She Stoops (the prompt)

G3&4:
Write up your take on a striking moment in the recorded performance: the what (what did the performers do?) and the so what (how did it work, and how well did it work?).

Oliver Goldsmith’s She Stoops to Conquer, simply put, is just plain fun. There were many laugh out loud moments in the script, and places I could see the scene unfolding in all its silliness in my mind, and I relished them! Several of the moments I enjoyed the most involved the wonderfully lovable Mr. Hardcastle. For his venerable experience, inability to reign over his own household, and desire to tell old war stories ad nauseum . . . sigh . . . I simply love him! He captured my heart as the forgetful grandfather figure we all miss.
One moment that makes me simply giddy involves the first meeting of Hardcastle, Marlow and Hastings in Hardcastle’s parlor. When the gentlemen arrive, Hastings and Marlow proceed to discuss matters of comfort, food, and clothing in front of Hardcastle who listens intently to their conversation. In his hope to make the men feel welcome, Hardcastle reminds them, “Pray be under no constraint in this house. This is Liberty Hall, gentlemen. You may do as you please here” (II.i.158-160). And much to Hardcastle’s chagrin, Hastings and Marlow do just that. Hardcastle’s attempts to recount the feats of The Duke of Marlborough are repeatedly cut off by Marlow and Hastings who banter over Hardcastle’s words about their various needs for the evening. What works especially well in the audio are the cut off lines and the little harrumph noises and stutters from Hardcastle as his story continues to be neglected by his newest audience. The palpable shock from Hardcastle, and the fact that this is lost on Marlow and Hastings must have been uproariously funny before the viewing audience. Doubly wonderful in this scene are all the asides that occur in which the audience is let in on Hardcastle’s inner thoughts while still attempting to remain hospitable to his guests; “For supper, sir! (Aside) Was ever such a request to a man in his own house!” (II.i.234-235). The audio clearly depicts the difference between the asides and the dialogue to feed the undercurrent of miscommunication in this comedy of errors that makes it so much fun.

Work Cited:
Goldsmith, Oliver. She Stoops to Conquer. Ed. James Ogden. London: New Mermaid, 2007.

I agree with Joanne in that there were several outrageously funny moments in the recording of She Stoops to Conquer. I think that with She Stoops to Conquer, even more so than The Beggar’s Opera, being able to have the auditory experience of the script was vital to getting the full effect of the story and characters. I loved the character of Mr. Hardcastle. The actor who read the part of Hardcastle had the perfect timbre and texture of voice to expand the flat character of the page into the three dimensional shape of a person. In terms of sheer entertainment, I loved the scene in which Tony receives a letter from Hastings, and is unable to read it correctly due to Tony’s limited mental capabilities (4.1.291-321). Tony trips over the words and takes pauses to curse the tight script of Hastings’ handwriting. It is nearly slapstick humor, the way the actor reads the part. The audience is held in suspense, almost wanting to rip the letter out of Tony’s hands and read it directly to him, inserting disparaging comments such as “You idiot! Why can’t you read?! Just sound it out!” When Mrs. Hardcastle arrives (4.1.321), the suspense boils over, as the audience becomes concerned that Tony might in fact be stupid enough to hand the letter over to Mrs. Hardcastle, which would dash the hopes of escape held by Miss Neville and Hastings. In the end, Mrs. Hardcastle does discover the plot, despite the best efforts of Miss Neville. However, the overall scene involving the letter is so comic that the audience is aware that the story will resolve itself favorably. To simply read that scene off the page would lessen its comic effect. The voices of the recording allow the listener to imagine the physicality of this priceless scene.

Work Cited:
Goldsmith, Oliver. She Stoops to Conquer. Ed. James Ogden. London: New Mermaid, 2007.

After viewing and reading She Stoops to Conquer, I was drawn to the prologues. They convey a desire to use comedic wit to entertain, yet inform their respective audiences. Each suggests that this play differs from the “weeping” or sentimental comedies of the time. The player in the video performance pokes fun at the “weeping comedy” in a historical sense as he says it “didn’t last too long”, while the written prologue mocks the sentimental comedy as Mr. Woodward enters “dressed in black, holding a handkerchief to his eyes” and says he “can’t yet speak” due to “crying all week” over the “comic muse, long sick, [and] now dying” (She Stoops to Conquer 7). Though the stage directions are not indicated, it is plausible that Woodard’s role as a comedian (see footnote pg. 7) offers the possibility that he delivers his lines with a sarcastic tone to display playfulness and jest. Both players’ attitudes towards the “weeping comedy” seem evident, yet their jokes are very much tailored to their specific audiences. For instance, in the video version, the players is clearly entertaining a modern-day audience as he offers a brief history of comedies as he mentions Aristophanes, the “mask[qu?]ed Italians”, Jonson, Mollier, and then praises the “English wit”. The most obvious jokes for his modern audience are those that ask the audience to silence their cell phones. He calls them “plastic Mozarts” that will distract the players on the stage. The audience’s laughter indicates that the modern jokes are both engaging and entertaining. Obviously, cell phone jokes did not and could not exist in the 18th century, but Woodard delights his audience through flattery; he calls them “the college you” (She Stoops to Conquer which places them in roles as “the College of Physicians” (see footnote pg. . Both prologues, while different, share the desire to amuse the audience while indicating the play’s departure from the popular “weepy comedies”.

Work Cited:
Goldsmith, Oliver. She Stoops to Conquer. Ed. James Ogden. London: New Mermaid, 2007.


p.s.- I have no idea why those little smiley face things keep appearing in my posts. I think it has something to do with the formatting? Sorry for those.

The performance of Mr. Hardcastle upon the arrival of Marlow and Hastings was splendid. I even felt myself becoming upset along with him as the two gentlemen treat him with such glaring disrespect. Mr. Hardcastle is such a charming depiction of an old-fashioned gentleman, and the heartless treatment he receives because of the tricks of the night tug at my sentimentality (Admittedly, this is probably in part because of my love of my grandfather, who I see quite reflected in Mr. Hardcastle). It takes quite a bit of skill to impart that level of emotion into a simple audio recording. In fact, I’d dare say that the experience was quite visual, as I could see the frowning disbelief and quiet trembling of rage in the timbers of the performer’s voice. This also brings attention to the lack of respect and deference on behalf of Marlow and Hastings, who are so comically unaware of their own error that it seems impossible that they should not realize the folly. It is a cringe-worthy faux pas, so elegantly carried off by Goldsmith’s prose and the performance of the actors, whose comic timing is commendable. When the two gentlemen ask for punch, it is a moment for all, including the audience, to both cringe and laugh. The continuance into the sheer tearing apart of the dinner menu makes the social awkwardness of two young men acting disrespectfully toward an elder and a better even more deliciously entertaining- particularly when it is considered that this gentleman’s consent shall be needed later for their happiness. Of course, this is a comedy, so eventually the error will be remedied, and all social positions returned to the proper characters in the end.

Work Cited:
Goldsmith, Oliver. She Stoops to Conquer. Ed. James Ogden. London: New Mermaid, 2007.

PS- Holly, it’s the combination of the number “8” and a parentheses mark “)”. Just put a space between your numbers and parentheses for the sake of the forum’s formatting.

Tony's the character who stands out to me in the recording. He announces himself in the opening scene (around line 61) with such a loud, bizarre noise (reminiscent of this one here), and he continues throughout the play to disrupt what is otherwise an auditorially uneventful scene. Having not seen the play on video, I couldn't help but imagine that the rest of the cast would be in period dress and Tony would be played by a Muppet (Fozzy, probably).

Tony's portrayer brings a vaudevillian energy to the recording, and despite how different it is from the rest of the performances, it seems to work exactly as Goldsmith intended. Without the early "speaking-trumpet" noise, Tony wouldn't be set up so well to deliver the laughs in III.215-223. I found that scene the funniest in the play when hearing it in recording, and it seems to depend on Tony matching Mrs. Hardcastle's rising anger with a rising madcap weirdness of his own. His high, baboon-like cackles and hoots only get louder as she gets more upset, but the biggest laughs (from this audience of one) come when he sobers up long enough to throw in "I can bear witness to that" at the least helpful moments. It's one of several points in the play where Mrs. Hardcastle seems overcome with "sensibility" while Tony seems only a "nyuk nyuk" short of a Three Stooges sketch. I think these scenes might play as more cruel than funny if Tony weren't played in such a goofy, outsize way, but as it is, they counterpoint the witty wordplay eslewhere, giving us two different kinds of jokes to enjoy.