online learning pack - Merrigong Theatre Company

the
school
for
wives
ONLINE LEARNING PACK
National Education
& Youth Partner
CONTENTS
ABOUT BELL SHAKESPEARE
2
CREATIVE TEAM
3
SYNOPSIS
4
MOLIERE
4
CHARACTERS
5
KEY CHARACTER PROFILES
6
SET AND COSTUME DESIGN BY MARG HORWELL
8
INTERVIEW WITH JOHN KACHOYAN
12
ONLINE LEARNING PACK THE SCHOOL FOR WIVES © Bell Shakespeare 2012
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ABOUT BELL SHAKESPEARE LEARNING
“We know what we are, but know not what we may be.”
Hamlet (Act 4, Scene 5)
In 2012 Bell Shakespeare enters its 22nd year of bringing high quality live performance to students
in schools right across Australia. This year our actors will bring to life Shakespeare’s classic stories
at the Sydney Opera House right through to school halls in central Queensland. They will
workshop the plays with students up on their feet experiencing the plot and characters as they are
meant to be experienced. We will work with teachers to strengthen their teaching arsenal, to
ensure Australian students get the best experience of Shakespeare possible. We will also continue
to work with those students most in need, due to geographic isolation, language barriers and
socioeconomic disadvantage.
Shakespeare was never meant to be read. At Bell Shakespeare we believe that his plays should
be experienced as live performance and taught as great works that stand the test of time. We
encourage new interpretations. We look for contemporary parallels to his 400-year old stories.
Bell Shakespeare highly values its partnerships with all the organisations that support our
education programmes including Optus; BHP Billiton; J.P. Morgan; Australian Unity; Wesfarmers
Arts; AUSTAR; Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation; Pratt Foundation; Ian Potter Foundation; IOOF
Foundation; Scully Fund; James N Kirby Foundation; The Trust Company at E T A Basan
Charitable Trust; Collier Charitable Fund; Australia Council for the Arts; Playing Australia; Arts
NSW; Arts SA and NSW Department of Education and Training.
THE SCHOOL FOR WIVES Online Learning Pack Contributors: Joanna Erskine (Acting Head of
Education, Bell Shakespeare), James Evans (Resident Artist in Education, Bell Shakespeare).
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CREATIVE TEAM
THE SCHOOL FOR WIVES
by MOLIÈRE
Translated by JUSTIN FLEMING
CAST
ARNOLDE
John Adam
AGNES
Harriet Dyer
HORACE
Meyne Wyatt
ALAN
Andrew Johnston
GEORGETTE
Alexandra Aldrich
CHRIS
Damien Richardson
HENRI / NOTARY
Jonathan Elsom
LAURENCE
Mark Jones
CREATIVES
DIRECTOR
Lee Lewis
DESIGNER
Marg Horwell
LIGHTING DESIGNER
Niklas Pajanti
COMPOSER
Kelly Ryall
MOVEMENT/FIGHT DIRECTOR
Penny Baron
VOCAL COACH
Anna McCrossin-Owen
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
John Kachoyan
CREW
COMPANY STAGE MANAGER
Melanie Lobendahn
DEPUTY STAGE MANAGER
Jessica Frost
ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER
Jennie Buckland
HEAD ELECTRICIAN
Tom Warneke
HEAD MECHANIST
Daniel Murtagh
STAGING MENTOREE
Alan Logan
LIGHTING SUPPLIED BY
Chameleon Touring Systems
AUDIO SUPPLIED BY
CODA Audio
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ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
The School For Wives (French: L'école des femmes) is a theatrical comedy written by the
seventeenth century French playwright Molière and considered by some critics to be one of his
finest achievements. It was first staged at the Palais Royal theatre on 26 December 1662 and
raised some outcry from the public, which seems to have recognised Molière as a bold playwright
who would not be afraid to write about controversial issues.
Bell Shakespeare’s 2012 production of this classic draws the audience into the perfect world of
Arnolde. Set in a time somewhere between 1920 and 1940, the audience meets Arnolde as he
resolves to marry his young and naive ward, Agnes, whom he believes will put the finishing
touches on his life, as the perfect wife.
The production will see two of Australia’s brightest stars, Harriet Dyer and Meyne Wyatt appearing
alongside some well-know faces from television in Damien Richardson and John Adam (both of
City Homicide fame).
SYNOPSIS: THE SCHOOL FOR WIVES
Arnolde, the main protagonist, is a man of 42 years who has it all. He’s even arranged the perfect
wife, Agnes, whom he had sent away to a nunnery until the age of 17, when he removes her and
moves her to one of his abodes. His intention – to turn Agnes into the perfect wife by bringing her
up in such a manner that she will be too ignorant to be unfaithful to him. From the very first scene,
Chris warns Arnolde of his downfall, but Arnolde takes no notice.
After Agnes moves into Arnolde's house, Horace arrives on the scene ahead of his father,
Arnolde's friend Laurence. He immediately falls in love with Agnes and her with him.
Horace unwittingly confides all his activities with Agnes to Arnolde. Arnolde then schemes to outmaneuver Horace and ensure that Agnes will marry him.
Arnolde becomes more and more frustrated as the play goes on. Agnes continues to meet with
Horace despite Arnolde's displeasure until, finally, a misunderstanding leads Arnolde to believe
that Agnes has agreed to marry him and Agnes to believe that Arnolde has given her permission to
marry Horace. When they realise the true situation, Arnolde forbids her from seeing Horace.
Horace, in his distress, comes to Arnolde, asking for his help in rescuing Agnes.
The final act introduces a powerful irony as Laurence and Henri arrive on the scene and announce
that Horace is to marry Henri's daughter. The daughter turns out to be Agnes, rendering all of
Arnolde's scheming useless.
ABOUT MOLIERE
Moilere (real name Jean Baptiste Poquelin), was born 1622 and died in 1673. He was a French
dramatist, actor and director, famous for writing and starring in his own satirical farces, and is
renowned as the one of the leading French theatre-makers of the 17th century. His work was often
controversial, with the church taking offence at some storylines and characters, and his
contemporaries incredibly jealous of his success and royal favour. Moliere would often include his
critics within his plays characterised as buffoons. In the late 1660’s, Moliere contracted an illness
from which he was never to recover. He continued to write and perform as he had previously, and
famously collapsed after performing in his own play, The Imaginary Invalid, passing away later that
evening.
Some of Moliere’s most well-known plays include; The School for Husbands (1661), The School
for Wives (1662), Tartuffe (1664), Don Juan (1665), The Misanthrope (1666), The Doctor in Spite
of Himself (1666), The Miser (1668), The Bourgeois Gentleman (1670), and The Imaginary Invalid
(1673).
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THE SCHOOL FOR WIVES
CHARACTERS
ARNOLDE
A wealthy bachelor, also known as Monsieur de la Souche.
AGNES
An innocent young girl, Arnolde's ward.
HORACE
Agnes's lover, Laurence's son.
ALAN
A peasant, Arnolde's manservant.
GEORGETTE
A peasant woman, also servant to Arnolde.
CHRIS
A friend of Arnolde's.
HENRI
Chris’ brother-in-law, Agnes's father.
NOTARY
A lawyer.
LAURENCE
Horace's father and Arnolde's old friend.
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KEY CHARACTER PROFILES
ARNOLDE
“I know the Machiavellian tricks, the subtle games women play,
The secret codes, the decoy screens they use when they betray...
The young girl I’m going to marry has such total innocence,
She will be shielded completely from all male influence.”
Arnolde is a wealthy, successful man in his 40s. He wants to get married but is absolutely
convinced that smart, successful women always cheat on, or at the very least overshadow, their
husbands. He has gone to great lengths to prepare Agnes as the perfect, innocent wife, ignorant of
the world and its temptations. Obsessive, jealous and quick to anger when things don’t go his way,
Arnolde tries to control every minute detail of his and Agnes’ life. He eventually has to realise that
even the most meticulously laid plans can be ruined by the simple yearning of the human spirit for
freedom.
AGNES
“The sweet power of his words caused something in me to stir,
I don’t know what you call it; it was like my soul sprang awake.”
Agnes spent her early years in the care of an impoverished country woman before being sold, at
the age of four, to Arnolde. Arnolde shipped her off to a convent with strict instructions to the nuns
to keep her ignorant. The idea was that once the pure and innocent Agnes turned 18, Arnolde
would retrieve her from the nunnery and marry her. Agnes is certainly innocent, but she is honest,
forthright and excited by all the discoveries she is making in her new life outside the convent. This
infuriates Arnolde, who was expecting a far more shy and docile girl, more grateful to him for his
attention. Early in the play, Agnes meets Horace, “a young man, so beautiful” and falls in love with
him.
HORACE
“Love’s stock in trade is fire, and its method is surprise;
It crashes through our barriers, and in a manner deft and lyrical,
Love gives a sudden tiny moment the mantle of a miracle.”
Horace is an attractive young man recently arrived in town and an old family friend of Arnolde’s.
One day he sees Agnes sitting on her balcony and falls instantly in love. He shares his joy with
Arnolde, thinking of him as a confidant and father figure. Little does he know that Arnolde is
plotting to destroy him and put an end to the burgeoning relationship between Horace and Agnes.
ALAN
“A woman is like a Pizza Supreme that another bloke is looking at.
She’s part Prawn, Bacon and Feta, part Satay Veg, part Pepperoni,
She’s Meatlovers’ Special and Chicken Monaco, though in his case, she’s Create-Your-Own- i.
But if another man steals the tiniest bite, if it’s just half an olive he’s got,
The jealous man becomes a Fire Breather, ’cause he thinks he’ll eat The Lot.”
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GEORGETTE
“Ah, yes, that’s all very well, but the only problem with this is:
Some men would do triple somersaults at the thought of offloading their missus.”
Alan and Georgette are Arnolde’s servants, hired to keep an eye on Agnes until Arnolde can
arrange to marry her. They are loyal to (and occasionally fear) Arnolde, although they question his
actions and treatment of Agnes. Arnolde constantly patronises them and treats them like idiots.
Alan and Georgette are certainly open to bribes, a fact that Horace discovers early on. They can
be in turns hilariously inept and incredibly insightful.
CHRIS
“I say we should conduct ourselves as we do in a game of dice,
If we don’t get what we want, we just have to pay the price.
If you decide to play the game, it’s pointless to rant and rave.
All I’m saying is: there is a dignified way to behave.”
Chris is Arnolde’s friend and confidant. He is more world-weary and realistic than Arnolde, having
endured a very difficult marriage. Chris advises Arnolde that you can’t actually control everything.
He derides Arnolde’s plan to marry the simple Agnes and tells him to accept marital infidelity as a
fact of life. Chris ultimately feels sorry for Arnolde, despite the latter’s obsession with ‘creating’ the
perfect wife.
HENRI
“Let us rise above all our lives’ past sadness
And embrace the fruit of love, which remains to fuel our gladness.”
Henri arrives at the very end of the play and reveals that he is Agnes’s father. Years ago he
married Chris’s sister, but she died soon after giving birth to Agnes. Henri fell on hard times and
gave Agnes to a country woman to raise. Now, having regained his fortune, Henri has arrived with
a plan for his daughter to marry a certain young man...
LAURENCE
“Can someone explain this mystery, just so we get it clear;
We’ve all been looking to each other, at a loss to understand.”
Laurence is Horace’s father and an old friend of Arnolde’s. He arrives at the end of the play with a
plan for his son to marry a certain young woman...
NOTARY
“I see you’re a little confused. Your eyes appear somewhat glazed.
Oh, I know this kind of jargon can leave the layman fazed.
When I was at college, they used to teach it all in Latin,
A language which, sadly, I was an absolute twat in.”
The Notary is an expert in the legal intricacies of marriage contracts and pre-nuptial agreements.
Arnolde has invited him to his house to give him advice on how to proceed with the marriage. The
Notary can speak in jargon-ese for hours, and when we first meet him, he believes he is talking to
Arnolde when, in fact, Arnolde has no idea he is there.
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COSTUME DESIGNS BY MARG HORWELL
Diagram 1
AGNES
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COSTUME DESIGNS BY MARG HORWELL
Diagram 2
ARNOLDE
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COSTUME DESIGNS BY MARG HORWELL
Diagram 3
ALAN & GEORGETTE
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SET DESIGN BY MARG HORWELL
Diagram 4
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INTERVIEW WTH JOHN KACHOYAN, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Joanna Erskine, Acting Head of Education, in conversation with John Kachoyan.
You’re the Assistant Director on The School For Wives. What’s been your role in the weeks
leading up to rehearsal? What do you do now rehearsals have commenced?
The role is very varied depending on the director and show. For The School For Wives I’ve done
some research on Moliere and the history of the play, as well as collating some content for the
programme. When in rehearsals, I’ve been researching Italian phrases and pronunciations (for the
comic servants in the piece!) and helping to add to the store of images, film references and
resources available for the actors to draw on when creating their performances.
For those that are unfamiliar with Moliere and the play, can you tell us what it’s about in a
nutshell? What they can expect to see?
Moliere really created this whole new genre of French comedy. Until his plays, comedy was
considered a lesser form than tragedy - Moliere really showed that comedy could be grand,
involving and as psychologically true and interesting as the rival tragedies of the time.
The play’s about a very successful man, Arnolde, who wants the ideal wife for his perfect life. He
decides to raise a girl, Agnes, in a convent trained to be pliant and obedient so that she has no
mind of her own and will not cheat on him. We join him on the eve of the play he prepares to marry
her. What he doesn’t account for is our young hero Horace falling in love with Agnes, and her own
burgeoning intelligence and will. Of course, he can’t contain her spirit and his hilarious downfall
reminds us all that we can’t control love.
What is the design/production concept for the show?
The show is set in a version of Paris in the 1920’s during the golden age of silent film. Lee Lewis
(Director) and Designer Marg Horwell’s vision is less a historically accurate representation of the
time but more a fantasy or memory Paris, something from all our ideas of what that time looked,
sounded and felt like. There’s a great sense of play and lots of references to the films of that era
and the great comedians involved.
What can you tell us about the adaptation by Justin Fleming? Has it been done for an
Australian audience?
Justin’s completely adapted and updated the script for Australia – there’s some modern references
but the spirit of the piece is still that it can resonate anywhere. The original is in verse, so it
rhymes, but because French words have very similar endings it’s a lot easier to rhyme words and
it’s less obvious. In English we associate rhyme with poetry or children’s literature, so rhyme does
something else. Justin’s done a fantastic job with the metre to give us a sense of Moliere’s original
whilst making it accessible for a modern audience.
This show tours nationally to about 30 venues. How does this affect the production? What
does the creative team need to take into account?
There’s lots to consider as each venue is differently sized, arranged and equipped. Lee’s making
the production flexible and with a modular set that the actors themselves can move and
manipulate. This is a really clever solution and means the show will be unique to each venue it’s in
– a real one off for some shows.
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Lee Lewis said “There is only one reason to do this show, and that’s fun. It’s not a life
changing play, it’s life affirming.” Do you agree?
Absolutely – the show is full of the triumph of love and humility over fear and hubris. There’s
dancing, slapstick, romance, pratfalls, bicycles, baguettes and heartbreak – so it’s made of the
stuff of life, with a comic touch.
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