(Note:
These lines notes are from the 1981 Rhino Records release)
AN HISTORICAL ACCOUNTING
of this Comedie, once lost and now restored to us as it
was.
This recording of the Stage Production in London is by the legendary
Firesign Theatre Repertory Group who have performed in the same
theatre at the same location since the sixteenth century, between the
same hours, doing roughly the same play in the same way that it has
always been done.
The production was directed by Derek Escrow, with additional dialogue
by Rick Shakespeare.
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
| THE ARCHBISHOP OF PFLEGM |
Peter Bergman |
| EDMUND EDMUND |
Phil Austin |
| THE COUNT REGENT |
David Ossman |
| PRINCE EDMUND |
Philip Proctor |
| MARIE |
Diz White |
| SECOND WEIRD COOK |
Susan Tanner |
| SAILOR DEUCE |
Peter Paul |
| FIRST WEIRD COOK |
Randy Walleroo |
| BOSUN |
Dave Casman |
| THIRD WEIRD COOK |
Caroline Presky |
| HAPPENSTANCE |
Peter Bergman |
| SIR ANDREW LUNCHE |
Phil Austin |
| FLOUNDER, a fisherman |
David Ossman |
| STORMENDRAIN |
Philip Proctor |
| PETER OF PIKE |
Barney Bernard |
| LORD FANGBONER |
Porter Oakland |
| MARINARA, a soldier |
Harrison David |
| EARL OF FAIRFAX |
Philip George |
| PESTIO, a Fool |
Peter Bergman |
| MOLE, a gravedigger |
Phil Austin |
| HOLE |
David Ossman |
| LORD BURBANK |
Philip Proctor |
| LORD MULHOLLAND |
John Mayer |
MALMMBOURG, GRAPESHOT,
MUZZLE, MELROSE, BEVERLY,
SOLDIERS AND TOWNSPEOPLE |
Irregular members of the
Radio Extras Guild
|
SCENES IN THE PLAYE
| I. |
1. |
A Nawful Place, A Heathe |
| I. |
2. |
A Shippe at Sea |
| I. |
3. |
The Rampartes of Castle Pflegm |
| |
|
|
| II. |
1. |
A Wilde Beache |
| II. |
2. |
The Closette of the Counte |
| II. |
3. |
The Bishop's Celle |
| II. |
4. |
A Graveyarde |
| |
|
|
| III. |
1. |
The Throne Roome |
| III. |
2. |
A Battle Fielde |
| III. |
3. |
A Hille |
| III. |
4. |
The Bishope's Battel-Tente |
NOTES
- Act One
- I. 1. Beate ... meate.
- It was a common practice in Shakphere's time to use mutton or
venison as drums.
- I. 1. deep-fried fowl.
- A reference to the common Chickene-Stands that overran London in
the years between 1601 and 1620. They were eventually outlawed by the
Lord Chamberlain.
- I. 1. Morphine.
- The Grecian goddess of dreams and procrastination.
- I. 3. Sir Andrew Lunche.
- He was a real person, a "disembodied Scottish Lorde" who was so thin
that he was often not seen at all unless one walked around him. Queen
Elizabeth herself was said to have performed unmentionable Toiletries in
his presence, unaware that he was watching. He was beheaded in 1613,
although the executioner was never sure. "It might have been a
shadowe," he was said to have said.
- Act Two
- II. 1. the Winter Tempest's Tail.
- This is the primary justification for E. R. Bothelin's assignment of
the authorship of this play to Wm. Shakespeare and not, as had been
previously assumed, to Richard Greene, that "Tiger's Heade wrapt in
poore Shakespeare's hearte" who claimed until his death in 1634 that it
was he who wrote it. He too, seemed unsure of the title.
- II. 2. No Peasante rebel's Forke...
- A reference commonly used to date the play's authorship to later
than 1599, the year of the Pflegmish Peasant's Rebellion in which the
Peasants refused to eat with forks.
- II. 2. As Pope doth Poope in Woodes.
- Here Shakespire is drawing from Chaucer's "The Pope's Nose
Tale."
- II. 3. Friar Swiggen's Spitte.
- A Broadsworde upon which heretics and non-Conforming Cattle were
slowly barbecued. The results, we are told, were delicious.
- Act Three
- III. 1. The Greatest Agencie of Alle.
- This must surely identify the London Theatrical Agency of William
and Morris.
- III. 2. He's Deade. Who Cares?
- A common medieval attitude.
 |
GLOBE SALAD (figure 1) -
This vehicle of theatrical criticism consisted of a rotten plover's egg,
A, ensconced in an overly ripe tomatoe, B, itself encased in a hideously
bloated cabbage, C. Audiences at the Globe Theatre would hurl these
wicked devices at offending actors or throw them at the poor upon
leaving the theatre in order to improve their sense of charity and aim.
This dish has since become a favorite amongst insane British
vegetarians.
|
| | |
 |
ORANGE NELL (figure 2) -
This saucy wench was actually a man (Geoffrey Clapper) who
revolutionized the look of Shakespeare's women by secreting Spanish
oranges in his doublet to simulate breasts. He gave new dimensions to
his portrayal of the floating Ophelia and the ill starred Caesar -
nicknamed "Orange Julius" in this role. Clapper was rumored to be the
Bard's main squeeze.
|
| | |
 |
KURDMANGLER (figure 3) -
Early device for squeezing the milk of human kindness out of strangers.
Used originally against the one-man invasion of Nurd the Kurd (1127
A.D.), this loathsome invention was subsequently fitted with Multiple
Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicles and stands high in the Royal
Navy's arsenal of powerful obsolete weapons.
|
|
