As we approach the performance, we looked today at class in Shakespeare and how it compares to that of the 1989 context. The class hierarchy in a Shakespeare play is as follows:
- Government/Court
- Religion/Church
- High Born/Gentry
- Law
- Low Born/City
We decided which characters were above which in the play; this helped us have a better understanding of our relationships to each other and how we would treat each other.
My character is particularly interesting because he moves between two classes, the Court and the Church. Although when undisguised he is undisputedly at the top of the hierarchy, when undercover as Friar Ludowick he is below the Court. This bears itself in the big reveal in Act V when he is unmasked. Escalus has just ordered his arrest, not aware that this is her lord and master. When he is revealed, instantly the cast changes from looking at him as an equal to bowing their heads in respect.
We also transferred the ideas of class into the 1989 environment:
- Government: Thatcher and the Tories
- Religion: 1960s Hippie Generation "old wave"
- High Born: More privileged ravers, those with connections
- Law: The police and criminal justice system
- Low Born: Working class ravers and promoters
This helped us modernise these relationships with each other, and also to expand our knowledge of who we were in this alternate '80s Shakespearean world.
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