Relationships, Oy Vey

So. Thanks to Angelina's brilliant post about Launce's exit, I started to consider the problem of relationships in this play from a performative point. Of course to say this play is about relationships is a given and obvious thematic fact, even the title indicates that (Two Gentleman of Verona implies not only relationship between two people, inferring the duality of the narrative, but also the relationship of person to place, indicating further the travel of the play). But as one considers the relationships, I think you have to remember that we have less than nothing to go on.

Consider: one of the play's main issues is the intense friendship between the "Two Gentlemen" of the title. Yet when do we see them on stage together? That's right: 4 times. The beginning when Valentine is trying to leave, Proteus' arrival at Milan and subsequent beginning of his betrayal, after the betrayal briefly as Valentine is banished, and then after the attempted rape when Valentine rescues Silvia (wonderfully just as Proteus claims he had just done... ahh the wonderful layers!). The problem, especially from Proteus' acting viewpoint is that the friendship is only in tact in ONE scene, and that scene is fraught with tension because Valentine wants to leave. This problem makes our jobs as the actors more important, and while it leaves us more flexibility, it also hinders us with lack of text.

Consider all of the relationships in this play. I would love to hear from you. All of them seem based on intense amounts of off stage action and VERY LITTLE presented for the audience.

Julia and Proteus have 2 scenes together as Julia and Proteus, one more if you count her in disguise as Sebastian, yet from Proteus' viewpoint that doesn't count. The one major scene where they promise fidelity is intensely short and almost pointless plot wise. It's a nice transition scene, but doesn't really offer much. It does allow the audience to see this couple together before they are torn asunder. So there's something, but again, not a lot of on stage time or dialogue to work off of for the relationship.

Proteus and Launce: As Angelina pointed out, Proteus shows himself to be a harsh master especially in the end of their last scene. This whole post erupted out of my reaction that no that's not true, Proteus is just being mercurial as always and is very frustrated that his orders were not executed to his desire. YET I began to argue and say when do we see Proteus kindly treating his boy Launce? The first time I acted with Angelina was two weeks ago for a brief bit after Valentine is banished, and I wasn't being kind. I think in the whole play I speak a total of 8 lines to her... only 8 lines for a signifcant relationship for both of the characters within the world of the play. And nothing to back my sense of their relationship, only beating and yelling at the servant.

So, back to the beginning. This is a play about relationships, right? Maybe not. Perhaps I may posit that this is a play about un-relationships, about the lack of them, about the breaking of them. This play may comically arrive at the notion that as humans we can never know another's heart or mind, no matter how hard we strive. On a theatrical level, Shakespeare has given us a text that works against our need as actors to create relationships. The play constantly removes information that should be vital; the play refuses to give us (audience and actors) the satisfaction of really knowing what these relationships are like. Instead, what we are left with, especially as audience members, is an imagined relationship. A relationship that does not exist in text or in acting, but one that your mind has created between the two people on stage. While this is technically always true of theatre, consider, as Adam Smith did in The Theory of Moral Sentiments, the extent to which this is true in life. If we never can know another's mind, what do we have access to? Our own and our imagination. Within that imaginative power, lies our sympathy and our feeling that we can understand someone else. In the end, you understand yourself alone, as your mind puts you in others' situations and concocts what they may feel.

So relationships, or lack thereof. That's Proteus' downfall and complication. As a final gesture, check this out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wapCTd5fS2Y
It's Tracy Chapman's song "Telling Stories". The lyrics are below, the link is to the video on YouTube.... enjoy.

"Telling Stories"
There is fiction in the space between
The lines on your page of memories
Write it down but it doesn't mean
You're not just telling stories

There is fiction in the space between
You and reality
You will do and say anything
To make your everyday life
Seem less mundane
There is fiction in the space between
You and me

There's a science fiction in the space between
You and me
A fabrication of a grand scheme
Where I am the scary monster
I eat the city and as I leave the scene
In my spaceship I am laughing
In your remembrance of your bad dream
There's no one but you standing

Leave the pity and the blame
For the ones who do not speak
You write the words to get respect and compassion
And for posterity
You write the words and make believe
There is truth in the space between

There is fiction in the space between
You and everybody
Give us all what we need
Give us one more sad sordid story
But in the fiction of the space between
Sometimes a lie is the best thing
Sometimes a lie is the best thing