Gideon Rappaport

I’m, I’m implying skepticism. 

Todd Scofield

Gotcha. 

Gideon Rappaport

Some Of what he says is profoundly great and true and knowledgeable. 

Todd Scofield

Yeah. And some of it is 

Gideon Rappaport

is hoku and you just have to labor a little to distinguish. 

Todd Scofield

No, that’s absolutely true. I mean, I actually got rid of his book because I couldn’t stand, I wanted to read about all the other plays and every single play he brings up how great Falstaff is. I’m like, let’s talk about this other play. We don’t have to bring up faff every time. If you’re talking about Corey Elis or I 

Gideon Rappaport

think it’s because Bloom looked like false. 

Paul Nicholas

All right, let’s just read through it. 

I won’t stop you, but stop. If you have to, I’ll read all the servants. 

Todd will read Mr. Ford and see if you’re comfortable with it. 

Todd Scofield

If 

Paul Nicholas

you’re not, that’s okay. 

Todd Scofield

Okay. 

Paul Nicholas

And by the way, Michelle, you are Mrs. Page and Karina, you are Mrs. Fort. 

Corinna Christman

Yes. Okay. 

Paul Nicholas

All right. 

Corinna Christman

We good? 

Paul Nicholas

Yeah. Let’s barrel through 

Corinna Christman

What John, what Robert, Quickly, quickly is the buck basket Orange. What Robert? I say Come, come, come Here. Set it down. Give your men the chart. We must be brief Mary, as I told you before, John and Robert, be ready here. Hard buy in the brew house. And when I suddenly call you, come forth and without any pause or staggering, take this basket on your shoulders that done trudge with it and all haste and carry it among the sters and dash it mead and there empty it in the muddy ditch. Close by the tham side. You will do it. I had told them over and over, they lack no direction. 

Be gone and come when you are called. 

Here comes little Robin. How now my eth muskett. What news with you? 

Paul Nicholas

My master, sir John is come at your back door, Mrs. Ford, and request your company 

Michele Schultz

You little jack of L Have you been true to us? 

Paul Nicholas

I I’ll be sworn, my master knows none of your being here and have threatened to put me into everlasting liberty. If I tell you of it for he swears he’ll turn me away. 

Michele Schultz

There art. Good boy. The secrecy of thine shall be a tailor to thee and shall make the a new doublet in house. I’ll go hide me. Do so go tell the master I am alone. Mist this page. Remember you, your cue I warranty. If I do not act it. Kiss me. Go to that. We’ll use this unwholesome humidity. This gross swatee pumpkin will teach him to know turtles from jays. 

Todd Scofield

Have I caught the my heavenly jewel? Why now let me die for I have lived long enough. This is the period of my ambition. Oh, this blessed hour. 

Corinna Christman

Oh sweet. Sir John 

Todd Scofield

Mistress. I cannot cog, I cannot pray mistress forward now shall I sin in my wish? I would the husband be dead. I’ll speak it before the best Lord. I would make bee my lady. 

Corinna Christman

I your lady Sir John. Alas, I should be a pitiful lady, Not 

Todd Scofield

court French. Show me such another. I see how thy would emulate the diamond now has the right arched beauty of the brow that becomes the ship tire. The tire valiant or any tire of Venetian admittance. 

Corinna Christman

A plain kerchief. Sir John, my brow has become nothing else nor that well, neither 

Todd Scofield

Or the tyrant to say. So that would make an absolute core here. And the firm fixture of th foot would give an excellent motion to thy gate. 

To thy gate in a semi-circle. Farthing gale. I see what that word, if fortune thy foe were not nature thy friend come against not I did. 

Corinna Christman

Believe me. There’s no such thing in me. 

Todd Scofield

What made me love thee? Let that persuade. There’s something extraordinary in the come. I cannot call and say and say, thou art this and that. Like many of these lisping hawthorn buds that come like women and men’s apparel and smell like LERs bur and simple. Th I cannot. But I love the, there’s something extraordinary in the comment. Oh, did I call, did I? Oh yeah, sorry, I got lost. 

But I cannot. But I love the none but thee and now deserves it. 

Corinna Christman

Do not betray me, sir. I fear you love mistress Paige. 

Todd Scofield

Well Mike says, well say I love to walk by the counter gate, which is as hateful to me as the wreak of a lime kiln. 

Corinna Christman

Well, heaven knows how I love you and you shall one day find it. 

Todd Scofield

Keep in that mind. I’ll deserve it. 

Corinna Christman

Nay, I must tell you. So tell you so you do. Or else I could not be in that mind. 

Paul Nicholas

Mrs. Ford. Mrs. Ford. Here’s Mrs. Page at the door sweating and blowing and looking wildly and would need speak with you presently. 

Todd Scofield

She shall not see me. I will ensconce me behind the hes 

Corinna Christman

Pray. You do so. She’s a very ly woman. 

What’s the matter how now? Oh mistress, what have you done? You’re shame. You’re overthrown. You’re undone forever. 

What’s the matter? Good mistress Paige? Well, a day mistress, having an honest man to your husband to give him such cause of suspicion. What causes suspicion? What cause of suspicion out upon you? How am I mistook you? Why Les? What’s the matter? Your husband’s coming here. The woman with all the officers in Windsor to search for a gentleman that he says he’s here now in the house by your consent to take an ill advantage of his absence. You’re undone. He’s not. So I hope, I pray heaven it be not so that you have such a man here it is most certain your husband’s coming with half Windsor at his heels to search for such a one. 

I come before to tell you if you know yourself clear what? I am glad of it. But if you have a friend here convey, convey him out. Be not amazed. Call all your senses to you. Defend your reputation or bid farewell to your good life forever. 

Shall I do? There is the gentleman, my dear friend. And I fear not my own shame so much as his per rather than a thousand pounds you were out of the house. Shame never stand. You had rather, and you had rather your husband’s here at hand biting you of some convenience in the house. You cannot hide him. Oh, how have you deceived me? Oh look, here is a basket. If he be of any reasonable stature, he may creep in here and throw foul linen upon him as if it were going to bucking or oh, it is waiting time. Send him by your two main to Dutch it mead. 

He’s too big to go in there. What should I do? 

Todd Scofield

Let see it. Lemme see it. Oh, let me see it. Ian. All in. Follow your friend’s council. Ian. What 

Michele Schultz

Sir? John all are these your letters night 

Todd Scofield

Of the help me away. Let me creep in here. I’ll never 

Michele Schultz

Help to cover your master boy. Call your man Mistress Ford. You disassembly knight. What’s John? What Roberts. John, go take up these clothes here quickly. Where’s the cow staff? Look how you jumble. Carry them to the laundries and dash it. Mead quickly. Come 

Todd Scofield

Pray. You come near. If I suspect without cause, why then make sported mead then let me be your jest. I deserve it. How? Now with there bear you this. 

Paul Nicholas

That’s you, Corina. 

Corinna Christman

Why? What have you to do? Whether they bear it, you wear best of metal with buck washing 

Todd Scofield

Buck. I would, I could wash myself of the buck, buck, buck, buck, buck. I buck. I warn you buck. And if the season two it shall appear. 

Michele Schultz

Is there not a double excellency? Indeed, 

Paul Nicholas

still You. Todd, you have one more line? 

Todd Scofield

I do. 

Paul Nicholas

Yeah. 1 65. 

Michele Schultz

Oh, sorry. 

Todd Scofield

Oh, there it is. I see it now. I scrolled right past it up. Gentlemen. You shall see sport and on. Follow me gentlemen. 

Michele Schultz

Is there not a double excellency in this? I know not. Which pleases me better that my husband or Sir John, What a taking was he in when your husband asked who was in the basket? 

I’m half afraid you have need a washing. So throwing him into the water will do him a benefit. 

Hang him. Dishonest RAs, I would all of the same strain were in the same distress. I think my husband had some special suspicion of false deaths being here for I never saw him so gross in his jealousy till Now. I will lay a plot to try that. And we will yet have more tricks with Polestar. His dissolute disease will scare, obey this medicine. 

Shall we send that foolish car mistress quickly to him and excuse his throwing into the wa and give another hope to betray him to another punishment. 

We’ll do it. Let him be sent for tomorrow, eight o’clock to have amends. 

Paul Nicholas

And we jump to act four. Scene two. 

Todd Scofield

Okay, plug in. Okay, mistress Ford, your sorrow have eaten up my sufferance. I see you are obsequious in your love. And I profess for aquile to a hair’s breath. Not only Ms. Mistress Ford in the simple office of love, but in all the acument compliment and ceremony of it. 

But are you sure of your husband now? 

Corinna Christman

He’s a birding. Sweet sir. John, What? Who? Gossip board. What hoe? Step into the chamber, sir. John. Oh no sweetheart. Who’s at home besides yourself? Why none But my own people Indeed. No, certainly speak louder. 

Truly. I am so glad you have nobody here. 

Why? Why woman? Your husband and his, his old Luna again. 

So takes on yonder with my husband. So rails against all married mankind. So curses all eve’s daughters of what complexion whatsoever. 

And so buffets himself on the forehead, crying out out that any madness I ever yet beheld seemed but timeless stability and patience to this is distemper he is in. Now I am glad the that night is not here. 

Why does he talk of him? None but him. And swears he was carried out the last time he searched for him in a basket. Protests my husband. He is now here and have drawn him in the rest of their company from their sport to make another experiment of his suspicion. 

But I am glad the knight is not here. 

Now he shall see his own brewery. How near is he mistress Paige? 

Oh, hot. By it’s street end, he would be here and on. 

I’m undone. The night is here. Oh, Why then you’re utterly shame. And he’s but a dead man. What woman are you away with? Him? Away with him. Better shame than murder. 

Which way should he go? How should I bestow him? Shall I put him into the basket again? 

Todd Scofield

No. I’ll come no more in the basket. May I not go out? Here he come. 

Michele Schultz

Oh, last three of Master Ford’s brothers, watch the door with pistols and nun shall issue out. Otherwise you might slip away. Eh? He kay. 

Todd Scofield

What shall I do? I’ll creep up into the chimney 

Corinna Christman

There. They always used to discharge their birding pieces Creep into the kiln. Ho, 

Todd Scofield

Where is it? 

Corinna Christman

He will seek there on my word neither press coffer. Chest trunk. Well vault. But he has an abstract for the remembrance of such places and goes to them by his note. There is no hiding. You in the house. I’ll go out then If you go out in your own sentence, you D Sir John, unless you go out disguised, How might we disguise him? Oh, well, last the day. I know not there is no woman’s gown big enough for him. Otherwise he might put on a hat, a muffler and a kerchief. And so escape. 

Todd Scofield

But hearts devise something. Any extremity rather than a mischief. 

Corinna Christman

My mate’s aunt, the the fat woman of Brentford has a gown above, Oh my word. It’ll serve him. She’s as big as he’s. And there’s a throbbed hat and a muffler to Aer John. 

Go. Go. Sweet John, mistress Paige. And I will look some line in for your head. Quick, quick. We’ll come dress you straight. Put on the gown. A while I would, my husband would meet him in this shape. He cannot abide the old woman of Bradford. He, she’s a witch and forbade her my house and has threatened to beat her. 

Have him guide him to thy husband’s cudgel. And the devil guide his cudgel afterwards. 

But is my husband coming? I in good sadness is he And talks off the basket too. Howsoever. He have had intelligence. 

We’ll try that for, I’ll appoint my men to carry the basket again to meet him at the door with it as they did the last time. Yeah. But he’ll be here presently. Let’s go dress him like the witch of brentford. I’ll first direct my men what they should do with a basket. Go up. I’ll bring lemon for him. Straight. 

Hang him. Dishonest. Bt we cannot misuse him enough. We’ll leave a proof by that, which we will do. Wives may be married and yet honest too. We do not act that often. Just in life. His old but true still. Swine eats all the draw. 

Ghosters, take the basket again on your shoulders. Your master is hard at door. If he bid, you set it down. Obey him quickly. Dispatch, 

Paul Nicholas

Pray. Heaven it be not full of night. Again. 

Todd Scofield

Set down the basket. Villain. Come Heather, mistress Ford. Mistress Ford. The honest woman, the modest wife, the virtuous creature that half the jealous fool to her husband. 

I suspect without cause. Mistress do I Heaven 

Corinna Christman

be my witness. You do. If you su suspect, suspect me in any dishonesty. 

Todd Scofield

Well said, brazen face. Hold it out. Come forth, Sarah. Come forth. Sarah. 

Corinna Christman

I’m not ashamed. Let the codes alone. 

Todd Scofield

I shall find you a nun. Empty the basket. I say, 

Corinna Christman

Why man? Why? 

Todd Scofield

Because I am a man. There was one conveyed out of my house yesterday in this basket. Why may not he be there again in my And why, why may he not be there again in my house? I am sure he is. My intelligence is true. My jealousy is reasonable. Fuck me out all the linen. 

Corinna Christman

If you find a man there, he shall die. A please death. 

Todd Scofield

Well, he’s not here. I seek for It’s you, 

Paul Nicholas

Corina. 

Corinna Christman

Sorry, what? Who? Mrs. Pay Paige come. You and the old woman down. My husband come into the chamber. 

Todd Scofield

Old woman. What old woman’s that? 

Corinna Christman

Wyatt is Monday’s. Aunt of Brentford 

Todd Scofield

Of which a queen, an old cousin named Queen. Have I not forbid her my house. She comes of errands. Does she? We are simple men. We do not know what’s brought to pass under the professional fortune telling. She works by charms, by spells, by the figure. And such dobby as this is beyond our element. We know nothing. Come down your witch, you hag you come down. I say, 

Corinna Christman

Hey, good, sweet husband, good gentleman. Let him not strike the old woman. Oh, mother Pratt, come gimme your hand 

Todd Scofield

Now. PR her out of my door. You witch, you ran. You be it, you bull. You run out, out, out. How conjure you out for to tell you? 

Michele Schultz

Are you not ashamed? I think you’ve killed the poor woman. Nay. He will do it to the goodly credit for you. 

Trust me, he beat him most pitifully Nay by the mass that he did not, he beat him most UNT me. Thoughts? I’ll have hallowed and hangar. 

What? Thank you. May we, with the war to womanhood and the witness of good conscience, pursue him with any further revenge. 

The spirit of wantonness is sure, scared out of him. 

If the devil have him not in be simple with fine and recovery, he will never, I think in the way of waste, attempt us again. 

Shall we tell our husbands how we have served him? 

Yes, by all means. If it but to scrape the figures out of your husband’s brains. If they can find in their hearts the poor and virtuous fact night shall be any further afflicted, we too will be, still be the ministers. 

I warn that I have been publicly shamed and he thinks there would be no period to the jest. Should not he not be publicly shamed, Come to the forge with it, then shape it. I would not have things. Cool. 

Paul Nicholas

Lovely, lovely questions before I ask my questions. Any of you? 

Michele Schultz

Well, there’s certainly a lot of words that I get a sense of what they are, but a lot, the addition that I have doesn’t have the notes in it to give me some of the things. So 

Paul Nicholas

Yeah. And the addition that I have, Oxford doesn’t it, it doesn’t even attempt a lot of them. 

Michele Schultz

Yeah. 

Paul Nicholas

But anyway, that’s why we have Dr. Rappaport with us. Yes. 

Gideon Rappaport

I’ll try my best. Any 

Paul Nicholas

other thoughts, questions? I, 

Todd Scofield

I think playing forward is fine. I think that’s gonna work. 

Paul Nicholas

Okay. If you, your voice, put a hat on or something If you want. 

Todd Scofield

Yeah, I’ll just put a hat on or something. Yeah, 

Gideon Rappaport

You changed your voice. That was enough. That was good. 

Todd Scofield

Okay. 

Gideon Rappaport

I’d like to say that reading was really very good 

Paul Nicholas

As a first go. Yeah. One of the, one of the, the successful productions of this that I’ve seen, one of the great tools that they’ve been able to use is to cover, not to cover, but to have the characters be clowns and to have it be kind of farcical and to have it be very physical and a lot of stuff going on on stage. We don’t have that so good. 

So I wanna, so we, we, it’s gonna be pure, we’re gonna be working with the words I wanna ask. My first question is, do you all think we need stage directions? Do I need to read stage directions? Like, like they take the basket out. 

When you enter an exit, I will ask you to not, while we’re like just playing around, I’ll ask you to turn your cameras on and off when you enter an exit, that will help. But do we need stage directions? 

Otherwise? I’m, I’m leaning towards Yes, but what do you all think? 

Todd Scofield

I I think it could help. I I just, I just couldn’t tell you which ones exactly. Yeah. 

Michele Schultz

I I think so too, because otherwise you don’t know who’s in the room. Who’s not in the room. 

Paul Nicholas

Yeah. 

Michele Schultz

And, and you know 

Paul Nicholas

Yeah. 

Michele Schultz

When he’s got, 

Paul Nicholas

so That was another one. Thank you, Michelle. Another one would be Ford enters with CAAs and 

Michele Schultz

Yes, 

Paul Nicholas

Hugh Spars and Hugh. So we know they’re in the room. So when he says up gentlemen 

Michele Schultz

Yeah. And 

Paul Nicholas

when she says, gentlemen, please don’t let him strike the woman. We know who they’re, who she’s talking to. 

Michele Schultz

Right, right. 

Paul Nicholas

And also another one would be Mrs. Page enters with false staff in disguise. 

Michele Schultz

Yeah. That would help. 

Paul Nicholas

So I think the answer is yes. This question I’ll ask as we go. There are several what seems to be interruptions, and I’m always curious about how to handle them. And in the past, what I’ve done and what I’ve seen other people do is just to rearrange the words so that the interruptions make sense. But I’d love to try it without doing that. 

Gideon Rappaport

What, what’s, what do you mean by interruptions? That don’t make sense? 

Paul Nicholas

We will, when we get to it. When we get to it. 

Gideon Rappaport

Okay. 

Paul Nicholas

There’s one, like right before she pushes them in the basket and says, well, we, we’ll get to it when, when we get to it, I’ll point ’em up. 

And the my final question in is what do you think of my cuts? 

I really, if we don’t have Ford, then we’re just gonna jump to the women discussing post them leaving. And that’s why I try to squeeze Ford in there so we could get some idea of what it was that they witnessed when he came in 

Michele Schultz

Yeah. And 

Paul Nicholas

what that whole storm was. And then after he leaves, we’d love to see them. I would love to see them go, oh, that was so great. We got ’em. Yeah. 

Michele Schultz

IIII actually like it because I think that they’re playing a double joke. They’re, they’re, they’re sending up both full staff and Ford who’s way too jealous for his own good. And so I think unless you have that and you see his reaction and how they’re playing it, you don’t, you don’t get the full cleverness of the fact that they’re going to, to people at the same time. It also sets up the second going strong more strongly than without it. 

Paul Nicholas

Yeah. And the first one is Ford showing up is a surprise to the wives. And it would be nice to see them talk about, oh my gosh, this is what a, what, what did she say? What a double, what a double score this is or Whatever. 

Michele Schultz

Double excellence. Something 

Paul Nicholas

Like that. Double excellency. Yeah. Why don’t we have stuff to say? 

Gideon Rappaport

I had a, a very few, couple of notes. 

Paul Nicholas

Okay. Just, just 

Gideon Rappaport

say before we go to the next version of it. And, 

Paul Nicholas

and I’ll tell you what we’re gonna do next is just plot through step by step by step. 

Gideon Rappaport

Oh, okay. Well, I’ll just wait. That’s fine. 

Paul Nicholas

Where are we? So let me ask the wives at the top of this first scene, is the plan already in place? 

Michele Schultz

I think so. 

Paul Nicholas

The plan is we’re gonna, what, what is the plan? 

Michele Schultz

The plan is to get full staff to go into the washing basket, the laundry basket, so that they can take him out and dump him in the river. 

Paul Nicholas

And they’re gonna tell him that, oh my gosh, Mr. Ford is coming. And your life’s in danger. 

Corinna Christman

Yes. 

Paul Nicholas

And oh my gosh, where are we gonna hide you? What is this? Oh, maybe we can hide you in here. 

And, and they take a stab at his size by saying if he, if he is of any reasonable stature, he can go in And let me ask Gideon, remind me, please. 

Why, what does the word buck mean here in the context of laundry? 

Gideon Rappaport

Yeah. It’s, it was just a term that they used for carrying the laundry to the river and washing it. And there’s another word they use whiting, 

Paul Nicholas

Which is bleaching. 

Gideon Rappaport

Bleaching, yeah. So a buck basket is well known to be a, a dirty laundry basket. 

Paul Nicholas

And both are convenient because bucks have horns. 

Gideon Rappaport

Correct. So there’s a pond on the cuckold idea. 

Paul Nicholas

And whiting or, or bleaching suggests purity. 

Gideon Rappaport

Yeah. And 

Paul Nicholas

he says, look at what clothes you send to bleaching. 

Gideon Rappaport

Right. 

Paul Nicholas

Which we don’t have in our version, but, or do we, I don’t remember. 

Todd Scofield

I Is it, could it also be short for buckram a fabric? I don’t think so. I 

Gideon Rappaport

don’t think it comes from buckram. 

Todd Scofield

Bucking 

Gideon Rappaport

was the process of washing and lie. But also as early as the 14th century had a wider meaning of washing or soaking clothes buck perhaps. Originally the tub in which the clothes soaked in the lie was later used of clothes waiting to be so treated or washed. So the clothes themselves are called buck washing clothes in rivers is still of course, common, particularly in the east. 

So it just, it’s just was a term got passed from the idea of washing and lie to the idea of washing to the basket filled with the washing to the washing itself. And it has all those layers. It was not, it, it’s just accidental that it applies to a male deer. But for Shakespeare’s purposes, he’s bringing them together. 

Does the place statute mead, did that have any meaning to the audience? Yes. In Shakespeare’s Time? Yes. And insofar as they knew anything about Windsor, it was a, it was a kind of flat approach. Meadow like approach. Mead is meadow to the, and they would, they would spread out the clothes there or spread them to dry there sometimes. 

So it was definitely identified with the town of winds, not the castle, but the town of winds washing. 

Paul Nicholas

Okay. Okay. So in this opening bit, I believe there is a certain, a ra of a rather large dose of urgency going on because he is set to arrive any moment. And I think that’s what Mrs. Page means when she says we must be brief. And, and Mrs. Page says Quickly, quickly. 

So I think they’re in a bit of a hurry. 

Not only is the plan in place, but you have already instructed your men of exactly what they’re gonna do. Right. Mrs. Ford, am I right about that? 

Todd Scofield

I can go get a tissue real quick. 

Corinna Christman

No Problem. 

Paul Nicholas

Yeah, 

Corinna Christman

I’m repeating the instructions again here. 

Paul Nicholas

Okay. So then why are you repeating the instructions? Obviously we know you’re repeating it for the audience. 

Corinna Christman

Yeah, yeah. 

Paul Nicholas

But why is Mrs. Ford repeating it? 

Gideon Rappaport

Oh, go ahead. Could they be a little slow on the uptake? 

Paul Nicholas

I think so. And she says, I’ve told them over and over why would she need to tell them over and over? 

Corinna Christman

Yes. Yes. I’ve been saying this all day just to make sure they do the right thing. Yeah. But I think it’s also that mistress page needs to be persuaded by Mistress Ford that it’s all set up. Like she comes in and says quickly the buck basket. And Mrs. Ford says, I warrant, I promise you it’s taken care of. And then she says, Paige says, give your men the charge. We must be brief. We’re in a hurry. And, and Mrs. Ford says, yeah, I’ve already told them, but I will tell them again. Yes. So, So they’re convincing each other that it’s all, they’re, they’re checking each other to make sure it’s all set up. 

Okay. 

Paul Nicholas

And, and I, and I don’t think that negates what we just said. I think 

Gideon Rappaport

No, 

Paul Nicholas

Mrs. Page is worried because she knows John and Robert are a little slow. When, for example, when Mrs. Page says you will do it, who is she talking to? 

Michele Schultz

I think to John and Robert. 

Paul Nicholas

That’s what I think. So I think there’s a, there’s an opportunity for some humor there. Unfortunately, we don’t have a John and a Robert to stand on stage and stare blankly into your face. But imagine that they are there because she is saying, I’ve told them before, but I’m gonna tell you again, do this and then this, and then this, and then this. And then Mrs. Page goes, did you get that? 

Michele Schultz

Yes. 

Paul Nicholas

Which I think is very funny. I also think it’s funny if she goes, yes, they got it. I told them they don’t need it to be told again. And they’re still standing there and she has to say to them, go, go. 

I think all of that’s funny. 

Corinna Christman

Yeah. It’s like a surprise party with kids where you 

Paul Nicholas

Yes, Yes. 

Corinna Christman

Whatever you have to do, but you gotta keep repeating it. And all the parents are concerned that the kids don’t know what’s supposed to happen. Like he Yeah, it’s that Yes energy. 

Paul Nicholas

And then the person arrives and the kid goes running out. It’s just, 

Corinna Christman

Yeah. And it doesn’t happen. Right. 

Paul Nicholas

It doesn’t work. So I think I will read, well, I’ll try it now, but certainly when we’re reading the whole thing, I will read enter John and Robert with a large, what do you think, Gideon? Should I say buck basket or should I say laundry basket? I 

Gideon Rappaport

think you should say buck basket, because that’s the word that keeps reappearing. And once they start hearing it, they’ll get it. Our audience, I mean, 

Paul Nicholas

See, this is why I was thinking of saying laundry basket. So they would know what buck meant. 

Gideon Rappaport

Well, I mean, it wouldn’t hurt. I’m not saying it would do any damage, but they do repeat the word several times. Okay. And they all, and also the context is such that it’s clear that they’re taking dirty laundry to be washed. 

Paul Nicholas

Are you saying that Michelle, that I, meaning I don’t need to say laundry basket, I can say buck basket. 

Michele Schultz

Correct. Correct. I I, I think that you can go with buck basket and I think everybody will understand what’s happening. 

Okay. And if they discover it during the course of the speaking so much, the better. 

Paul Nicholas

Yeah. I think it’s clear that it’s closed. Yeah. One final, 

Gideon Rappaport

I think, I think we don’t get that it’s laundry until, until later. Why are they going to dump this? What are sters mean? For example, they don’t know what sters are. 

Paul Nicholas

Right. That was my next question. 

Gideon Rappaport

Yeah. So maybe, maybe for the first time, why don’t you just say something like a large buck or laundry basket. 

Paul Nicholas

Okay. 

Gideon Rappaport

That gives the audience both. And then you don’t have to repeat it. 

Paul Nicholas

Enter John and Robert with a large buck or laundry basket. 

Gideon Rappaport

No laundry or buck basket. That’s better. 

Paul Nicholas

Laundry or buck basket. 

Gideon Rappaport

Yeah. Are Which does laundry people Laundry women. Yeah. They’re the people who bleach the clothes at the, at the river. 

Yeah. 

Paul Nicholas

Because they, 

Gideon Rappaport

There are different, there are different functions at the river. There’s beating the clothes in the water and there’s, there’s bleaching them with bleach. And there are d These very, these separate processes 

Paul Nicholas

Didn’t, didn’t, wasn’t the older version of that word White stirs 

Gideon Rappaport

Yes. 

Paul Nicholas

Whitener. 

Gideon Rappaport

Correct. And 

Paul Nicholas

it became sters 

Gideon Rappaport

As is typical in English for people to shorten the valves 

Paul Nicholas

In English. English, 

Michele Schultz

Yes. All right. 

Paul Nicholas

Let’s, okay. With all these, all these questions answered, let’s dig. 

Corinna Christman

Okay. What John, what Robert, Quickly, quickly is the buck basket away What? Robert? I say 

Paul Nicholas

So, so I’m so sorry. Here was the first one, Gideon. Here’s the first interruption. Mrs. Page says is the buck basket. And it seems like she gets interrupted. 

Gideon Rappaport

Yes, she does. So she knows her friend. These two women know each other pretty well. So Mrs. Page is asking, is the buck basket ready nearby? Something like that. And Mrs. Ford says, I know what you’re asking. Yes. I promise you it’s ready. So that’s an interruption. That’s exactly what that dash means. And then she turns to another auditor and says, what, Robert? I say, that’s the meeting of the next dash. 

I just wanna point out a technical issue. 

Paul Nicholas

Yeah. 

Gideon Rappaport

Marina, your microphone has a, at least as I’m hearing it has a slight delay. 

Paul Nicholas

Yeah. For me too. 

Gideon Rappaport

And the result is that if mistress page is still voicing, so, so the nature of zoom is you can’t hear two voices at once. Right? Right. It just makes nothing or else one cuts off. So all of us have to be careful not to be trying to be heard when someone else is speaking. But particularly when you’re jumping on the line as here, it has to be a jump. But it has to, you have to wait until she’s finished making any sound and then we’ll hear what you say. ’cause otherwise your first word gets just cut off. Oh, maybe what I can do is, is the buck basket. 

Paul Nicholas

Yeah. 

Michele Schultz

You know, without saying something 

Paul Nicholas

That would help. 

Corinna Christman

Okay. 

Paul Nicholas

And there are all kinds of adjustments in Zoom settings that we can talk about later. Marina. 

Corinna Christman

Yeah. I have to look at my internal, 

Paul Nicholas

Remember in the old days, zoom had a thing in the top left corner that said original sound. And that’s gone Now that’s hidden in the advanced settings. 

But anyway, 

Todd Scofield

Mine says original sound for musicians Off. Yeah. 

Paul Nicholas

You have an old version, Todd. That’s not even 

Todd Scofield

Okay. I believe It. 

Paul Nicholas

I mean, it’s there, but it’s in the settings. And Michelle, remember that I’m going to read, enter John and Robert with a large laundry or book basket. Right. I’m also going to say John and Robert exit. And I’m gonna say enter Robin. And I’m gonna say she exits when Paige, Mrs. Paige exits. Okay, let’s give it another shot. 

Okay. 

Corinna Christman

What John, what’s Robert, Quickly, quickly is the buck basket. I warrant what Robert, I say 

Paul Nicholas

Entered, enter John and Robert with a large laundry or buck basket. 

Michele Schultz

Come, come Here, set it down. Give your men the charge. We must be brief Mary, as I told you before, John and Robert, be ready here hard by in the brew house. And when I suddenly call you, come forth and pause or staggering, take this basket on your shoulders that done trudge with it in all haste and carry it among the sters in Dutch at mead. And there empty it in the muddy ditch. Close by the 10 side. You will do it. 

I had told them over and over, they lack no direction. Be gone and come when you are called 

Paul Nicholas

John and Robert 

Michele Schultz

exit. Oh, here comes little Robin. 

Paul Nicholas

Enter Robin. 

Corinna Christman

How? Now my eyes musket. What news with you? My 

Paul Nicholas

master, sir John has come at your back door, Mrs. Ford, and requests your company, 

Michele Schultz

You little jacka lent. Have you been true to us? 

Paul Nicholas

Oh, I, I’ll be sworn, my master knows not of your being here and have threatened to put me into everlasting liberty. If I tell you of it for he swears he’ll turn me away 

Michele Schultz

Thou to good boy. The secrecy of vine shall be a tailor to the and shall make the a new doublet and hoes go hide me. 

Do so go tell th master I am alone, rather mistress page remember you, your cue. I’m worthy. If I do not act it kiss me. 

Paul Nicholas

She exit, Go to, then 

Corinna Christman

we’ll use this unwholesome humidity, this gross swatch tree ion. We’ll teach him to know turtles from Jays. 

Paul Nicholas

Okay. Hold Sir John, hold Carina. 

Corinna Christman

Yes. 

Paul Nicholas

Do you think it’ll be funnier if you told John and Robert the stuff that you have told them over and over if you told, said it to them very slowly? I, I, that’s a real question. I don’t know that it’d be funnier. I’m just wondering if, if they’re that dumb that you have to say it really slowly 

Corinna Christman

Try that. I 

Paul Nicholas

have a question about one of Robin’s lines, but let’s ask this. First. I asked Musket, what the hell 

Gideon Rappaport

An ISAs musket is a little sparrowhawk a ba, young baby Sparrowhawk. ’cause Robin is small. 

Paul Nicholas

Ah, and he’s Robin is also a little bird. 

Gideon Rappaport

Right? Ah, 

Paul Nicholas

mistress Ford. When you say to him what news with you, what do you really mean? 

Corinna Christman

We’re trying to get, he is the messenger for our plan. Right. To say if, if all staff is on his, how soon he’ll be there so that whether we should be ready or not. 

Paul Nicholas

Right? I I it could be a number of things. I, I would like to throw into the list of possibilities that the question is, is he here? How close is he? 

Gideon Rappaport

What’s your report? What do you have to report? 

Paul Nicholas

Yeah. 

Gideon Rappaport

News means not just what we mean by it, but it’s really what’s, what’s the latest report, what’s the newest piece of information? 

Not the gossip, but the Right, 

Paul Nicholas

But but, but she’s specifically looking for details on his whereabouts, like 

Gideon Rappaport

Correct. She’s not asking him how he’s feeling. Right. He’s asking him what he has to report about Ford. 

Paul Nicholas

Yeah, about, about fap. 

Gideon Rappaport

I mean, sorry about fap. 

Paul Nicholas

Yeah. 

Gideon Rappaport

I meant, yeah. Is 

Paul Nicholas

he here? Is he coming? Well, you kind of know he’s coming. Have you been true to us, Mrs. Page? I, I don’t know how you’re gonna, well, you can figure this out. Why does she all of a sudden suspect him? That’s up to you. So help me here. So, 

Michele Schultz

Well, he’s a, IIII think that she’s, he’s just a kid. Yeah. You know, and not necessarily really reliable. And I think at first her, she wants to put the fear of God into him. Like, if you are not true to us, we are going to, you’re gonna regret it. And then when he says, and then when he, he, he, he, he convinces her that, oh no. He, he even, he stood up to being threats of being threats, you know, fired by, by full staff. Then she, she, she rewards him. Oh. That, it’s gonna be a tailor to me. You’ll get a new pair of doublet and hose. 

Paul Nicholas

Meaning, Meaning you are gonna make him 

Michele Schultz

Be rewarded. 

Paul Nicholas

Right. Meaning you are gonna make him a new doublet and hose, or you’re gonna get one of your people to make him one. But my question 

Michele Schultz

or Give him money to 

Paul Nicholas

Yeah. Okay. Or give him money to, right. My question is, what makes you, what in what he says makes you suspect him and I will be transparent. When I directed it, I had him stick his hand out and ask for money. And it’s, so she wondered, wait, did you just say that so you could get paid and then you’re gonna leave? Because there’s, I don’t see anything in the lines to make Mrs. Page all of a sudden be suspicious of him. 

Gideon Rappaport

I wanna just say that true means faithful in fulfilling what we asked you to do. 

Paul Nicholas

Meaning Not to tell false staff about our plan. 

Gideon Rappaport

Yes. And, and carry the message we told you to carry. I don’t think it has, has any, I mean, the word has echoes to what they are. They’re true in, in the sense of faithful to their husbands as a quality. But I don’t think they’re talking about his quality as a person. They’re just, they wanna know, has he done what they asked him to and not given away the game. Right. Right. I, i, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s the, it’s the, the, the being faithful being, being true to us, not betraying the wives. And I think that says something about Mistress Paige’s character. That, and that’s why I, I didn’t feel like I needed a gesture or something. 

It’s just I see this little jack of apes and I’m immediately suspicious of any, you know, any, you know, little kid like that. You know, they, they, they, they, they’re just just not reliable. You know, they’re, they’ll, you can, you can, they’re, they’re malleable. You can push them this way in that way. And I wanna make sure that he understands that he, that it’s really important for him not to betray us The same way you wanted to make sure that the buck basket was red. Right. Right. But You are trying to cover all the Right possible Glitches. Yes. So 

Paul Nicholas

then are you both saying that there’s nothing that in Robin’s lines that makes her suspicious? 

Michele Schultz

I honestly didn’t think so. No. Because 

Paul Nicholas

it seems weird that she calls him, she insults him to say, are have you been true to us? I 

Gideon Rappaport

don’t think it’s an insult in the context. It’s she’s a mistress and he’s a servant. Yeah. It’s, it’s a question. It’s a legitimate question. And it may imply you’re telling us Ford’s, sir John is at your back door and request your company, sir John is here. 

And she’s saying, really? Are you sure? Did you tell him what we needed you to tell him? So it’s, it’s more wanting to, it’s more her character of wanting to be, I would say it’s more her character of wanting to be sure than seeing anything in what he said that that made her suspicious. Okay. And he responds with a leap. Like it’s a leap to he could have said Yes, that’s what you told me to do. And that’s what I did. But he says he’s gonna swear to it. Yeah. Which is a, which is a big leap. And I think that I haven’t given think that I haven’t given you away. My master knows not of your being here. Yes. I’ve done what you asked and I haven’t given you away. 

Right. I mean, and I, and I think that my, my line about Mr. Page’s line about have you been true to us? That’s kind, that’s, I’m throwing my weight around, you know, bullying him a little bit to try and find out whether in fact he might have betrayed us. Because for all I know, I mean, you know, I’m a clever woman too, and I’m not necessarily going to be true to anybody who asks me something. But, but especially when you’re dealing with a child, he, he might have let something slip. I would, I would disagree about the last part. You are gonna be true no matter who asks you what, except when you’re actually focusing on trying to fool someone like fall staff. 

Okay? You’re, you’re basically an honest woman. Okay? You, you, you, this is, this is kind of exaggerated fun for you. Two, you’re not used to lying to people and creating false stories, but you’re so reacting to those letters you got from false staff before that it’s driven you to this kind of fun. 

But I think I am bullying Robin. I mean, it’s perfectly reasonable to think he’s a, he’s a little boy servant and you’re a, a grown woman mistress. And so you could, yeah. 

Paul Nicholas

Okay. And just so that not, Robin’s not really important here, but Gideon, when Robin says he had threatened to put me into everlasting liberty, if I tell you of it, if I tell you of the fact that he is here, right? 

Gideon Rappaport

Yes. 

Paul Nicholas

He Doesn’t know that I didn’t tell him that you are here. And he has threatened to fire me if I tell, if I tell you that he’s here. 

Gideon Rappaport

Yes. 

Paul Nicholas

Good. Okay. 

Todd Scofield

So that’s not a malaprop. 

Gideon Rappaport

Not, well it’s funny because it sounds like it is, it sounds like Shakespeare’s gonna make of Robin a joke, but when he finishes for he swears he’ll turn me away. It turns out that Robin is much cleverer than we thought from that earlier line. So clever, let’s say than John and Robert because he’s making a joke everlasting liberty, because he swears he’ll turn me away and I’ll be freed. And that that’s not good. ’cause he won’t have anything to do or anybody to serve and or any way to eat. So everlasting liberty would be a punishment and he means it. 

And we think it’s a joke until he completes his sentence and then it’s not a joke. 

Todd Scofield

Right. Right. 

Paul Nicholas

Got it. 

Gideon Rappaport

It’s not, it’s not like, it’s not like elbow in, in measure for measure. I, you’ll be condemned to everlasting redemption for this. 

I think that’s or like, 

Paul Nicholas

or like slender in this play. 

Gideon Rappaport

Right? 

Paul Nicholas

Right. We shall live in ever la We shall be contempt. 

Gideon Rappaport

Yeah, exactly. 

Paul Nicholas

How about we go from how now my is musket. How’s that? And then we go, go into Sir John, how do y’all feel about that? 

Corinna Christman

Great. Cool. How? Now my is musket What news with you? 

Paul Nicholas

And remember that you’re asking him, it’s almost, it’s almost like, okay, is the plan on? 

Corinna Christman

Yes. Okay. 

Paul Nicholas

Okay. One more time. 

Corinna Christman

How now my eyes musket. What news with you? 

Paul Nicholas

My master Sir John, is come in at your back door, Mrs. Ford, and request your company 

Michele Schultz

Little Jacqueline, have you been true to us? 

Paul Nicholas

Aye. I’ll be sworn. My master knows not of your being here and have threatened to put me into everlasting liberty. If I tell you of it for he swears he’ll turn me away. 

Michele Schultz

Th to good boy. The secrecy of vine shall be a tailor to thee and shall make the a new doublet and hose. I’ll go hide me. 

Do so go tell thy master I am alone Mistress Paige, remember you, your cue. I’m Worthy if I do not act, if I do not act it his me Go to them. 

We’ll use this unwholesome humidity, this gross watery Ian, we’ll teach him to know turtles from Jays. 

Todd Scofield

Have I caught the, my heavenly jewel? Why now let me die where I’ve lived long enough. This is the period of my ambition. Oh, this blessed hour. 

Corinna Christman

Oh, sweet. Sir John 

Todd Scofield

Mistress Ford. I cannot cog, I cannot wait mistress forward now, shall I sin in my wish? I would. Thy husband were dead. I’ll speak it before the best Lord I would make be my lady. 

Corinna Christman

I your lady. So John Les, I should be ful lady. 

Todd Scofield

Let the court of France show me such another. I see how th I would emulate the diamond. 

Thou has the right heart to beauty of the brow that becomes the ship tire. The tire valiant for the tire of vish Venetian admittance. 

Paul Nicholas

Okay, hold. Let’s talk about these tires, sir. John? 

Todd Scofield

Yes. So to headdress, according to the lexicon. 

Gideon Rappaport

Correct. 

Paul Nicholas

Which is why, which is why she says no, I’m just a plain handkerchief. 

Todd Scofield

Yeah, 

Gideon Rappaport

Right. It’s a big boat-like headdress that was worn at court, particularly in foreign courts. 

Todd Scofield

So, And when he calls it a ship tire, is he talking, is he talking about like the decoration at the prow of a ship? 

Gideon Rappaport

Yeah, it’s a headdress in the form of a ship or in the form of the sails and such headdresses. 

Todd Scofield

Oh, tire valiant. 

Gideon Rappaport

No other use of this word has been recorded. It’s probably means fanciful or extreme headdress. Taking valiant as an intensive adjective, a particularly gross kind of headdress tire. Tire comes from a tire, right? A tire 

Todd Scofield

Right? A tire. Yeah. 

Gideon Rappaport

So think of it that, don’t think of a a, don’t think of a car. Automobile, tire. 

Todd Scofield

Yep. 

Gideon Rappaport

Think of, think of headdresses. I had a couple things I wanted to mention about speech if I could please. Corinne line 21. Yes. Can you give us a liquid you on the word news? 

News. News Instead of what news, what news? You hear the difference? Yeah. Yeah. News. News. Okay. And then the other thing for you was the line. 41, you hit the pronoun. And I’m a, I’m 

Todd Scofield

a, 

Gideon Rappaport

I have a hobby horse about not hitting pronouns unless there’s a reason to. And there is often a reason to. But here there’s not, I I’d like you to go to the point, which is turtles from Jays. A turtle dove is a faithful lover. And a j is the opposite. 

Paul Nicholas

Fickle. 

Corinna Christman

Okay. Yeah. 

Todd Scofield

As, as, as a former speech teacher of Paul’s. And mind you, you need a dispensation for those pronouns. 

Gideon Rappaport

That’s right. 

Todd Scofield

You haven’t been given a dispensation. Leave them alone. Yeah. 

Gideon Rappaport

Shakespeare. Shakespeare can we’ll give you that dispen dispensation from time to time. 

Todd Scofield

That’s right. 

Gideon Rappaport

We’re not there. Okay. Okay. Got it. That’s it. Oh, one more thing. Corinne. Yeah. Yeah. This was from before, but I’ll say it now. I, i long eye instead of all, All, Okay. Eye apostrophe, lll. Just give us the long eye. And the reason is I would normally say the back row of the audience, but now we’re listening once removed on zoom. So whoever’s listening needs to have that vowel long. 

Okay. Okay. Go ahead. 

Paul Nicholas

Gideon. In my version, they have changed the word poon to pumpkin. 

Gideon Rappaport

Yeah. It’s the same meaning. So you can choose whichever you want. 

Paul Nicholas

Got it. Where do you wanna go from Sir John? Where do you wanna go from? 

Todd Scofield

Well, we weren’t that far in. We just go from my entrance. 

Paul Nicholas

Okay. Carina, I keep wanting to say Carina. Carina, Karina. Yeah. So when you get to that line where you say, I fear you love Mrs. Page, mistress page. Yes. I feel like you are yelling her name. 

Corinna Christman

Okay. 

Paul Nicholas

To cue her to come on. 

Corinna Christman

Okay. 

Paul Nicholas

So I wonder if some of your previous lines, if you could have found a way to go hiss, because she says if I do not act, it hiss me. Which means, you know, if a bad actor’s on the stage instead of clapping, you go. But also you are taking it to mean get my attention by hissing. 

Corinna Christman

Okay. This is 

Paul Nicholas

Just me trying to be make it funny. 

Corinna Christman

Okay? Yeah. 

Paul Nicholas

And if you’re going hiss, hiss and she’s not coming on and you go, I think you love and you say her name really loudly mistress page to get her to enter because he’s all over you. 

Corinna Christman

Yes. 

Paul Nicholas

And he’s, he’s very handsy. He’s not handsy on zoom. But if we were on stage, he’d be handsy. 

Corinna Christman

So his like, should I try to work it into the words or just his like, you, 

Paul Nicholas

You have fun. I don’t know. You have fun. 

Corinna Christman

Alright. 

Paul Nicholas

But the, but the point is you are trying to get her attention and it’s not right in the beginning, but like 

Corinna Christman

Yeah. Closer to the saying her name. 

Paul Nicholas

Yeah. Like maybe after the tire stuff. Yes. 

Corinna Christman

Okay. Okay. Yeah. 

Paul Nicholas

Okay. We’ll see what happens. Go go Sir John, 

Todd Scofield

Have I copy my heavenly jewel? Why now lemme die for I have lived long enough. This is a period of my ambition. Oh, this blessed hour. 

Corinna Christman

Oh sweet. Sir John 

Todd Scofield

Mistress Ford. I cannot call, I cannot pray mistress forward now shall I sin in my wish? I would. Thy husband we’re dead. I’ll speak it before the best Lord. I would make them my daily. 

Corinna Christman

Hi your lady, sir John Les. I should be a pitiful lady. 

Todd Scofield

Let the court of France show me such another. Oh, I see how thy and I would emulate the diamond. How has the right arched beauty of the brow that becomes the ship tire, the tire valiant or any tire of Venetian admittance. 

I’m 

Corinna Christman

playing kerchief Sir John. My brow has become nothing else nor that. Well, neither 

Todd Scofield

I were a tyrant to say. So that would make an absolute courtier and the firm fixture of thy foot would give an excellent motion to thy gate in the semi-circle. Farthing gale. I see what thou word. If fortune thy fo were not nature thy friend come. I can’t not hide it. Can we stop here Paul? 

Paul Nicholas

Yes, please. 

Todd Scofield

I’m wondering if we could switch some words and say, I see what thou worked. If fortune were not by foe nature, I think it’s clearer. 

Paul Nicholas

I also wanna know what you mean by that. If fortune were dfo, were not nature thy friend. 

Todd Scofield

Okay. Do you 

Paul Nicholas

Think she’s poor? 

Todd Scofield

I think she’s poor. Or, or I mean, I don’t think she’s that poor. ’cause I’m trying to get money from her husband. 

Paul Nicholas

She’s definitely not poor. ’cause Brooke comes to you. Ford comes to you as Brooke and tells you how much money he has. 

Todd Scofield

Right? I she No, she, She’s not at tired the way that the low the high ladies are. She doesn’t have all the, she doesn’t have the, the army of servants and, and the dress maker to make her a new dress for every week. And, and the, you know, the to do the hair and the makeup. And I’m saying that I can see what that would be if you were a great lady. If fortune by foe were not by foe. If fortune were not by foe. 

Gideon Rappaport

That’s what it means. If fortune were not by foe. It’s just an inversion of subject and of, of the vote. 

Todd Scofield

Yeah. 

Gideon Rappaport

And the negative. But I just wanna help clarify this, sir. John Falstaff has been made a night, he’s kind of a carpet night. It’s not a reward for courage really. But he has been made a night already by the henry. The fourth place 

Todd Scofield

Right. 

Gideon Rappaport

Is of a higher rank than a towns person like Mr. Ford and Mistress Ford 

Todd Scofield

E even a wealthy one. Yes. 

Gideon Rappaport

But they’re wealthy and he’s not so 

Todd Scofield

Right. 

Gideon Rappaport

He wants to make her his lady because the wife of a knight is called lady. So-and-so Right. A it’s an in, it’s a rise in rank it Trying to seduce her with this bladder, but also this image of her rising up the scale, even though as we know, he belongs much lower in the moral scale than, than than he is, he’s higher officially in the social scale. So that’s, that, that is picturing her to be, now the, the problem with the picture is that it would take a fortune to dress her the way he’s thinking, the way he’s saying he thinks of her as dressing. Right. 

Todd Scofield

She 

Gideon Rappaport

would not only have to be a lady, but she’d have to have all this money to spend on clothes and so on. Courtier Falls staff himself can’t afford to be cordier. That’s why he wants her money. So I’m just trying to, I’m trying to give those layers in so that it, it helps make 

Todd Scofield

Yes. 

Gideon Rappaport

Fortune is her foe because she’s married to Ford. 

Todd Scofield

Right. 

Gideon Rappaport

Nature Is her friend because she’s so beautiful. 

Paul Nicholas

Beautiful. Right, 

Todd Scofield

Right. 

Gideon Rappaport

Okay. 

Paul Nicholas

Todd, I’m generally very welcoming and of of ideas, but I like the poetry. If, if fortune that four were not okay, you don’t like it. 

Gideon Rappaport

It’s very false Ian 

Paul Nicholas

And very false Ian. Okay. ’cause he thinks he’s a poet and he is not. 

Gideon Rappaport

Okay. 

Todd Scofield

And 

Gideon Rappaport

also if you look at the consonants, you’ve got three F’s in that line. If fortune thy foe, were not nature thy friend. So fortune foe balanced by nature, and then friend and foe and friend are opposites. So the structure of the line is, it’s, it’s prose. That’s true. It’s not a verse line. But nonetheless, Shakespeare is doing it on purpose, let’s say. 

Todd Scofield

Okay. And 

Gideon Rappaport

it’s rhetorical. So you can make it as exaggeratedly rhetorical as you want. If fortune thy foe, were not a nature thy friend, you know? 

Todd Scofield

Yeah. 

Gideon Rappaport

I don’t want to give you how to do the line. I’m just saying you can ize it as much as you like. ’cause that’s faff using his skill. Yeah. 

Paul Nicholas

What he, what he thinks is his skill. But, but there is something peculiar about this Gideon. He says, I can see what, what you would look like if you were not in this social status, as you say. But then he tax on that nature is thy friend. And it sounds as if he’s saying, if you were not in this social status and not as pretty as you are, which is weird. 

Gideon Rappaport

I think he means nature being thy friend. If fortune thy foe were not nature being thy friend because you’re so beautiful. 

We, you could, we could 

Paul Nicholas

dress you up in a, in a farther than gay. 

Gideon Rappaport

Right. 

Todd Scofield

See, I’m thinking, I, I think he’s saying, I can see what that would be like if you were in this higher so social status and if nature was more your friend. 

Gideon Rappaport

But how is nature not her friend? 

Todd Scofield

She’s not nearly as beautiful as he’s saying. 

Gideon Rappaport

I see. I don’t think he’d say that. 

Paul Nicholas

He, 

Gideon Rappaport

I don’t think he’d say that if he were trying to seduce her the whole time. 

Todd Scofield

Well, But he’s covering, he’s covering it in all this great language. He’s saying. I can, I can see your 

Gideon Rappaport

Potential. Okay. 

Todd Scofield

Can see what you’d be if you were rich. 

Michele Schultz

I I have beautiful, I Have to, I have to disagree Todd. 

Todd Scofield

Yeah. 

Michele Schultz

I I think it’s, she’s clearly trying to denigrate herself. She says, oh, I’m just a plain ef, you know? Yes. 

Todd Scofield

I’m, I’m 

Michele Schultz

not, I’m not, I’m not. I don’t have a beautiful brow. And you know, and I don’t even look that good in a plain culture. And he’s trying to say, I think when, when he says that would make an absolute portrait culture, he’s saying, no, you would fit in that place beautifully because you are so noble, inherently noble and beautiful. And it’s just a, you know, shit out of luck. That, that, that, that fortune was not your friend. And you, you got stuck with a Burgess like Ford 

Paul Nicholas

Also. Todd, what would you make of the line? I see how thine eye, thine eye would emulate the diamond. Is it, are you saying her eye is beautiful or her eye wants to be beautiful? 

Corinna Christman

Could be beautiful. 

Todd Scofield

I’m saying if she, if she had diamonds on her neck, it would make her more beautiful. She would be beautiful. She would become the diamonds basically. I think he’s saying when you’re that wealthy, you’re just beautiful. You are, I dunno, 

Gideon Rappaport

I think, I think he means her eyes are like diamonds and it would show, it would be proven if she were diamonds to compare them to. But I wanna complicate everybody’s life. ’cause I just see in the ardent there’s a different kind of punctuation and Yeah. I wanna give you this choice now Arden says, I see what that word, if fortune parenthesis di fo were dash not nature dash th friend. 

Todd Scofield

Yes. That’s, that’s, that makes sense. That make sense? Fortunately, That makes sense. If you were rich instead of beautiful. I, I remember a button a friend of my had, it’s the funniest button. Buttons were big in, in the eighties in high school. And his button said, I wish I were rich instead of good looking. And I think that’s what he’s saying here. 

I can see what you’d be if you were rich and not just beautiful. 

Paul Nicholas

What’s that punctuation again? Gdia? 

Gideon Rappaport

I don’t think it means that. I think if fortune parenthesis, parenthesis were dash not nature dash friend. In other words, if fortune, who is now your foe, were your friend rather than just nature being your friend. 

Todd Scofield

Let me, let me read, let me read it Paul. This is a, I see what thou words if fortune th foe were not nature thy friend. 

Paul Nicholas

I have to say that makes sense to me. 

Todd Scofield

Yeah. 

Gideon Rappaport

I, it makes sense to me. Except I don’t accept that not nature means you’re not, nature’s not your friend now I think it means nature is your friend. 

Paul Nicholas

The Way he just said it to me sounded like nature’s your friend now. But 

Todd Scofield

not Nature’s your friend now. But I can see what you’d be if you were also rich. 

Gideon Rappaport

There you go. That’s it. That’s it. 

Todd Scofield

Or not just rich because she is wealthy. If you were in the better social, if you 

Paul Nicholas

Were a lady, If you were a lady, 

Gideon Rappaport

Now we agree. Now we agree. 

Todd Scofield

I see what word is fortune By foe. Were not nature by friend. 

Gideon Rappaport

Yes. 

Todd Scofield

Yeah. I think that’s better punctuation. 

Paul Nicholas

It makes That’s clear to me. That’s clear to me. ’cause I do, I I was having a hard time justifying him saying that she’s not as beautiful as she could be. That’s 

Todd Scofield

funny. I’m, I’m, this is the Folger version. Right. I just today started working for the Folger. So screw you Folger. That’s not better. 

Gideon Rappaport

Well, I’m looking at the apparatus in the Arden and the folio doesn’t help us at all. 

Todd Scofield

No. And 

Gideon Rappaport

the, there, there are 

Todd Scofield

Osier B didn’t know what to make of that line with punctuation. Come on you. 

Gideon Rappaport

There are many emanations by Pope and Alexander and others. And this the one I just gave you is the ardent editor’s guess about what it means. So I think that makes sense to me. I think you should take the punctuation to be whatever you can use to make it 

Todd Scofield

Yeah. 

Gideon Rappaport

Make the most sense to you. Yep. 

Paul Nicholas

And this ties back into I see how your eye would emulate the diamond. Yep. You have the right arch beauty of the brow that would fit the greatest headgear. 

Todd Scofield

I I think so too. Yes. 

Paul Nicholas

Yeah. Oh my gosh. This, this is one of the nerdiest conversations I’ve ever had. But I 

Todd Scofield

love, 

Paul Nicholas

I love it. I so love it. You think we can get to enter Robin before 10? Let’s try to get to enter Robin four 10. 

Todd Scofield

Okay. 

Paul Nicholas

So, so Todd, with that all in mind, do you wanna start again? Have I copied my heavenly jewel? 

Todd Scofield

Sure. 

Paul Nicholas

Which, Which by the way, I’m reading and Gideon probably has more on this that line. Have I copied my Heavenly jewel is an adapted quotation from a, a poem. I think the second song in Sydney’s Astro Fill and Stella 

Gideon Rappaport

Astro Fill and 

Todd Scofield

Stella. Okay. 

Gideon Rappaport

Astro Fill and Stella. 

Todd Scofield

Oh yeah, yeah. Astro Fill and Stella. Yeah. He’s 

Gideon Rappaport

A sonnet sequence of Sir Philip Sidney 

Todd Scofield

Shakespeare. Okay. Knew 

Gideon Rappaport

it when he wrote his sonnets. 

Todd Scofield

Gotcha. 

Gideon Rappaport

He is not in the original. Okay. 

Paul Nicholas

And that line was, have I caught my heavenly jewel was the, was Sidney’s line. 

Gideon Rappaport

Yeah. 

Todd Scofield

Okay. 

Paul Nicholas

So fall staff is lifting the line. 

Todd Scofield

He’s he’s quoting a sonnet. 

Paul Nicholas

Yeah. 

Todd Scofield

It’s like if he comes upon his lady, he’s wooing and he said, shall I compare the to a summer’s day? Right. Yeah. Okay. 

Have I caught the, my Heavenly Jew? Why now let me die for I lived long enough. This is the period of my ambition. Oh, this blessed hour. Oh 

Corinna Christman

sweet. Search on 

Todd Scofield

Mistress Ford. I cannot cog, I cannot pray Mistress Ford. Now, shall I sin in my wish? I would. Thy husband were dead. I’ll speak it before the best Lord. I would make bee my lady. 

Corinna Christman

Hi your lady. Sir John. Unless I should be a pitiful lady, 

Todd Scofield

Let the Court of France show me such another. I see how thy eye would emulate the diamond. Thou has the right arched beauty of the brow that becomes the ship tire. The tire valiant or any tire of Venetian admittance. 

A 

Corinna Christman

plain kerchief. Sir John, my brow has become nothing else nor that will neither 

Todd Scofield

Now are a tyrant to say. So now it’s make an absolute port here. And the firm fixture of thy foot would give an excellent motion to thy gate in a semi-circle. Farthing gale. I see what the word, if fortune thy foe were not nature th friend come. Thou can not hide it. 

Corinna Christman

Believe me. There’s no such thing in me. 

Todd Scofield

What made me love the let that persuade the, there’s something extraordinary in me. Come, I cannot cog and say thou art this and that. Like a many of these lising Hawthorne buds that come like women and men’s apparel and smell like butler’s bury in simple time. I cannot. But I love the nun. But the, and now deserves it smell like butler’s bury. 

Paul Nicholas

Yes. And lisping Hawthorne buds. I know what cu like women in men’s clothing means. You’re talking about these 

Todd Scofield

Effeminate court ears? 

Paul Nicholas

Dandies 

Todd Scofield

Dandies. Yes. Yes. 

Gideon Rappaport

Bury is a street in London, in the city of London where herbs were sold. 

Todd Scofield

Oh, okay. 

Gideon Rappaport

Well like that, that block of a street in London where they sold fresh Herbs. 

Todd Scofield

Okay. Yep. 

Gideon Rappaport

Bell’s good. And, and we have Hawthorne buds. 

Todd Scofield

Or maybe it’s a, maybe it’s actually a bit overpowering. 

Gideon Rappaport

It’s possible 

Todd Scofield

Because he’s using it pejoratively. 

Gideon Rappaport

Well because he is making fun of the kind of rulers 

Todd Scofield

Yes. 

Gideon Rappaport

The classic overdone woos of the stage. You know, that like oik that behave like oic. 

Todd Scofield

Yes. 

Paul Nicholas

The Oxford version says that Hawthorne buds are young perfume foxs. 

Todd Scofield

Yeah. 

Paul Nicholas

The Hawthorn blossom. A sign of spring 

Gideon Rappaport

Sign of spring and fine weather. Yes. 

Todd Scofield

I think he’s saying that’s not how a man should smell. 

Gideon Rappaport

Right. It’s, it’s kind of from the pastoral poetic tradition 

Todd Scofield

Smells like one of those candle stores in the mall. 

Gideon Rappaport

Yeah, yeah, 

Todd Scofield

Yeah. 

Paul Nicholas

And and men should not lis either. 

Todd Scofield

That’s right. 

Paul Nicholas

Big Rousing voices. That’s Right. ’cause if they, if that’s 

Gideon Rappaport

what wins love, I’m out of luck. 

Todd Scofield

Yep. Okay. 

Paul Nicholas

What is funny about this to me, it’s one of those jokes that you get in the car on the way home or at intermission, is that he says that he can’t do exactly what he’s doing. He says, I cannot cog and say thou word this and that. Like these fancy Dan. 

Todd Scofield

Oh yeah. See 

Paul Nicholas

What he’s doing. 

Todd Scofield

Yeah. Yep. Alright. 

Paul Nicholas

You decide Todd, if he’s aware that that is what he is doing or if he’s not aware, that’s what that is what he’s doing. Okay. 

Todd Scofield

What made me look, go ahead. Sorry. What? 

Gideon Rappaport

I knew you as well as Heath that made Ye 

Todd Scofield

Oh yeah. 

Gideon Rappaport

If You pointed out to him. Oh yeah. I knew what I was doing. 

Todd Scofield

What made me love the let that persuade me. There’s something extraordinary in the come, I cannot cog and say that this and that. Like a many of these Li Hawthorne bud that had come like women in men’s apparel and smell like butlers very in simple time. I cannot, but I love the numb. But the, I now deserve stick. 

Do 

Corinna Christman

not betray me, sir. I fear you love mistress Paige. 

Todd Scofield

Oh, might as well say I love to walk by the counter gate, which is as hateful to me as the, which is as hateful to me as the wreck of a lime kil. 

Paul Nicholas

Oh, hold, hold there, hold there. Wre wreak of a lime kill. 

Todd Scofield

Mm oh wreak. Yep. Yep. It sure is reek 

Gideon Rappaport

Counter gate is the gate to the debtor’s prison. 

Todd Scofield

Oh, okay. 

Paul Nicholas

And what’s lime kiln again? 

Gideon Rappaport

Lime kill is I kill fired clay. Okay. 

Paul Nicholas

Oh, and it sticks. 

Gideon Rappaport

Yeah. It has to, it it’s producing, it’s producing all of the odors that come from heating the clay and the clay’s got who knows what in it. Right. And glazes and things. They, they’re, it’s, it’s not pleasant to walk by the, the door of a line kill when it’s open. 

But he’s more afraid of the counter gate. ’cause that’s where they take debtors who can’t afford to pay their bills. 

Todd Scofield

Gotcha. All right. Which 

Paul Nicholas

is interesting that he would admit that to her. But 

Todd Scofield

Yeah, 

Gideon Rappaport

It’s a kind of standard comparison of false steps. ’cause he is got it in mind. Yeah. 

Paul Nicholas

Shall we go from Do not betray me, sir. Yeah. 

Corinna Christman

Do not betray me, sir. I fear you love mistress Paige. 

Todd Scofield

I might as well say I love to walk by the counter gate, which is as hateful to me as the wreck of, as the wreak of a lime kill. 

Corinna Christman

Well, heaven knows how I love you and you shall one day find it. 

Todd Scofield

Keep that in mind. I’ll deserve it. 

Corinna Christman

Na, keep in that mind. 

Todd Scofield

Keep in that mind. Yes. Keep in that mind. I’ll deserve it. 

Corinna Christman

Nay, I must tell you. So you do. Or else I could not be in that mind. 

Paul Nicholas

What the hell does that mean? Yeah. I must tell you So. You do. 

Gideon Rappaport

Oh, you do deserve it. So 

Paul Nicholas

You do deserve it. 

Gideon Rappaport

Yeah. 

Paul Nicholas

Now I must tell you, so you do Or else I could not be in that mind. 

Gideon Rappaport

I heaven knows how I love you. Okay. We know she doesn’t love sar sars. He knows. He thinks she does. Okay. He says keep in that mind, meaning keep loving me. I will deserve your love. And she says, you do deserve how I love you, which is to disapprove of you or else I could not be in the mind if you didn’t deserve it. I wouldn’t hate you as much as I do not hate. Exactly. But be outraged by and disapprove of. 

Paul Nicholas

So, so you do doesn’t mean I will tell you how I feel. So that you will deserve it. It means, in fact you do deserve it. Sir, 

Corinna Christman

I must tell you, thus you do deserve. 

Paul Nicholas

Yeah. 

Michele Schultz

And I think she’s talking about deserving the trick that she’s going to play on him. 

Paul Nicholas

Correct. He doesn’t know that’s gonna happen. And, and her true feelings. 

Michele Schultz

Yeah. Correct. 

Paul Nicholas

Yes. Mrs. Page, we might get you in here. 

Michele Schultz

Ah, 

Paul Nicholas

From, from from Will Heaven knows how. I love you. 

Corinna Christman

Well, heaven knows how I love you and you shall one day find it. 

Todd Scofield

He in that mind. I’ll deserve it. Na, 

Corinna Christman

I must tell you. So you do. Or else I could not be in that mind. 

Paul Nicholas

Mrs. Ford, Mrs. Ford. Here’s Mrs. Page at the door sweating and blowing and looking wildly and would need speak with you presently. 

Todd Scofield

She shall not see me. I will ensconce me behind the hes 

Corinna Christman

Pray. You do So. She’s a very tattling woman. What’s the matter how now? Oh, misre Spa. What have you done? You’re shame. You’re over. You’re undo forever. What’s the matter? Good mistress Paige. Oh, well, A day mistress fraud. Having an honest man to your husband to give him such cause of suspicion. What cause of suspicion. What cause of suspicion out upon you. How am I mistook in you? What? 

Paul Nicholas

Hold, hold please. Do you think, do you think these ladies have written down a script or are they improving? 

Corinna Christman

Hmm. 

Paul Nicholas

Are they, did they say, okay, I’ll come in and and I’ll say, oh, I can’t believe you’re doing this and you’ll say, or did they actually have it scripted? 

Gideon Rappaport

I think there’s an area between those two, 

Paul Nicholas

Which, which sounds like 

Gideon Rappaport

They, they planned out what they’re gonna say, the basic meaning of what they’re gonna say, but they haven’t written down the words. Right. I think, I think it’s sort of like Mrs. Ford, you’re going to play innocent at first. You’re not going to admit it until I until I get it out of you. But the exact words are, are improv. Right. 

Paul Nicholas

Okay, well then what if Mrs. Ford and Mrs. Page always wanted to be actresses, but they’re terrible at it. Okay. They want, they, they see these women on stage or in their time. Men. But our play is set whenever. 

And they wanna be actresses, but they’re just terrible at it. 

Which is even better if they’re improv. 

Why? 

Gideon Rappaport

Why are you inventing a drama that isn’t there? That’s my question. You mean me? You. 

Paul Nicholas

Why is it a drama? 

Gideon Rappaport

Because you’re making another layer of, of dramatic irony for the audience. 

Paul Nicholas

For for, for the sake of humor, I think. 

Gideon Rappaport

Okay. 

Paul Nicholas

Let’s see. It may not work. Let’s see. 

In other words, it should, it it should be clear to the audience that these lines are contrived. 

Gideon Rappaport

That’s true. 

Paul Nicholas

It should be very clear. 

Corinna Christman

Yeah. 

Paul Nicholas

Oh, I can’t believe you would do that to me. What a horrible friend you are. Why? What did I do? You know? 

Gideon Rappaport

Right. Overacting, 

Paul Nicholas

Overacting. That’s what I’m saying. 

Gideon Rappaport

And the key is that Falstaff is so moved motivated that he will choose to believe it. Yes. And I think some of these, I don’t think they practiced this together, but I do think some of the lines, like on their own, like Mistress Ford is like, I’m gonna say something about a thousand pounds you were outta the house. Like it’s 

Paul Nicholas

Yes. Just in 

Corinna Christman

her mind. Like I know, I know some things I’m gonna say yes. Some of these lines are a little Overheard. 

Paul Nicholas

And, and I think Mrs. Page may have done the same thing and maybe you’re impressed with each other or maybe you catch each other off guard. I don’t know. Yeah. Mrs. Page from your entrance again. 

So it’s, I’m sorry, Mrs. Page’s entrance. And Mrs. Ford says, what’s the matter? How now 

Corinna Christman

What’s the matter? How now? Oh mistress, what have you done? You throne, you’re forever. What’s the matter? Good mistress Paige. Oh well a day mistress fault. Having an honest man to your husband to give him such cause of suspicion. 

What cause of suspicion. What cause of suspicion out upon you. How am I mistook you? Why alas, what’s the matter? 

Your husband’s coming here. The woman with all the officers in Windsor to search for a gentleman that he says is here now in the house by your consent to take an ill advantage of his absence. 

You are undone. He’s not. So I hope Pray heaven it be not so that you have such a man here, but his most certain, your husband’s coming with half winds or at his heels to search for such a one. 

I come before to tell you if you know yourself clear why I am glad of it. 

But if you have a friend here convey, convey him out. 

Be not amazed. Call all of your senses to death to you. Defend your reputation or bid farewell to your good life forever. 

What shall I do? There is a gentleman, my dear friend and I fear not my own shame so much as his peril. I had rather than a thousand pound he were outta the house. Oh, shame never stand. You had rather, and you had rather your husband’s here at hand. 

But think you of some conveyance. Oh, in the house. You cannot hide him. Oh. How you have deceived me. 

Oh look, here is a basket. If he’d be of any reasonable stature, he may creep in here and throw foul line upon him as if you were gonna bucking. Or it is, it is, it is waiting time sent him by your two men to dash at me. He’s too big to go in there. What shall I do? 

Todd Scofield

No, lemme see it. Lemme see it all. Lemme see it. 

Paul Nicholas

Okay. Okay. Hold, hold, hold, hold. We have five minutes left. Oh my gosh. I wanna, I wanna, before we hand it over to 

Todd Scofield

Jules, 

Paul Nicholas

I’d love to give Gideon the last word on any notes. I have a specific question, but go ahead. I’m gonna find my question. 

Gideon Rappaport

I just have a couple at line 53, Todd. Yeah. Let the court of France give us more on France. It’s as if the court of France is the pinnacle of of style and 

Todd Scofield

Yes. Fancy style. 

Gideon Rappaport

Yeah. 

Todd Scofield

Fancy. Gotcha. Yeah. 

Gideon Rappaport

And then stand not amazed. Mistress page, I think you say this, am amazed means usually more than what we mean by just amazement. 

It means as, it means befuddled and stymied as if you were in a maze. You don’t know, you’re not doing anything. You’re just kind of struck dumb right 

Todd Scofield

here in the headlights. 

Gideon Rappaport

Yes. And then that, that leads you to this call your senses to you. Yes. Yes. It’s all pretending. Yes. But it, it creates that feeling of her, her being stock still astonished. And then she says later, stand, stand, whatever it is, stand not. 

Paul Nicholas

Yes. That was my question. 

Michele Schultz

Not, We don’t, we don’t have, we I think for that, what I was thinking of is we don’t have time for you saying, oh, I wish I’d done that. I wish I’d done that. Correct. Don’t your husband’s here. Get him hidden. Get him Out. Get moving. Get moving. Don’t stand on that. Don’t stop. Right. Don’t be still there. Don’t stuck. Get stuck on you. I’d rather that’s the comment. Get moving. 

Paul Nicholas

See, that was going to be my question. Gideon. 

Gideon Rappaport

Yes. 

Paul Nicholas

I I’m used to seeing it as, don’t never stand on this phrase or that phrase, but is that exactly what it means there? 

Gideon Rappaport

I think so, yeah. Let me see if there’s a note here about that. 

Paul Nicholas

’cause she’s, Mr. Ford just said the phrase I had rather this than that. 

Gideon Rappaport

That’s right. 

Paul Nicholas

But it’s just weird that the word on is not there. Never stand on 

Gideon Rappaport

The note says perhaps rely on or waste time over. In other words, the preposition isn’t there, but it’s implied. 

Like it could say never Stand, stand also means stop as opposed to move. So never stand there. Never stand. You had rather don’t stop at you had rather you, I’d rather it’s just he left out the pronoun, but it’s understood not the pronoun, the preposition 

Paul Nicholas

preposition. Michelle, as we go through later on, if you would be more comfortable putting the preposition the word on back in there. I would’ve no problem with that. Never stand on. But that’s up to you. Okay. 

Michele Schultz

I I you could say either way I can do it. Never stand at which means stop still at either way. Either way. So 

Paul Nicholas

You have three options. Leave it as is. Use on or use at. 

Michele Schultz

Okay, That’s it for me. Well, 

Paul Nicholas

those two hours, I mean I know we always say this, but it’s really true. Those two hours flew back, flew. 

Juls Hoover

I was listening the whole time. Like it was just, it flew. You’re, you’re, the work is amazing and I feel like Gideon, every time I’m in session with you, I leave and question all the words around me. 

Well it’s not a bad thing to do. No, absolutely not. No. The Opinion of it’s just curiosity. Yeah. And, and one of the things about teaching this to, to actors or to students or anybody, is that it causes you to pay attention to the language in a way that most times most people don’t now because we’re so bombarded with so much language and so much of it is shallow and doesn’t have layers of meaning and doesn’t have innuendos and so on, it’s just texting. You know? And so studying Shakespeare trains you, not just in Shakespeare, but in thinking about what words mean And their value. 

Paul Nicholas

Yes. 

Juls Hoover

Their 

Paul Nicholas

sacred piece And their relative value using 

Gideon Rappaport

this word instead of that one. Right. 

Paul Nicholas

One of the mottoes of the school that Todd and I went to was if you can act the classics, you can act anything. 

Juls Hoover

Yes. 

Paul Nicholas

And that was one of the, that was one of the linchpins that if you can, studying the classics makes you prepared to study Anything. 

Gideon Rappaport

That’s absolutely true. And my experience with actors is when they’ve been classically trained, they are much better at everything, including modern drama than when they’re not. And when they’re not, you have to go back and train them in the classics or they don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s like it doesn’t compute if it’s, if it’s not just subtext, they don’t know what to do with a text. But present company absolutely accepted. You’re all really fabulous at this. And as I said, the first read through was wonderful. So all we’re doing now is just polishing And that sense of curiosity I think too. And I love you. 

You were talking about getting nerdy with it. Like let’s nerd out. Right? Let’s get really nerdy with it. And that’s what this time is for, this specific time. ’cause so often you’re in rehearsal process and you don’t get that time to mine the text. And that’s what the rehearsal room is for. 

Well, that finishes week one. Thank you all so much. 

Please remember audience to subscribe and if you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment below and join us next week on Tuesday, September 10th. 

Have a beautiful evening everyone, and we’ll see you next week in the rehearsal room. Thank you. Thank you all so much. Thank 

Todd Scofield

Thank you guys. Bye. 

Gideon Rappaport

Bye. Bye.