THE PLAY PRODUCED

THE VENETI'AN TWINS by Carlo Goldoni, in a new version by Ranjit Bolt

Doreen Perry discusses her production for The Tonbridge Oast Theatre

We chose the Ranjit Bolt translation as the colloquial speech gave a feeling of energy, pace and irreverence.

PLOT

Goldoni, wishing to revitalise Italian theatre, persuaded the Com media dell' Arte actors to relinquish their stock routines, improvised scripts and masks to learn written parts. TH VENETIAN TWINS had it premiere in Venice in 1748 and was highly successful. The characters still relied on the tradition of the Commedia, with broad humour and characterisa tion and swift movement.

The action of the play takes place in a square in Verona, outside the inn and inside the Doctor's house.

Dr Balanzoni's daughter is due to marry Zanetto Bisognosi, a wealthy young man from Bergamo. The first meeting between the lovers is a stormy one as Zanetto has the manners of a country bumpkin and Rosaura slaps his face. She receives advice and comfort from Pancrazio, the villainous friend of her father, who secretly wishes to marry her.

Beatrice is travelling to Verona to meet onino Bisognosi, the handsome and debonair twin brother of Zanetto. She is escorted by his friend Florindo, and they are being followed by the foppish Lelio. Tonino has insulted a man by slapping his face, so the eloping lovers are taking separate routes as they flee to Verona.

Arlecchino, bringing clothes, money and jewels for his master Za.netto, unwittingly hands the treasure to Tonino who, being an honest man, gives the money to Pancrazio to distribute to the needy.

The rest of the plot depends on the mistaken identity of the twins, the villainy of Pancrazio, the dishonesty of Balanzoni, the duplicity of Florindo, and the fact that none of the protagonists realises that both brothers are in Verona at the same time. In the denouement Zanetto and Pancrazio die, Tonino is reunited with his lost sister and his bride. "The confusion that arose in a single day, on account of the Venetian twins" is finally resolved.

CASTING

the characters are broadly drawn and casting presented no major problems. Tonino/Zanetto, Rosaura, Beatrice, Lelio and Florindo supply the love interest and should be youngish. Dr Balanzoni and his friend Pancrazio are older men who are both villains in their own way. Colwnbina and Brighella, servants in the Balanzoni household, and Arlecchino, servant to Zanetto, and Bargello - the chief constable - have opportunities for broad humour. Tiburzio - a jeweller, the Porter and a silent Maid are small supporting roles which make up the rest of the cast.

Forhmately I was able to cast the Tonino/Zanetto very satisfactorily. Without this actor's physical and vocal dexterity it would have been impossible to stage the play. Initially I was disappOinted that no other young people came to the auditions; however, the more experienced actors understood the

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techniques of farce - in this respect age turned out to be an advantage. One actor doubled as Arlecchino and Tiburzio. As I also nm the Junior Drama Group of the theatre, I invited ten 9-13 year olds, plus four youngsters to join the cast. They were used at the beginning of the play to set the atmosphere of a busy town square. They also changed scenery, moved furniture and provided small cameo mimes between scenes.

REHEARSALS

We rehearsed for 11 weeks. For the initial "plotting", final dress rehearsals and the performances, the play was divided into two Acts. Act 1 ended in the Doctor's house with Pancrazio's speech. "What an incredible stroke of luck... " (Act 2, Scene 12). Act 2 then began outside the inn (Act 2, Scene 13) to the end of the play.

Many of the parts were small so, for the general rehearsals, the play was

divided into three groups a .

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the scenes concerning these were rehearsed in depth. G was Beatrice, Lelio, FI Pancrazio and the twins. was Rosaura, Doctor, Bri Columbina, Arlecchino, Balanzoni and the twins. was the whole cast, which mainly Act 3 as printed . realised that this Act would p many problems so we did nel to fall into the trap of tacklir difficulties at the last minute. tiny scenes of the Portl'r Bargello were included here.

Rehearsals rotated equally bet these three groups. It INa, possible to rehearse in this mar because the actor p ia Tonino/Zanetto was able ttl , rehearsing out of sequence. prevent confusion I made a char all the exits and entrances.

We had discussions about :5/.

delivery and performance . wanted to underline the com~

storyline. We settled for a _ pantomime style and as reheap progressed this was refined so . the characters, though b ro~

drawn, were sincere and be[j" in their relationships with .. other. It took time fo . characterisations to stabili"" adjustments were constantly made. As one character de;' I this had an effect on another, W

made rehearsals interesting.

SCENERY

The Oast Theatre pro \" excellent technical support teams who make scenen" costumes. I had long talks ,,:ith Technical Director, Designe.r Wardrobe long before we .. auditions.

We wanted a set which would _ the maximum of uncluttered .­space for safe and spt'>­movement. Another requ~ was to have the ability to >'1"

different visual focus differentiate the various scen~ devised a small Town Square colour washed houses in shad cream, blue and terracotta, ~ by the sun. A central arch, views over distant hills, was lir on the left to the inn and its door, and to the right attacht!l:. the Doctor's house, which had working windows, one high and the other low down. A fur archway DL gave the impressi.

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THE PLAY PRODUCED an alley leading to another part of the town. Permanent stage dressings were provided by two chairs and a ba rrel outside the inn and a raised flower bed DL.

For the two interior scenes, the long wall of the Doctor's house opened and swung back to reveal the inte.rior of iI room. It was a large flat on strong hinges supported at the bottom by a wheel. .Two of the young men in baize aprons opened the wall. Furniture was brought from the room onto the stage.

COSTUME

As we were using a olloquial translation it was not essential to set the play in 1748. I did not want to have the added difficulty of wigs, swords, breeches and tights, neither did I fancy modern dress, so we settled on a time reminiscent of the late 18005. The older, more affluent characters would wear formal dress - Pancrazio in black, Balanzoni in a smoking jacket of black velvet, check trousers and a small cap. Lelio had a cream suit, fancy waistcoat, spats and a broad brimmed hat.

We found a wonderful book of peasant costumes which inspired the design for the rest of the characters. We used harmonious colours of browns, greens, creams and muted reds.

To show the difference between the twins a special costume was devised - brown trousers and boots, a green jacket lined in yellow with the yellow reverse turned back to reveal a white, large collared shirt, a green tie, and a fancy orange waistcoat; false long white shirt cuffs on an elastic band peeped out from under the rather short sleeves of the jacket. To show the change into Zanetto, the dresser tucked the collar inside the jacket which was now fastened up under the chin with velcro, the edges of the jacket were pressed over to cover the white shirt, the cuffs were pulled off and iI scarf fastened round the neck as the actor ruffled his hair. Although he was wearing the same clothes, the slight adjustments, his stance, his manner and speech, created a totally different character.

MUSIC

Music was spec.ially composed

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by David Harding. He produced the sounds of an orchestra with a synthesizer and sequencer which were then recorded onto tape. He produced a bright, lively, fast moving and zippy score with a feeling of "what is going to happen next?" The curtain rose to a lively Ta rantella followed by a dance performed by the children to a Siciliana. The mood was set instantly. The tape contained several themes which I was able to extract for scene changes. There were some delightful effects, especially the end i ng w here the bell tolled for the death of Pancrazio and within seconds the music turned to a smile of delight which developed into joy for the future, as all was now well! This was played continuously through the last speech and for the curtain call.

LIGHTING

The lighting was simple. General cross lighting gave warmth, depth and atmosphere. The centre stage archway which gave a view onto hills was lit by two linear floods. The two opening windows which were used by actors were highlighted. When the interior room was used lighting on Stage Right was faded.

SPECIAL EFFECTS

Exits and entrances of the twins. Although we tried to make the reappearance of a twin as swift as possible, there were occasions when business had to be invented to enable the actor to make the slight adjustments to his costume.

The fights. We did not use conventional weapons. In the first fight Lelio was carrying a sword stick which he unsheathed. Florindo had no weapon but grabbed a ladies' umbrella from the arm of Beatrice's maid. When Tonino joined in the fight he took a sword which was hanging as part of the decoration of the inn sign. (We renamed the inn The Silver Sword.) In the second fight Lelio used the outer covering only of his sword stick as he had been disarmed earlier, Florindo attacking him with a toasting fork which he brought from out of the inn.

Death of Zanetto. To gain the maximum effect of this scene, when the body of

Zanetto is taken into the inn Tonino should appear as rapidly as possible. To do this Zanetto died half off stage DL. Columbina, discovering that he was ill, rushed into the house and returned with a blanket. As Florindo raised the alarm everyone gathered around to hide the body from view. When the audience's attention was focused on Arlecchino's entrance Columbina and Florindo held the blanket up high, the SM pulled Zanetto off stage and the props girl slipped into his place. The body was carried off slowly. Everyone faced the inn and as the door shut Tonino entered DL. All turned in amazement! It worked!

Death of Pa/1C/mio. This w as not effective as we were being too melodramatic. Taking a more subtle approach brought the solution. Pancrazio calmly drank the poison, gulped once, turned slowly and walked to the inn door, giving one deep stumble. As the door shut, music played the tolling of a bell, everyone crept towards the inn listening. Pancrazio gave a loud groan of agony, the crowd winced; a loud thud, hands clasped, heads bowed , the music changed, and slowly they looked at each other smiling. Tonino joyfully launched into the final speech and the music continued through the curta in call.

CONCLUSION ,

Although ours was an Anglo­Saxon version of the grea t Italian tradition, I feel that we travelled far, achieved much and gave enormous enjoyment to ourselves and to our audiences. The joy of this play for the director and actor is the boundless opportunity for imaginative invention.

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"THE PLAY PRODUCED" AND "THE MUSICAL P ODUCED"

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