Pamela Allen Brown, Associate Professor of English at UConn Stamford, will be presenting research from her latest book project at the UConn Humanities Institute on Monday Nov. 6. Titled, “Who’s It? Acting the Actress in Twelfth Night, or What You Will,” Brown’s talk explores how the famed actresses of Renaissance Italy influenced and inspired the all-male Shakespearean stage. (See below for an abstract of the talk.)
Where: UConn Humanities Institute, Babbidge Library, 4th Floor
When: Monday, November 6; refreshments served at 4:30; talk begins at 5 p.m.
Who’s It? Acting the Actress in Twelfth Night, or What You Will
Pamela Allen Brown, for UCHI 11/6/17
With a bawdy quibble on “will,” Shakespeare invites us to sample the varied erotic delights of his most sophisticated comedy. The play’s most comical and most risqué scenes depend on the talents of women who act like actresses: Maria, who invents and enacts a comic revenge; Viola, who woos a woman and loves a man, disguised as a lovely youth. Why did Shakespeare choose such an emphasis, given the lack of women on his stage? The answer lies in his fascination with the Italian professionals and their actresses, and his appropriation of their star scenes and methods. Actresses playing the innamorata in Italian touring companies had become famous in Italy, France, and Spain, influencing writers and attracting dukes, kings, and queens as patrons. Troupes crossed to England to play for the Queen and for London audiences, performing comedies and pastorals. English playwrights were tensely aware of the mixed-gender theater of their rivals; they constantly borrowed female-centered plots and roles from the Italians, enriching the repertory of the all-male stage.
Shakespeare created roles that pressed the talented “boy actress” to emulate and surpass the performance models that the diva made famous, including her frequent cross-dressing and skill at badinage. Viola is an outstanding example. Shipwrecked on an alien shore, Viola quickly turns to acting as means of employment and protection. Putting her wits and skills to work, she invents the charismatic Cesario, who overwhelms Illyria with what Joseph Roach calls “the It-effect.” Her ambitious invention is a runaway hit with the leading patrons in Illyria, Olivia and Orsino. Viola’s “act” also benefits her brother, who lucks into marriage with a rich countess and restores his fortunes, thanks to her. Twelfth Night deliberately places a high value on female theatricality in this erotic and economic marketplace: acting brings power and status to the rare woman who excels at it. Simulating star quality and virtuosity had to be a tall order for the boy playing Viola/Cesario, yet Shakespeare invokes and demands “the It-effect” in scene after scene.
For more information, contact: George Moore, English at george.p.moore@uconn.edu