Shakespeare Fans discussion

I'm posting John's notes/excerpts from his novel here.....


We accept self-promotion, no shame in our game...but we do expect that self-promotion does not occur in the middle of discussions on other topics.

Here are John's posts....

William found Southampton House a scene of great activity. The Dining Chamber was being thoroughly cleansed and re-adorned; as was the Entrance Hall and all parts of the house the Queen would enter or pass through. The Great Hall would be made ready for the play in due course as would provision for the players. The Earl showed all to William and was at pains to extract a promise the players would also be ready.
’Your Company has played at court before the King and Queen and the performance was accounted good. I expect no less on this occasion. Any man who is not perfect in his part will have me to answer to.’
’I think you can safely leave castigations to Richard Burbage and John Holland.’
’The players go in mortal fear of them do they?’
’Everyone goes in fear of Burbage, even me,’ laughed William.
’I had expected the Queen’s visit would not be for two weeks
but she has expressed a wish to come the day after tomorrow. You can be ready, I hope.’
’Fortunately, it is a Sunday, so there will be no playing at the Globe. Expect us during the morning of that day.’
The Kings Men arrived at Southampton House early with their props and apparel. They remained quietly out of the way until after the Queen had arrived and had been taken into the Dining Chamber for dinner. Then they moved into the Great Hall and arranged the portion set aside for the stage to their liking and began to don their apparel. Meanwhile footmen and ushers were placing chairs and all required to accommodate the royal auditory.

To the players surprise, a group of musicians arrived and they too had dispositions to plan and furniture to arrange. Their appearance was a worry to Burbage. There was no time to draw up a cooperative plan so music and playing would blend together. Burbage approached the leader of the group only to find they spoke hardly any English so even minimal planning at this late stage would be difficult.
He sent an usher with a message to Southampton requesting
speech. Southampton was not pleased to be disturbed in his
attendance on the Queen. Burbage explained the difficulty with the musicians.
'We weren't expecting them and we have no musical plot.'
'They play regularly in interludes and masques at court. They know their business. They will adapt themselves to your playing. Don't call me out again. Her majesty does not like to be left unattended while incompetent servants seek advice about matters they should be familiar with.’ With that, Southampton strode off, cutting off Burbage’s apology in mid sentence.
‘Sharp words, and no dinner either,’ Burbage complained to
William. ‘Are we likely to get any payment for our performance, do you think?’
‘I think we will. He is not ungenerous when he is in the right mood.’
‘We will dedicate our performance to the Queen. We must do our best to please her, and forget about his Lord High Moodiness of Southampton.'
Those of the assembled players who heard Burbage's words
laughed. The Earl of Southampton was not generally well liked and William's colleague's found it difficult to understand his obsession with the Earl. Augustine Phillips said as much.
'Passion more likely,' Will Sly declared.
‘We can depend on you, Will Sly, to put the worst construction on it,' William protested. I do not have either an obsession nor a passion for the Earl of Southampton. I seem to remember us having this little difference some time ago. If you have some secret grudge against me, please bring it out into the open and let us settle it.'
'Give over!' Burbage exclaimed. We are due to begin in a few

'Passion more likely,' Will Sly declared.
‘We can depend on you, Will Sly, to put the worst construction on it,' William protested. I do not have either an obsession nor a passion for the Earl of Southampton. I seem to remember us having this little difference some time ago. If you have some secret grudge against me, please bring it out into the open and let us settle it.'
'Give over!' Burbage exclaimed. We are due to begin in a few
minutes and should be well settled by then. Come away to the Ante-room next to the Hall. We will be using that as our Tiring Room.'
They were met by an usher come from Southampton with
instructions to begin the play immediately.
As Ferdinand King of Navarre, Berowne, Longaville, and
Dumaine his attendant Lords, entered on the improvised stage,
William could only feel happy with the new apparel. The Company had just recently been able to afford such opulence. Here were, William thought, four aristocrats as genuine as any in the auditory. He had taken great pains to see their personations left no chink nor cranny for criticism to peer through. A short round of applause signified most if not all the audience agreed with him. It was followed by the opening words of the king.

Let fame, that all hunt after in their lives,
Live registered upon our brazen tombs,
And then grace us in the disgrace of death
When, spite of cormorant devouring time,
Th' endeavour of this present breath may buy
That honour which shall bate his scythe's keen edge,
And make us heirs of all eternity.

In accordance with their role the musicians played a fanfare as the player king and his lords entered, paused as he made his opening speech, then another short fanfare as he concluded. William had to admit it was effective though not perhaps what he would have chosen.
So it went on. A large selection of short pieces was presented through the play, and for the most part they were eminently suitable, matching the situation and seeming to reflect the emotions of the players at a given time. William noticed John Florio sitting at the back of the musicians with a prompt book in his hands. Presumably it was a copy of Loves Labour’s Lost with which he was guiding the musicians in their native Italian. He also seemed to be in communication with John Holland, the prompter, who was sitting nearby. Their apparent cooperation resulted in an excellent blend of music and acting.
Loves Labour's Lost was a great success. At the conclusion, Southampton thanked the players on behalf of the Queen, conveying her delight with the performance. Then he announced the Queen would like to speak with the young boys who played the female parts. These were the Princess of France, and Rosaline, Katherine, and Maria who were the Princess' attendant ladies and also Jaquenetta who was a country wench. The boys were brought forward still in their fine apparel and the Queen addressed them.
'My dear young boys, I am tempted to address you as young ladies because your dress and speech and actions are so like young ladies. You are more like noble ladies than some of the real attendant ladies I have at court. But to follow that line out could well lead to trouble. All I will say is you have given me much pleasure and I hope to see you soon in another play at court.'
With that she presented each one with a large gold Danish coin, gathered her entourage around her,
thanked the Earl of Southampton profusely, and was conducted from the house to her waiting carriage.
When the Queen had gone, Southampton dismissed the players.
‘So much for your hopeful words regarding payment, William!’ Nicholas Tooley groused, ‘Except for the boys. They seem to have done rather well, but it seems his Moodship wasn’t up to dispensing largess.’
’I will mend your wages,’ William declared to the Company. ’I got you into this through what Sly thinks is my passion for Southampton. It is purely friendship and because of that no doubt the good Earl thinks we should have been happy to perform for him gratis. I do hope Will Sly does not feel he has to refer to this matter again.’

John's writing continued....

This episode, Gabriel, takes place after the accession of King James I to the English throne. The Queen is his wife, Anne of Denmark, and the players are The King's Men. The Earl of Southampton spent the last years of Queen Elizabeth's reign in prison for his part in the Essex revolt and was freed by James when he came to the throne.
Aemilia Lanyer is believed by some to have been Shakespeare's Dark Lady of the sonnets. She was for a while the mistress of Lord Hunsdon, The Lord Chamberlain, and patron of the playing company to which Shakespeare belonged. After Hunsdon, Lanyer had a brief affair with Shakespeare before leaving him for Southampton.
This is part of a novel I am writing. It is based on what is know of Shakespeare's life with the gaps filled in with plausible fiction.

Gabriel's response....

Thanks John re the James I setting of your novel. I had jumped to the conclusion it was in Q Elizabeth's time, since that was when Southampton was WS's patron. But as you depict, they may well have teamed up again after Southampton's release, though S has new young noble patrons by then.
Candy, Berowne's anti-knowledge speech seems to be part of a kind of debate with himself that crops up all over Shakespeare's work - the opposition between the person of knowledge and the person of action or experience, in which the person of knowledge is aware of the superiority of action and experience over mere learning - yet wouldn't know this if he didn't have a lot of knowledge, hence 'How well he's read, to reason against reading'. It merges eventually into Prospero's magic books, which had diverted him from properly ruling his Dukedom, and which he finally chucks overboard.