(trumpet fanfare) - O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend The brightest heaven of invention, A kingdom for a stage, princes to act And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!

Think when we talk of horses, that you see them Printing their proud hoofs in the receiving earth; For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings, Carry them here and there;  Whilst I prologue-like your humble patience pray, Gently to hear, kindly to judge, our play.

(trumpet fanfare) - [Announcer] The Mississippi Center for Educational Television presents the National Theatre of Puppet Arts Production “Puppets and the Poet”.

Excerpts from the works of William Shakespeare.

Now here is our host, Carl Davis.

- Welcome to “Puppets and the Poet” a novel blending of Shakespeare's immortal works with the unique artistry of puppets.

In Elizabethan times, plays were often prefaced with a prologue, such as the one we've just seen.

The prologue served to introduce the background of the play, although sometimes it was intended to be simply an audience warmer, candidly asking for applause.

William Shakespeare himself used this device in such plays as “Romeo and Juliet”, “Troilus and Cressida”, and “Henry V”, which introduced our program.

For almost 400 years, Shakespeare has been regarded by many scholars as the greatest writer in the English language.

Not all have held his work in such high esteem, however.

One prominent critic said that he had a barbarous disregard for the rules of playwriting and that he worked much too hard to please his audience of carpenters and cobblers.

The French philosopher Voltaire denounced him as possessing neither good manners nor good taste.

Other critics refused to accept Shakespeare, of whom so little is really known, as the sole author of such masterpieces.

Despite these claims to the contrary, Shakespeare is universally considered the architect of an art without limits.

Indeed, he was not of an age, but for all time.

His plays have found an audience in the most disparate of cultures, and his words have been translated and adapted for every nationality and every age group.

His works have seen various forms of presentation from stark, dramatic readings to elaborately costumed productions.

More recently, there have been television and cinematic treatments.

One of the most unusual mediums in which Shakespeare's plays have been presented is the puppet theatre.

Certainly the dramatization of Shakespeare by puppets is a worthy marriage, for puppetry has its roots in the dimmest reaches of man's origin.

Although today, puppets are thought of chiefly in relation to fairy tales presented solely to delight children.

Puppetry in its Neanderthal form actually predates the live theatre, as well as literature and many other art forms.

Puppetry claims cave drawings as its direct, though far-removed ancestor.

Indeed, puppets were born of magic and mysticism, as primitive artists sought to contain life's energy in their crude representations on cave walls.

Later, they worshiped in idolatry what were actually static puppets.

When Man learned to animate his puppets, he turned puppetry into one of his most expressive art forms: sculpture in action.

In the Middle Ages, puppets were used to dramatize the lives of the saints in miracle plays.

Puppetry was particularly well suited to these religious dramas, for strange, miraculous occurrences were easy to present on the puppet stage, while they would have seemed unlikely in live theatre and would have been difficult to stage convincingly.

Later, puppets were used for such plays as “Don Juan” and “Dr.

Faust”.

Throughout the 18th century and into the 19th, puppet theatre continued to be primarily adult fare.

It was at the beginning of this century that puppetry lost much of its adult following and became primarily a vehicle for fairy tales.

Why did puppetry lose its status among the dramatic arts?

Because puppet theatre did not change, did not grow.

It became static.

Stagnant.

Puppeteers clung to old forms because puppetry often was a family business.

When a son inherited his puppets from his father, he often inherited neither the talent nor the inclination toward what is an extremely sensitive and subtle art.

And so puppetry was often merely just a business.

But in spite of this lamentable lack of innovation, puppetry still thrives.

The magical accomplishments of fairy tale characters can be portrayed by puppets with unequaled charm, and animals can easily personify any attribute at the will of the puppeteer.

It is perhaps difficult to connect today's delightful and often comic puppets with the power which our ancestors gave them.

But it is the wish of the National Theatre of Puppet Arts to do just that: to restore puppetry to its once accorded level of respect, and to win back its adult audience.

After their performance, we will meet the artists who bring the puppets to life.

The members of the National Theatre of Puppet Arts.

They will reveal some of the secrets of their craft by showing us how puppets are animated, how they move.

And they they'll tell us something about the art of puppetry itself.

The charm of puppet theatre lies in the range of possibilities open to the artist.

For proof of this versatility we need only to witness this presentation of excerpts from four of Shakespeare's plays: “Macbeth”, “The Taming of the Shrew”, “Hamlet”, and “Richard III”.

Our first selection is from “Macbeth”, one of Shakespeare's four great tragedies.

It is a drama of obsession and ambition and misplaced trust in witches.

As he often did, Shakespeare drew upon other sources for the plot of this play.

One of those who used frequently was Hollinshead Chronicles, an early history of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

According to The Chronicles, Macbeth was a general in the army of the Scottish King Duncan.

He usurped the throne by plotting Duncan's death with the assistance of his wife.

Murder followed murder as Macbeth and his Lady became obsessed with their own guilt, and with threats real and imagined to their rule.

“Macbeth” is a swift and terrifying tragedy, a tragedy of ambition out of control.

It is the story of a man and wife who murder to become king and queen, and who, this path now chosen, must continue to kill.

The puppeteers will present Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking scene, a famous scene in what is one of Shakespeare's most powerful presentations.

Facing the currents of guilt and retribution.

(eerie piano music) - I have two nights watched with you, but can perceive no truth in your report.

When was it she last walked?

- Since his majesty went into the field, I have seen her rise from her bed, throw her nightgown upon her, unlock her closet, take forth paper, fold it, write upon it, read it, afterwards seal it, and return again to her bed, yet all this while in a most fast sleep.

- A great perturbation of nature, to receive at once the benefit of sleep, and do the effects of watching.

In this slumbery agitation, besides her walking and  other actual performances, what, at any time,  have you heard her say?

- That, sir, which I will not report after her.

- You may to me, and 'tis most meet you should.

- Neither to you nor any one, having no witness to confirm my speech.

Lo you, here she comes.

This is her very guise, and, upon my life, fast asleep.

Observe her; stand close.

- How came she by that light?

- Why, it stood by her.

She has light by her continually; 'tis her command.

- You see, her eyes are open.

- Ay, but their sense is shut.

- What is it she does now?

Look, how she rubs her hands.

- It is an accustomed action with her, to seem thus washing her hands.

I have known  her continue in this a quarter of an hour.

- [Lady Mc] Yet here's a spot.

Out, out, damned spot, out, I say.

One......... two.......... Why, then, 'tis time to do it.

Hell is murky.

Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier, and afeard!

What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?

Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?

- Do you mark that?

- (singing) ♪ The Thane of Fife had a wife; ♪ had a wife...... ♪ had a wife..... where is she now?

What, will these hands ne'er be  clean?

No more o' that, my lord, no more o' that; you mar all with this starting.

- Go to, go to.

You have known what you should not.

- She has spoke what she should not, I am sure of that.

Heaven knows what she has  known.

- Here's the smell of blood still.

All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.

Oh........ Oh......... Oh........ - What a sigh is there.

The heart is sorely charged.

- I would not have such a heart in my bosom for the dignity of the whole body.

- This disease is beyond my practice; yet I have known those which have walked in their sleep, who have died holily in their beds.

- Wash your hands, put on your nightgown; look not so pale.

I tell you yet again, Banquo's buried; he cannot come out on's grave.

- Even so?

- To bed, to bed; there's knocking at the gate.

Come, come.

Come, come, give me your hand.

What's done cannot be undone.

To bed....... to bed........ to bed....... - Foul whisperings are abroad: unnatural deeds Do breed unnatural troubles;  More needs she the divine than the physician.

God, God forgive us all.

Look after her; Remove from her the means of all annoyance, And still keep eyes upon her.

My mind she has mated and amazed my sight.

I think but I dare not speak.

And so good night.

- The full horror of the whole business becomes apparent at the end of the play.

All of the wicked schemes and foul deeds have availed nothing.

As his enemies prepare to avenge themselves upon him, Macbeth is already dead, for life has lost its meaning.

As Macbeth says, “Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more.

It is a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing.” Our next excerpt is from “The Taming of the Shrew”, which was written much earlier than “Macbeth” and was one of the first of Shakespeare's comedies.

Shakespeare probably used a crudely written plot, which he embellished and transformed into a colorful farce.

A farce relies on exaggeration, improbable situations, incongruities and witty puns for its humor.

And Shakespeare was a master at this type of comedy.

Since a farce depends on situation more than characterization, Petruchio and Katherina, the leading characters in “The Taming of the Shrew”, are sometimes considered shallow and insensitive.

Nevertheless, their traits have become stock characteristics, and the play remains as it was when it was first performed, a favorite with audiences.

In the beginning of our excerpt, two sisters Bianca, her father's favorite, and Katherina, known for her devilish spirit, are discussing Bianca’s many suitors.

But Bianca cannot wed until Katherina, the elder of the two, has found a spouse.

Bianca’s suitors induce the noble Petruchio to woo the wildcat, Katharina, defraying all expenses of the courtship so that the sweet Bianca may choose and wed her choice.

Petruchio then encounters the fiery Katharina, inaugurating this most unusual of courtships.

(medieval string music) - Ooh.

- (mocking) Oooh.

- Ah.

- (mocking) Aaaaah.

- Good sister, good sister!

Good sister, wrong me not, nor wrong yourself, To make a bondmaid and a slave of me.

- Of all thy suitors here I charge thee tell Whom thou lov’st best.

See thou dissemble not.

- Believe me, sister, of all the men alive I never yet beheld that special face That I could fancy more than any other.

- Minion, thou liest.

Is ’t not Hortensio?

- If you affect him, sister, here I swear I’ll plead for you myself, but you shall have him.

- O, then belike you fancy riches more.

You will have Gremio to keep you fair.

- Is it for him you do envy me so?

(thwack) (crying) - Why, how now, daughters?

Whence grows this, this, this discord?

Katherine, stand aside.

Oh, poor girl, she weeps!

(cries louder) Go ply thy needle; meddle not with her.

Why dost thou wrong her that did ne’er wrong thee?

When did she cross thee with a bitter word?

- Her silence flouts me, and I’ll be revenged!

- What, in my sight?

Oh!

Bianca, get thee in.

- What, will you not suffer me?

Nay, now I see She is your treasure, she must have a husband, And I must dance barefoot on her wedding day And, for your love to her, lead apes in hell.

Oh speak not to me.

I will go sit and weep Till I can find occasion of revenge.

Bah!

- Was ever gentleman thus grieved as I?

Oh.... - Good morrow, Signior Baptista.

- Good morrow, sir.

- Pray, have you not a daughter Called Katherina, fair and virtuous?

-I have a daughter, sir, called Katherine.

- I am a gentleman of Verona, sir, That hearing of her beauty and her wit, Her affability and bashful modesty, Her wondrous qualities and mild behavior— - (Katherine) I’ll comb your noodle with a three-legged stool!

- (Bianca crying) - Am bold to show myself a forward guest Within your house, to make mine eye the witness Of that report which I so oft have heard, - You are welcome, sir.

But for my daughter Katherine, this I know, She is not for your turn, the more my grief.

- I see you do not mean to part with her, Or else you like not of my company.

- Mistake me not.

I speak but as I find.

Whence are you, sir?

What may I call your name?

- Petruchio is my name, Antonio’s son, A man well known throughout all Italy.

- Oh, I know him well.

You are welcome for his sake.

- Signior Baptista, my business asketh haste, And every day I cannot come to woo.

Since you knew my father well, and in him me, tell me, if I get your daughter’s love, What dowry will I have with her to wife?

- Oh well, on my death, the one half of all my lands, And, in possession, twenty thousand crowns.

- Ah good!

Let contracts be therefore drawn between us, That covenants may be kept on either hand.

- NOT.... until the special thing is well obtained, That is, her love, for that is all in all.

- Why, that is nothing.

For I tell you, father, I am as determined as she proud-minded; And where two raging fires meet together, They do consume the thing that feeds their fury.

For I am rough - OOH!

- And woo not like a babe.

- Well mayst thou woo, and happy be thy speed.

- (Katherine) Threads call you these?

I’ll fume with them!

Rascal signa tranging jack.

- But be thou armed for some unhappy words.

Shall I send my daughter Kate to you?

- I pray you do.

I’ll attend her here— And woo her with some spirit when she comes!

Say that she rail, why then I’ll tell her plain She sings as sweetly as a nightingale.

Say that she frown, I’ll say she looks as clear As morning roses newly washed with dew.

Say she be mute and will not speak a word, Then I’ll commend her volubility And say she uttereth piercing eloquence.

If she do bid me pack, I’ll give her thanks As though she bid me stay by her a week.

If she refuse to wed... refuse to wed?....

Refuse to wed.....

If she refuse to wed, I’ll crave the day When I shall ask the banns, and when be marrièd.

But here she comes.

- Hmph - And now, Petruchio, speak.

Good morrow, Kate, for that’s your name, I hear.

- Well have you heard, but something hard of hearing.

They call me Katherine that do talk of me.

- You lie, in faith, for you are called plain Kate, And bonny Kate, and sometimes Kate the curst.

But Kate, the prettiest Kate in Christendom, and therefore, Kate, Take this of me, Kate of my consolation: Hearing thy mildness praised in every town, Thy virtues spoke of, and thy beauty sounded Yet not so deeply as to thee belongs, Myself am moved to woo thee for my wife.

- “Moved,” in good time!

Let him that moved you hither Remove you hence.

I knew you at the first You were a movable.

- Why, what’s a movable?

- A joint stool.

- Thou hast hit it.

Come, sit on me.

- Asses are made to bear, and so are you.

- Women are made to bear, and so are you.

Nay, come, Kate, come.

You must not look so sour.

- Tis my fashion when I see a crab.

- Why, here’s no crab, and therefore look not sour.

- There is, there is.

- Then show it me.

- Had I a glass, I would.

- What, you mean my face?

- Well aimed of such a young one.

- Now, by Saint George, I am too young for you.

- Yet you are withered.

-  ’Tis with cares.

-  I care not.

- Come, come, you wasp!

I’ faith, you are too angry.

- If I be waspish, beware my sting.

- My remedy is then to pluck it out.

- Ay, if the fool could find it where it lies.

- Who knows not where a wasp does wear his sting?

In his tail.

- In his tongue.

- Whose tongue?

- Yours, if you talk of tales, and so farewell.

- What, with my tongue in your tail?

- Ooh!

- I swear I’ll cuff you if you strike again.

- If you strike me, you are no gentleman, - Nay, hear you, Kate - Let me go.

- No, not a whit.

I find you passing gentle.

’Twas told me you were rough, and coy, and sullen, And now I find report a very liar.

For thou art pleasant, gamesome, passing courteous, But slow in speech, - (muffled cries) - Yet sweet as springtime flowers.

- (muffled cries) (anger lessening) (reluctant sigh) Now, Kate, I am a husband for your turn, For by this light, whereby I see thy beauty, Thy beauty that doth make me like thee well, Thou must be married to no man but me.

And therefore, setting all this chat aside, Thus in plain terms: your father hath consented That you shall be my wife, your dowry ’greed on, And, will you, nill you, I will marry you.

For I am he am born to tame you, Kate, And bring you from a wild Kate to a Kate Conformable as other household Kates.

Here comes your father.

Never make denial.

I must and will have Katherine to my wife.

- Now, Signior Petruchio, how speed you with my daughter?

- How but well, sir?

How but well?

- Why, how now, daughter Katherine?

In your dumps?

- Call you me daughter?

Now I promise you You have showed a tender fatherly regard, To wish me wed to one half lunatic, A madcap ruffian and a swearing Jack, That thinks with oaths to face the matter out.

- Father, ’tis thus: yourself and all the world That spoke of her have spoke amiss of her.

For I tell you, ’tis incredible to believe How much she loves me.

- Huh??

- O, the kindest Kate!

She hung about my neck, and kiss on kiss She vied so fast, protesting oath upon oath, That in a twink she won me to her love.

Oof!

We have ’greed so well together That upon Sunday is the wedding day.

- I’ll see thee hanged on Sunday first.

- How now, Signore Petruchio, she says she’ll see thee hanged first.

- Be patient, Signore Baptista.

I choose her for myself.

If she and I be pleased, what’s that to you?

- I know not what to say, but give me your hands.

God send you joy, Petruchio.

It is a match.

- Father, and wife, adieu.

I will to Venice to buy a pato against the wedding day.

We will have rings, and things, and fine array, And kiss me, Kate.

We will be married o’ Sunday.

- I’ll see thee hanged on Sunday first.

I’ll see thee hanged on Sunday first.

(sighs) Kiss me, Kate.

We will be married a-Sunday.

- And married a-Sunday they were.

Petruchio proves more than a match for his unruly bride for at the end of the play finds the proud Katharina lecturing ladies at a wedding feast on the duties they owe their husbands.

At face value, the plot seems hardly a comedy.

An insensitive man marries for money, then tames his surly wife and bends her to his will.

The play is sometimes read as an extended allegory on the battle of the sexes.

But no matter what the level of interpretation, “The Taming of the Shrew” remains a highly entertaining farce, and Shakespeare a master of storytelling.

Now the players turn to the dramatization of an excerpt from “Hamlet”, considered by many critics to be the greatest play ever written.

The story of Hamlet had been in circulation for at least 700 years, but Shakespeare turned the familiar melodrama into an extraordinary masterpiece of psychological drama, a revenge play.

The bloody complicated plot is handled with subtlety and tension and control of language that is unmatched.

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, is perhaps the most fascinating character that any dramatist ever made.

A man burdened by his own knowledge of his responsibility, his brilliance dissipated by the confusion of decision, Hamlet is unable to make his next move for remembering still his last.

Hamlet's father, the King, had been murdered by his own brother.

The murderer then seized the throne and took Hamlet's mother in incestuous marriage.

The treachery and sorrow tormented Hamlet, and he plotted revenge.

This was a time when vengeance was a solemn duty laid on the next of kin, and Hamlet could have made swift work of his task had he not brooded overmuch.

Our excerpt from “Hamlet, Prince of Denmark” is The Dumb Show or the pantomime from Act Three, the well known play-within-the- play.

The play-within-a-play was a common Elizabethan dramatic device.

Its purpose was to foreshadow future events, to offer comic relief, or to present a parallel subplot which gave new perspective, insight, and clarification to the major plot of the play.

The Dumb Show in “Hamlet” is a mute demonstration of the poisoning of the King and the incestuous seduction of his wife, which sets the stage for the tragedy of revenge and decision, which is to follow.

The presentation of the play- within-the-play gave Elizabethan actors an opportunity to improvise.

In an original interpretation, The National Theatre of Puppet Arts has written its own preface to The Dumb Show.

A group of actors is introduced as they are about to perform the pantomime.

Among the players is a young boy who, somewhat reluctantly, accepts the assignment of the role of the Queen.

It was unthinkable that a woman should be a performer at this time, and young male actors were consequently given all the female parts.

The audience was composed of the patrons of a tavern, a common stage for the presentation of the works of Shakespeare.

(peaceful music) - (singing) Of all the birds that ever I see, the owl as the barest of ere degree.

For all the day long she sits in a tree and when the night comes, away flies she.

To wit, to whom, to whom drinks thou sir nave?

To you.

This song is well sung, I’ll make you a vow and here’s a nave that drinkest thou.

Nose, nose, jolly red nose.

And who gave ye that jolly red nose?

Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves, and that gave me my jolly red nose.

(song ends) All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players.

Here our stage is all the world.

And here come the players.

This is Master Peacock.

A veteran player who industriously practices curtain bows.

But never seeks to learn his onstage craft.

And here is John Grouse.

A miserable genius.

Why, he has been Tinker, Farmer, Barmer, Joiner.

He has done everything.

Oh, but nothing well.

And here is the boy.

Here is the boy!

Here is- Oh.

Here is Master Robin Meriwether.

The boy.

Hopefully yearning for audience applause.

If only he's given a man's part to play.

Young.

Ambitious.

Inept.

Actors they would be, but actors they are not.

Gentlemen all.

Test ye your talents on that popular tragedy of that most irresolute Danish Prince Hamlet.

Do you The Dumb Show, the pantomime, used by the grieving Prince to catch the conscience of the King, his uncle, who widowed, wooed, and incestuously wed the Queen.

Dress ye now.

John Grouse, you can be the poisoner, Hamlet's uncle.

Ah, you will do well.

Murderers are all bad actors.

You, boy, can play the Queen to Master Peacock's King.

You, boy, will play the Queen.

Robin Meriwether, you will play the Queen.

You, Master Peacock, can play the King.

Yours is the greatest part of all, though it be smallest.

Dying, the King gives Hamlet life.

Let us play this play-within-a- play in solemn silence, pray.

My part is done.

I'll quit the stage straight ‘way.

(royal fanfare) (music continues throughout) - There are similarities in “Richard III”, from which our next excerpt is taken to both “Macbeth” and “Hamlet”.

Like Hamlet, Richard III deals with the murder of a King for his crown and the subsequent wooing of the deceased monarch's wife by the murderer himself.

“Macbeth” and “Richard III” have much in common: ghosts, prophecies, spirits, and man in the grip of inexorable fate.

All three tragedies deal largely with the thirst for power, and the ultimate penalty for ambition.

Richard, like Macbeth, is a villainous hero, humpbacked and cheated of feature by dissembling nature.

Richard determines to seize the throne through an intricate series of plots and murders.

Part of Richard's plan was to marry the Lady Anne, though he had already murdered her husband and her father-in-law.

The guile of this misinformed monster, determined to prove a villain, is apparent in our excerpt.

He seeks the hand of Lady Anne, whom he has already doubly wronged, and whom he continues to wrong in this monstrous proposal of marriage.

(fanfare) - Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious summer by this sun of York; And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.

Grim-visaged war hath smooth'd his wrinkled front; And now, instead of mounting barbed steeds To fright the souls of fearful adversaries, He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber To the lascivious pleasing of a lute.

But I, that am not shaped for sportive tricks, Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass; I, that am rudely stamp'd, and lack love's majesty To strut before a wanton ambling nymph; Cheated of feature by dissembling nature, Deformed, unfinish'd, sent before my time Into this breathing world, scarce half made up, Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace, Have no delight to pass away the time, Unless to spy my shadow in the sun And descant on mine own deformity: And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover, To entertain these fair well-spoken days, I am determined to prove a villain And hate the idle pleasures of these days.

I’ll make my heaven to dream upon the crown, And, whiles I live, to account this world but hell, Until my mis-shaped trunk that bears this head Be round impaled with a glorious crown.

Why, I can smile, and murder whiles I smile, And cry ‘Content’ to that which grieves my heart, And wet my cheeks with artificial tears, And frame my face to all occasions.

Can I do this, and cannot get a crown?

And then, I'll marry the Lady Anne.

What though I killed her husband and her father?

The readiest way to make the wench amends Is to become her husband and her father; The which will I, but not all so much for love As for another secret close intent By marrying her which I must reach unto.

Dive, thoughts, down to my soul.

Here the Lady comes.

(melancholy music) - Poor key-cold figure of a holy King, Pale ashes of the house of Lancaster, Thou bloodless remnant of that royal blood, Be it lawful that I invocate thy ghost To hear the lamentations of poor Anne, Wife to thy Edward, to thy slaughtered son, Stabbed by the selfsame hand that made these wounds.

Lo, in these windows that let forth thy life I pour the helpless balm of my poor eyes.

O, cursed be the hand that made these fatal wounds; Cursed the heart that had the heart to do it; Cursed the blood that let this blood from hence.

More direful hap betide that hated wretch That makes us wretched by the death of thee Than I could wish to adders, spiders, toads, Or any creeping venomed thing that lives.

If ever he have child, abortive be it, Prodigious, and untimely brought to light, Whose ugly and unnatural aspect May fright the hopeful mother at the view, And that be heir to his unhappiness.

If ever he have wife, let her be made As miserable by the death of him as I am made by my young lord and thee.

Avaunt, thou dreadful minister of hell.

Thou hadst but power over his mortal body; His soul thou canst not have.

Therefore begone.

- Sweet saint, for charity, be not so curst.

- Foul devil, for God’s sake, hence, and trouble us not, For thou hast made the happy Earth thy hell, Filled it with cursing cries and deep exclaims.

If thou delight to view thy heinous deeds, Behold this pattern of thy butcheries.

O, see, see dead Henry’s wounds Open their congealed mouths and bleed afresh!

Blush, blush, thou lump of foul deformity, For ’tis thy presence that exhales this blood From cold and empty veins where no blood dwells.

O God, which this blood made, revenge his death!

O Earth, which this blood drinks, revenge his death!

- Lady, you know no rules of charity, Which renders good for bad, blessings for curses.

- Villain, thou know’st no law of God nor man.

No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity.

- But I know none, and therefore am no beast.

- O, wonderful, when devils tell the truth!

- More wonderful, when angels are so angry.

Vouchsafe, divine perfection of a woman, Of these supposed crimes to give me leave By circumstance but to acquit myself.

- Vouchsafe, defused infection of a man, Of these known evils but to give me leave By circumstance to curse thy cursed self.

- Fairer than tongue can name thee, let me have Some patient leisure to excuse myself.

- Fouler than heart can think thee, thou canst make No excuse current but to hang thyself.

- By such despair I should accuse myself.

- And by despairing shalt thou stand excused For doing worthy vengeance on thyself That didst unworthy slaughter upon others.

- Say that I slew them not.

- Then say they were not slain.

But dead they are, and, devilish slave, by thee.

- I did not kill your husband.

- Why then, he is alive.

- Nay, he is dead, and slain by Edward’s hands.

- In thy foul throat thou liest.

Queen Margaret saw Thy murd’rous weapon smoking in his blood, Didst thou not kill this king?

- I grant you.

- Dost grant me, hedgehog?

Then, God grant me too Thou mayst be damned for that wicked deed.

O, he was gentle, mild, and virtuous.

- The fitter for the King of heaven that hath him.

- He is in heaven, where thou shalt never come.

- Let him thank me, that help to send him thither, For he was fitter for that place than Earth.

- And thou unfit for any place but hell.

- Yes, one place else, if you will hear me name it.

- Some dungeon.

- Your bedchamber.

- I’ll rest betide the chamber where thou liest!

- So will it, madam, till I lie with you.

- I hope so.

- I know so.

But, gentle Lady Anne, To leave this keen encounter of our wits And fall something into a slower method: Is not the causer of the deaths Of these Plantagenets, Henry and Edward, As blameful as the executioner?

- Thou wast the cause and most accursed effect.

- Your beauty was the cause of that effect.

Your beauty, that did haunt me in my sleep To undertake the death of all the world, So I might live one hour in your sweet bosom.

- If I thought that, I tell thee, homicide, These nails should rend that beauty from my cheeks.

- These eyes could not endure that beauty’s wrack.

You should not blemish it, if I stood by.

As all the world is cheered by the sun, So I by that.

It is my day, my life.

- Black night o’ershade thy day, and death thy life.

- Curse not thyself, fair creature; thou art both.

- I would I were, to be revenged on thee.

- It is a quarrel most unnatural To be revenged on him that loveth thee.

- It is a quarrel just and reasonable To be revenged on him that killed my husband.

- He that bereft thee, lady, of thy husband Did it to help thee to a better husband.

- His better doth not breathe upon the earth.

- He lives that loves thee better than he could.

- Name him.

- Plantagenet.

- Why, that was he.

- The selfsame name, but one of better nature.

- Where is he?

- Here.

(she spits) Why dost thou spit on me?

- Would it were mortal poison for thy sake.

- Never came poison from so sweet a place.

- Never hung poison on a fouler toad.

Out of my sight!

Thou dost infect mine eyes.

- Thine eyes, sweet lady, have infected mine.

- Would they were basilisks’ to strike thee dead.

- I would they were, that I might die at once, For now they kill me with a living death.

Those eyes of thine from mine have drawn salt tears, and made them blind with weeping.

I never sued to friend nor enemy; My tongue could never learn sweet smoothing words.

But now thy beauty is proposed my fee, My proud heart sues and prompts my tongue to speak.

Teach not thy lip such scorn, for it was made For kissing, lady, not for such contempt.

If thy revengeful heart cannot forgive, then lo, here I lend thee this sharp-pointed sword, And humbly beg the death upon my knee.

Nay, do not pause, for I did kill King Henry.

But ’twas thy beauty that provoked me.

Nay, now dispatch; ’twas I that stabbed young Edward.

But ’twas thy heavenly face that set me on.

Take up the sword again, or take up me.

- Arise, dissembler.

Though I wish thy death, I will not be thy executioner.

- Then bid me kill myself, and I will do it.

- I have already.

- That was in thy rage.

But say it again and, even with the word, This hand, which for thy love did kill thy love, Shall for thy love kill a far truer love.

To both their deaths shalt thou be accessory.

- Put up your sword.

I would I knew thy heart.

- ’Tis figured in my tongue.

- I fear me both are false.

- Then never was man true.

Say then my peace is made.

- That shalt thou know in the hereafter.

- But shall I live in hope?

- All men I hope live so.

- Vouchsafe to wear this ring.

- To take is not to give.

- Look how my ring encompass thy finger; Even so thy breast encloseth my poor heart.

Wear both of them, for both of them are thine.

Bid me farewell.

- ’Tis more than you deserve; But since you teach me how to flatter you, Imagine I have said “farewell” already.

- Was ever woman in this humor wooed?

Was ever woman in this humor won?

I’ll have her, but I will not keep her long.

Shine out, fair sun, till I have bought a glass, That I may see my shadow as I pass.

- Richard III was successful in his pursuit.

He married the Lady Anne, and became King and proved a vile and brutal ruler.

Lacking in everything else, Richard did have plenty of enemies and they rose to overthrow him.

In death, he, like Macbeth, paid the Shakespearean penalty for unbridled ambition.

The puppets that we've seen are so realistic that it's hard to believe that they actually are dependent on real people for their lifelike qualities.

Seated next to me now are those aforementioned real people, Carol Fijan and Paul Vincent-Davis with the National Theatre of Puppet Arts.

Paul, can you tell us exactly what the National Theatre of Puppet Arts is and what it hopes to accomplish?

- Well, the National Theatre of Puppet Arts is a group of professional puppeteers whose ideal it is to bring puppetry back to its position as an accepted art form, an accepted form of theatre.

As you mentioned earlier, in the past, puppetry was accepted as an adult art form, and it's only been in the last 50 to 60 years that it's been relegated to the nursery.

And our hope is to bring it back to the adult audience.

- Carol, how did you get the idea of presenting Shakespeare through the puppet world?

- Well, it’s kind of a long story.

I first saw Paul in a annual puppet festival run by the Puppeteers of America do the sleepwalk scene from Macbeth.

He was working then with another partner and it was beautifully done and I was very excited about it.

And at another festival, we kind of mentioned, “Oh, wouldn't it be great if we could work together?

Only you live in Washington and I live in New York, and that's kind of far.” And then we were met again in another conference to plan another festival, and we just said, “Wouldn't it be wonderful to do Shakespeare?” And we said, “Yeah, let's do it.

Let's not have the distance bother us.” We have telephones, we have tapes, and we can do it.

And we feel very strongly that Shakespeare is being lost today to the young people.

- Because they're not encountering it as theatre?

- That's right.

That's right.

It's done in such a cold, dry, uninteresting manner.

And we have found that we get them excited, and that's all we want to do.

If we can get them excited about Shakespeare and then have them go and read it for themselves, we've accomplished what we set out to do.

- Shakespeare is so often dissected rather than performed, I think, for the first time.

- That’s right.

- How to how do you determine what excerpts from Shakespeare you will present through the puppets?

For example, of how did you decide to present The Dumb Show from “Hamlet” as opposed to some other scenes within “Hamlet”?

- Well, when we thought of the whole program, we thought we'd like to give a little bit of Shakespeare's infinite variety.

The Dumb Show is the only pantomime show that he ever wrote, so that was a natural and it was included.

- Does the amount of physical action within the scene determine, to any great extent?

- To a large extent, yes.

Yes.

I think physical action or at least dramatic action is important.

- Carol, how many different types of puppets do you work with?

I've heard you refer to rod puppets as well as hand puppets.

- Well in this particular show, rod and hand.

That's it.

- That's it.

- That's it.

Just two.

- In which excerpt were you using hand puppets as opposed to the rod puppet?

- Uh... in the Macbeth.

they're hand puppets.

However, they were operated by putting your hand through the back of the puppet rather than underneath it.

So that was “Macbeth”.

In “Taming of the Shrew” and in The Dumb Show, the hand puppets were the regular kind of puppets that just fit over the hands that way.

And that's it.

That's all.

- One thing that would probably be interesting to mention is that Carol and Paul, in addition to animating the puppets physically, also provide the voices at the same time.

So there is no pre-prepared soundtrack.

They're actually saying the lines and acting out the action through the puppets as we see them doing that.

Paul, the term Black Theatre, I know that refers to the method of presentation or technique.

Can you tell us something about that?

- Well, in Black Theatre, the puppeteer dresses in black, black gloves, black hoods, and performs in front of a black curtain so that the light is concentrated on the puppets and the scenery and what the puppets are doing.

And in effect, the puppeteer is not visible.

- I believe that earlier you taped a segment where you had the black shrouds off so that the audience possibly can see what you're actually doing.

I understand that ordinarily when you perform in Black Theatre before an audience, the lighting is not as subtle as it appears on television, but as the audience can have some idea of how you are manipulating the puppets and navigating around on stage.

- Actually, there are times when we actually like for the audience to see us dimly in the background.

It helps to enhance the illusion.

- I'm sure it would, as well as helping them to appreciate your art.

Paul, can you tell us something about the tape clip that we're about to see, and explain possibly what's going on?

And if you'd like to point out a few things that we should watch for?

- Well, this is one of the scenes from Richard III.

And it's interesting in this particular scene, because you can see the puppeteer’s hand go through the sleeve of the puppet to help the puppet use the sword that is used in the scene.

Normally, the puppeteer, his hand is on the rods, controlling whole arm movement.

In this case, the hand goes through the sleeve to the hand of the puppet, so that the puppeteer’s hand is actually holding the sword, but in such a way that it looks as if the puppet is handling the sword.

- All right, if we if we may, let's take a look at the tape clip and show you what Carol and Paul actually do when they're not working within the confines of Black Theatre, per se.

- I never sued to friend nor enemy; My tongue could never learn sweet smoothing words.

But now thy beauty is proposed my fee, My proud heart sues and prompts my tongue to speak.

Teach not thy lip such scorn, for it was made For kissing, lady, not for such contempt.

If thy revengeful heart cannot forgive, then lo, here I lend thee this sharp-pointed sword, And humbly beg the death upon my knee.

Nay, do not pause, for I did kill King Henry.

But ’twas thy beauty that provoked me.

Nay, now dispatch; ’twas I that stabbed young Edward.

But ’twas thy heavenly face that set me on.

Take up the sword again, or take up me.

- Do you use many assistants in your work?

I noticed a third party, or perhaps I should say a fifth party if we're going to include puppets in the staff.

- Yes, that was Kathy Cain.

Kathy is our technical assistant, and she does a lot of backstage work, and handing us props, and helping us out in a difficult situation where a rod has to be moved out of the way, or an arm has to be moved.

In Lady Macbeth, for instance, when Lady Macbeth walks backwards, Kathy is there to help the cape from getting tangled under the body of the puppet and so forth.

- It's obvious to anyone who's seen the excerpts that you're both actors.

I'd like to ask, since you're obviously actors by nature and inclination, why puppets?

- Why not?

(laughing) Shakespeare, or any theatre form, can be interpreted in many ways.

Manipulating a puppet is very much like playing a violin.

- But it is gratifying to you as an actor, then, to be an interpretive artist through the puppet?

- Oh, yes, yes.

The puppet is an instrument through which I communicate with an audience.

And, you know, it doesn't matter too much-- well it matters, because I happen to like puppetry and I relate to puppetry.

But when I communicate with an audience, I can do it with the puppet.

Had I chosen another instrument, it could have been a violin or a piano or whatever the medium would be.

- Of course, it affords you greater versatility also, I'm sure.

Whereas an actor would be limited somewhat in what roles he could play by his physical demeanor.

With the puppet, you have a quite a broad range, quite a spectrum.

Carol, do you prepare for, say, a puppet portrayal, much like an actor would prepare for a portrayal if he were physically portraying?

- Very much so.

- You do research?

- Complete research.

- Motivation?

- Yes.

- And I understand you do improvise also.

- Yes.

Yes, we improvise.

I mean, it seems silly to say improvise with Shakespeare, but you really do until you get the character and the voice you're going to use and the movement of the puppet.

Improvization is a lifeblood of puppetry, whether you do it for adults or for children.

- Paul, what makes a good puppeteer?

- I don't even know if I can answer that question.

I don't know what makes a good puppeteer.

There has to be a natural feeling for a puppet.

You certainly have to be an actor.

You have to have a certain amount of dexterity in your hand.

Certainly the hand of a puppeteer is his most expressive part.

- I'm sure it is.

But one reason I was asking, because obviously after looking at your presentation, you have to have infinitely more at your disposal than manual dexterity, which I'm sure is a prerequisite.

But you really are interpretive artists working through puppets as a medium.

And that's very impressive.

- Yes.

Well, we do study.

We work hard.

We have developed-- Carol has developed a system over a period of years of manipulation that works absolutely beautifully.

And it's a technique.

It's a style.

And yet you still have to interpret through it.

- Can you tell us, Carol, something about your hand puppets?

What makes them unique?

- Well... - In layman's terminology, them.

- Well, if I use the word Stanislavski, I'm sure everybody knows what he did for the theatre.

He devised a method.

I've done this with hand puppetry.

It's a method to teach manipulation of the hand puppet from the first tiny finger movement right on through, to wrist movements, arm movements, to voice, to improvization.

And it's coming out in a book, incidentally, and we're very happy about that.

And it works.

We have proved it over and over and over and over again.

It's not the only method.

Of course there are many, many methods, but it is a method and it requires the puppeteer to act through their hands because that's all that matters, the voice and the hands.

- I'm intrigued by how you get into a characterization through the puppet.

Paul, how do you start out?

I mean, how do you begin to envision, first of all, what a puppet would look like physically?

And from then, can you tell us how the ultimate characterization emerges?

I'm sure there's a lot of experimentation that goes on.

- Yes, actually, the characterization emerges before the physical puppet does.

We begin, of course, with the script and we study the script, the demands of the script, and then we begin analyzing the character.

We move away from the script at times.

We improvise.

We try various voices.

And as the character begins to take a personality, and the quality of a character, you know, with all of the intricacies of a character, then we begin to develop the physical puppet.

- How do you achieve objectivity as to what you're doing?

By that I mean, and in legitimate theatre, you have a director whose concept is conveyed.

Do you have critiques of each other's work?

- Well, first of all, we have critiques of each other's work.

We also get outside puppeteers to come in and see the work in progress, to critique it, to direct it, to help.

A good puppet theatre will have a director just as a live theatre will have a director.

And, you know, it's very much like regular theatre.

- How infinite a variety of interpretations, do you think, are still open to puppeteers in the United States?

I mean, do you feel that you're just beginning to make inroads through presenting things like Shakespeare in puppetry?

- Well, there have been groups who have presented Shakespeare before my time, and I understand they were beautiful presentations.

At the present time, I don't know of anybody who is doing it.

Most of the puppetry is, as we said, for children.

Some of it's good, some of it's bad.

It's a lot of puppetry nightclub work, also excellent.

And of course, on television.

- What about your, Paul, what about your long range plan?

Or what other hopes do you have for puppetry?

- Oh great, great many hopes.

(laughing) I would like to do excerpts from the ancient Greek drama.

I would like for us to do Moliere, who is beautifully adapted or adaptable to puppetry.

I would like us to do some modern dramas with puppetry.

I would like to see some contemporary plays written specifically for puppetry.

I think that the possibilities for puppetry is almost unlimited.

- What is the status of puppetry in Europe as contrasted with the status of puppetry in the United States?

By that I mean in Europe, is it still a respectable adult fare to go to the puppet theatre?

- Yes, as a matter of fact, what they do with puppetry is something that we hope someday will hit our country.

Go to puppet theatre as adult fare or you go to children's theatre.

You don't go to a puppet show as we do here, even though they do have puppetry in the Punch and Judy in the park for the children.

And it's very serious.

Actors go into it for a livelihood.

They train for puppet theatre, just as we train here for live theatre.

- And your ultimate aim, I would imagine, would be to present puppetry as theatre.

- Oh, yes.

To have a beautiful theater, all our own, with a wonderful cast, wonderful director, and a whole crew.

- You’ve certainly made a nice, impressive start.

Thank you both very much for sharing your time and your skills and your thoughts with us.

And thank you very much for joining us.

(medieval fanfare)