“Dammi un bacio” and “Ulciscar”: Loving in Italian and Killing in Latin in John Marston’s Antonio plays
The use of languages such as French and Italian in the predominantly Anglophone theatre of early modern Britain offers opportunities to stage scenes in the Other’s language, as in Henry V. Those languages and Latin can also serve to craft encounters in a language other than the one habitually spoken...
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| Udgivet i: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/asf, |
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| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Sprog: | Anglais |
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Arrêt sur scène / Scene Focus
2022
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| Online adgang: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Summary: | The use of languages such as French and Italian in the predominantly Anglophone theatre of early modern Britain offers opportunities to stage scenes in the Other’s language, as in Henry V. Those languages and Latin can also serve to craft encounters in a language other than the one habitually spoken (on stage) by the characters and to explore thereby the metatheatricality of drama. Focusing on the use of Italian and more especially Latin, principally in John Marston’s Antonio and Mellida and its sequel, Antonio’s Revenge, with a side-glance at Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, this article examines a selection of such instances, which are less frequently considered in discussions of languages on the early modern stage. The study of their dramatic impact and contribution to the aesthetics of the plays is framed by reflections on the way scenes which include passages in an unfamiliar language such as Latin may be performed on the present-day stage. Productions discussed include Melly Still’s Cymbeline for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2016 and Perry Mills’s Antonio’s Revenge for Edward’s Boys in 2011. |
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