An Audience with an Ass
The performance of "Pyramus and Thisby" at the end of A Midsummer Night's Dream is met with some sarcastic commentary by the Duke and his wedding party. I initially thought that their statements were not as cruel as those lobbed at the inept performance of the "Show of the Worthies" at the close of Love's Labor's Lost.
Now I'm not so sure?
But why is it that I am more accepting and less bothered by this audience? Is it because it's funnier (both the show AND the commentary)? [IS it funnier?] Is it because I like the performers better? [wouldn't that make me find the commentary MORE cruel?]
Or is it because the overall ending of Love's Labor's Lost disappointed me so, that I have denigrated all that comes before it in that final act? And thus Midsummer's more joyous ending makes me more forgiving?
I'm just not sure... your thoughts?
Now I'm not so sure?
But why is it that I am more accepting and less bothered by this audience? Is it because it's funnier (both the show AND the commentary)? [IS it funnier?] Is it because I like the performers better? [wouldn't that make me find the commentary MORE cruel?]
Or is it because the overall ending of Love's Labor's Lost disappointed me so, that I have denigrated all that comes before it in that final act? And thus Midsummer's more joyous ending makes me more forgiving?
I'm just not sure... your thoughts?
[discuss, if you will...]
The comments have never bothered me. I think because they were not made to hurt anyone, just to have a little fun (sort of like watching Mystery Science Theatre 3000).
Theseus's voice counts the most, and his comments are sarcastic at times but also generous. He knows who is performing and what they are capable of, and knows that truly nasty comments would be cruel and ignoble ("For never anything can be amiss//When simpleness and duty tender it" and "The kinder we, to give them thanks for nothing." and "Love, therefore, and tongue tied simplicity//In least speak most to my capacity."). He reminds Hippolyta that the best performances are merely shadows and that they must use their imaginations to fill in for the actors. Take a look also at his comment about the lion, "A very gentle beast, and of a good conscience." Nothing mean there.
Finally, "so it [the play] is truly, and very notably discharged."
In contrast, the women in Love's Labor's Lost want to draw blood with their remarks.
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Yep, Theseus' intro to the play and how to accept it is very high-minded and generous. And I really want to see him as living up to it, but a couple of his comments are less than kind:
"Would you desire lime and hair to speak better?"... if we switch the order of the speeches, so that Demetrius speaks first, and Theseus says this to him, than of the players, we avoid the cruelty.
"With the help of a surgeon he might yet recover, and prove an ass." Hard to see this being kind... of course, I've always thought that if it is obviously the same actor playing Theseus/Oberon, this may be a winking reference of Bottom's (Pyramus) transformation to his Hippolyta/Titania (in much the same way as Titania and Bottom share a lingering look in the '94 Noble version that you like (a little more than I did--though I would have LOVED to see it on stage, and think it would have blown me away in that medium).
Agreed, the women in LLL are most cruel (and a reason I'm not a big fan of the play)... but I was thinking more about the men's responses to the Show of the Worthies... very cruel as well (though some critics see this as a venting of frustration over THEIR cruel treatment at the hands of the women).
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