Curated by EllaMae Fitzgerald ’27, Jade G. Haakonsen ’25, Faith Koontz ’27, Emily Schuster ’24, Carolyn Shepard ’27, Dulce Silva ’ 25.
AS YOU LIKE IT: RESPONSES TO PERFORMANCE
William T. Huyck. “Inside Robinson: Twelfe Night.” The Dartmouth, November 7, 1958.
In this review of the 1958 production of As You Like It from The Dartmouth, the female characters are described as “cute” and “dumb” and their appearances are sexualized. This is very different from the way the male characters are described, as they are seen as “powerful” and “cleanly.” This shows that women weren’t taken as seriously as men in the theater. The female actresses are also listed at the very bottom of the program, almost as afterthoughts, despite that they are playing the most crucial characters, such as Rosalind and Celia.
AS YOU LIKE IT: DARTMOUTH POSTCARD
A postcard from the 2001 production of As You Like It by the Dartmouth Players.
In our Shakespeare course, we discussed the politics of gender in a variety of plays, especially comedies such as As You Like It, where Rosalind woos Orlando while dressed as a boy named Ganymede. This postcard was delivered to residents in the area as a way of promoting Dartmouth’s Theater Department 2001 version of As You Like It. The image printed on the card has half a man’s face and half a woman’s face, perhaps representing both the Ganymede and Rosalind side of the character. Intriguingly, the woman’s side of the face is still more hidden in shadow than the man’s side.
AS YOU LIKE IT: A SHAKESPEAREAN LOVE QUIZ
Program insert from the 2001 production of As You Like It by the Dartmouth Players.
Audience members filling the theater in 2001 were each given a program, inside of which they could find this pink slip. This mini-quiz allows guests the opportunity to find out their “love style.” Looking closely, the concept and the answers seem more targeted towards women, and imply certain norms around ways of being in love.
AS YOU LIKE IT: DARTMOUTH REPERTORY THEATER
Contact Prints of the Dartmouth Repertory Theater Company’s adaptation of As You Like It taken by Joseph Mehling, College Photographer.
These images come from The Dartmouth Repertory Theater Company’s 1964 adaptation of As You Like It. A young actress plays a man at a time when women were just beginning to be brought to campus as students in the summer, and still had not been fully admitted at Dartmouth.
TWELFTH NIGHT: RESPONSES TO PERFORMANCE
Richard M. Rogin. “‘Twelfth Night’ is Happy Broad Comic Production.” The Valley News, November 6, 1958.
WIlliam T. Huyck. “Inside Robinson: Twelfe Night.” The Dartmouth, November 7, 1958.
The first play we read this term was Twelfth Night, a comedy of veiled identities which prompts a reconsideration of gender norms. These two articles were posted, one in The Dartmouth and the other in the Valley News, after a 1958 production of the play by the Dartmouth Players. Both articles degrade and hardly mention the women in the performance while showering praise upon the men. They rave about the men in the productions. The women, on the other hand, are accorded scant attention. While they are praised in The Dartmouth, it’s only in a few lines. In the Valley News, the women are said to have “some engaging moments.”
TWELFTH NIGHT: ITEMIZATION OF WOMEN IN THE TEXT
“... I will give out divers schedules of my beauty. It shall be inventoried and every particle and utensil labeled to my will: as, item, two lips indifferent red; item, two gray eyes with lids to them; item, one neck, one/ chin, and so forth.” –Twelfth Night, 1.5.243-248
This quote comes from a scene in which Olivia is talking to Viola, who she believes is a man named Cesario, sent to woo her on behalf of Orsino. While making fun of the common trope of the blazon in love poetry, she itemizes her own features, creating both self-deprecating humor (“indifferent red”) and a comment on the objectification of women.
KING LEAR: NAHUM TATE’S 1681 ADAPTATION
William Shakespeare and Nahum Tate. The History of King Lear: Acted at the Duke’s Theatre. London: Printed for E. Flesher, and are to be sold by R. Bentley, and M. Magnes in Russel-Street near Covent-Garden, 1681.
In this version of King Lear (1681), Tate redesigns a completely different play, switching it from The Tragedy of King Lear to The History of King Lear. This restoration of King Lear includes a happy ending, where Cordelia and Edgar fall in love, Cordelia survives, and Lear is redeemed. Whereas Shakespeare’s Folio is known for its apocalyptic, tragic ending, Tate’s revision includes a depth to Cordelia that continues through the epilogue, which is marked by victory and felicity. This makes for a stronger depiction of Cordelia and gives more storyline to enhance the presence and agency of women in the play, in an later age when women actors such as “Mrs. Barry” were allowed to play their own parts. The restored Lear offers hope for recovery and redemption that counter the devastating ending in Shakespeare’s original.
KING LEAR: CHARACTER SKETCH AND COSTUME DESIGN
Character/costume sketch from a 1949 production of King Lear.
The portrayal of women in the plays can be brought to life through costumes and stage presence. In ENGL 15 this quarter, we discussed how differences in interpretations often depends on whether we are thinking about the page or the stage. Here, the artist’s drawing is not labeled for a specific character, but an analysis of the text would suggest that it must be Cordelia. The blue and gold dress connects her to the design for King Lear (see case on your left) and may allude to her marriage to France. The blue may also be rooted in the Christian symbolism of the Virgin Mary.
“Now, our joy, / Although our last and least, to whose young love / The vines of France and milk of Burgundy / Strive to be interessed…” –King Lear, 1.1.91-94