S1 E2: Content Dictates Form
Prose (Formatted as Verse): Go to Ground by Stuart Spencer (Act I, Scene 1)
OLIVER.
Go To Ground. A play about a fox hunt.
How many of you ride a horse?
(He waits for a show of hands.)
Not many.
Not to worry. Fortunately we’re
Prepared to give a demonstration for
The uninitiated. Horses go
At different speeds – we call them “gaits’. My fam’ly
Has agreed to show you what they look
Like so that you can tell a gallop from
A trot.
(Joy appears “walking” her horse)
My mother, Joy. As you can see,
A simple walk. Her back is straight but not
Inflexible. Her shoulders are relaxed,
The elbows in, and loosely, in her hands,
The reins. You never want to grip the reins.
I don’t know why.
(Joy comes to a full stop, and cocks her ankle at an angle.)
When standing still, the horse
Will often cock his foot. It’s normal;
The horse is fine. So: moving on.
(Tony appears.)
My brother
Tony. This is called a trot. Which means
That Tony has to post. He’s posting now.
Okay, that’s it.
(Tony goes and stands next to Joy. Oliver looks down at his ankle, which cocks like Joys.)
It never fails.
(Ford has already entered at a canter.)
And this
Is called a canter. That’s my father, by
The way. You notice how he’s rolling with
The horse’s gait. You never want to fight
The horse’s gait. That’s very bad. The horse
And rider should be one. Like so. He’s very
Good. Okay, that’s fine.
(Ford continues.)
Hey Dad. Hey Dad!
(Ford stops.)
That’s fine. Appreciate it.
(Ford stands next to Tony; Caitlin appears.)
Now. The final
Gait will be the gallop. Are you set?
(Caitlin glares at him.)
Oh sorry. Caitlin. Sister. Sorry. Set?
Then go.
(Caitlin breaks into a full gallop that takes her directly off stage opposite.)
The gallop’s not for novices.
(Caitlin bursts back on stage from the wings, still galloping.)
It’s very fast as you can…
(And she hurtles off stage again)
…don’t try this
At home.
(And she’s back again - !)
I think we got the point. Hello!
(She hears him and stops, goes to join the others.)
And so, that’s it. The basics. All you really
Need to know. Although there is one thing –
It’s me, you see, just so you understand…
(The others all interrupt him.)
THE OTHERS.
Oliver!/Hey!/Let’s just do it!/They’ll see for themselves!
OLIVER.
In that case may I offer you:
ALL.
Go To Ground.
OLIVER.
A play about a fox hunt.
Go To Ground. A play about a fox hunt.
How many of you ride a horse?
(He waits for a show of hands.)
Not many.
Not to worry. Fortunately we’re
Prepared to give a demonstration for
The uninitiated. Horses go
At different speeds – we call them “gaits’. My fam’ly
Has agreed to show you what they look
Like so that you can tell a gallop from
A trot.
(Joy appears “walking” her horse)
My mother, Joy. As you can see,
A simple walk. Her back is straight but not
Inflexible. Her shoulders are relaxed,
The elbows in, and loosely, in her hands,
The reins. You never want to grip the reins.
I don’t know why.
(Joy comes to a full stop, and cocks her ankle at an angle.)
When standing still, the horse
Will often cock his foot. It’s normal;
The horse is fine. So: moving on.
(Tony appears.)
My brother
Tony. This is called a trot. Which means
That Tony has to post. He’s posting now.
Okay, that’s it.
(Tony goes and stands next to Joy. Oliver looks down at his ankle, which cocks like Joys.)
It never fails.
(Ford has already entered at a canter.)
And this
Is called a canter. That’s my father, by
The way. You notice how he’s rolling with
The horse’s gait. You never want to fight
The horse’s gait. That’s very bad. The horse
And rider should be one. Like so. He’s very
Good. Okay, that’s fine.
(Ford continues.)
Hey Dad. Hey Dad!
(Ford stops.)
That’s fine. Appreciate it.
(Ford stands next to Tony; Caitlin appears.)
Now. The final
Gait will be the gallop. Are you set?
(Caitlin glares at him.)
Oh sorry. Caitlin. Sister. Sorry. Set?
Then go.
(Caitlin breaks into a full gallop that takes her directly off stage opposite.)
The gallop’s not for novices.
(Caitlin bursts back on stage from the wings, still galloping.)
It’s very fast as you can…
(And she hurtles off stage again)
…don’t try this
At home.
(And she’s back again - !)
I think we got the point. Hello!
(She hears him and stops, goes to join the others.)
And so, that’s it. The basics. All you really
Need to know. Although there is one thing –
It’s me, you see, just so you understand…
(The others all interrupt him.)
THE OTHERS.
Oliver!/Hey!/Let’s just do it!/They’ll see for themselves!
OLIVER.
In that case may I offer you:
ALL.
Go To Ground.
OLIVER.
A play about a fox hunt.
Prose (Formatted as Verse): Go to Ground by Stuart Spencer (Act I, Scene 1)
FORD.
No? It can’t?
You haven’t got a clue. This horse is half
A ton of muscle, bone, and hoof. And when
It hears the hounds give tongue, that half
A ton starts moving twice as fast as you
Could ever think of running. And it doesn’t
Want to stop. It loves to run. That’s all
It really loves. And you’re a puny little
Flea with only one thing in your favor.
That’s persuasion. Nothing else. There’s not
A chance in hell that you, or anyone,
Is strong enough to stop a thousand
Pounds of horse from running where it wants
And jumping what it likes. The only thing
You’ve got is what you know. And you know nothing.
(Caitlin enters on foot.)
You can hilltop if you like.
No? It can’t?
You haven’t got a clue. This horse is half
A ton of muscle, bone, and hoof. And when
It hears the hounds give tongue, that half
A ton starts moving twice as fast as you
Could ever think of running. And it doesn’t
Want to stop. It loves to run. That’s all
It really loves. And you’re a puny little
Flea with only one thing in your favor.
That’s persuasion. Nothing else. There’s not
A chance in hell that you, or anyone,
Is strong enough to stop a thousand
Pounds of horse from running where it wants
And jumping what it likes. The only thing
You’ve got is what you know. And you know nothing.
(Caitlin enters on foot.)
You can hilltop if you like.
Prose into Poetry: The Merry Widows of Windsor by Emily C. A. Snyder (Act I, Scene 1)
JUSTICE SHALLOW.
Now, when there were no bastard prince, as the highest man in Windsor, I steeled myself to set myself on you. But now I am relieved! For though, when I was young, I was a roister-doister with the rest—hey hey! And have had seven daughters by twice as many wives—no wife my own, you understand, for I have never married. But as I say, where are my spectacles? Where are they, Jane? Confound it all.
JANE.
(Handing them over.) They’re here.
JUSTICE SHALLOW.
Well, well. I asked you, girl, to test you. (To ALICE.) But as I say, it is your civic duty, Alice Ford, to marry with the highest man in town, and give your coffers back unto the state. We all depend on you.
‘Twas I; ‘tis he. The deed must needs be done.
For you must go and woo King Henry’s bastard son!
Farewell!
(JUSTICE SHALLOW and JANE exit. ALICE manet.)
ALICE.
O——! The arrogance of power!
I had thought, once Frank was in the ground,
That my wealth, my will, my life and flesh were mine.
But now I see:
Although my husband’s dead, he still hath hold on me.
Or so this ancient man believes. To him
The contents of my person and my purse
Were ever for the public use; not mine.
Through Windsor, all my measurements are known:
My body and my books are by their figures weighed.
And so far as I have power, ‘tis in my pocketbook.
Well, then: why not use the power I possess?
‘Ist not so bad a thing to marry with a king!
Or the bastard son of one—some...thirty twenty years my junior?
How will that fadge?
To have an infant in my bed, who might have been
In other circumstance, an infant at the breast?
And yet, many an older man will leer and grope
A woman half his age and be applauded for it!
So should not I,
Who am not so old but that my appetite hath ripened--
(Indeed, upon his death I think it doubled)--
Wherefore should I deny my baser cravings,
Which, ‘til now, were kept in holy check,
And take unto myself a lusty youth
Some eighteen years of age!--
And King Harry’s son beside.
I’ll do’t.
Although my soul rebel against the act.
‘Tis for the civic good. I’llllllllll--do him.
Now, when there were no bastard prince, as the highest man in Windsor, I steeled myself to set myself on you. But now I am relieved! For though, when I was young, I was a roister-doister with the rest—hey hey! And have had seven daughters by twice as many wives—no wife my own, you understand, for I have never married. But as I say, where are my spectacles? Where are they, Jane? Confound it all.
JANE.
(Handing them over.) They’re here.
JUSTICE SHALLOW.
Well, well. I asked you, girl, to test you. (To ALICE.) But as I say, it is your civic duty, Alice Ford, to marry with the highest man in town, and give your coffers back unto the state. We all depend on you.
‘Twas I; ‘tis he. The deed must needs be done.
For you must go and woo King Henry’s bastard son!
Farewell!
(JUSTICE SHALLOW and JANE exit. ALICE manet.)
ALICE.
O——! The arrogance of power!
I had thought, once Frank was in the ground,
That my wealth, my will, my life and flesh were mine.
But now I see:
Although my husband’s dead, he still hath hold on me.
Or so this ancient man believes. To him
The contents of my person and my purse
Were ever for the public use; not mine.
Through Windsor, all my measurements are known:
My body and my books are by their figures weighed.
And so far as I have power, ‘tis in my pocketbook.
Well, then: why not use the power I possess?
‘Ist not so bad a thing to marry with a king!
Or the bastard son of one—some...thirty twenty years my junior?
How will that fadge?
To have an infant in my bed, who might have been
In other circumstance, an infant at the breast?
And yet, many an older man will leer and grope
A woman half his age and be applauded for it!
So should not I,
Who am not so old but that my appetite hath ripened--
(Indeed, upon his death I think it doubled)--
Wherefore should I deny my baser cravings,
Which, ‘til now, were kept in holy check,
And take unto myself a lusty youth
Some eighteen years of age!--
And King Harry’s son beside.
I’ll do’t.
Although my soul rebel against the act.
‘Tis for the civic good. I’llllllllll--do him.
Prose into Poetry: Hamlet by William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 2)
HAMLET.
'Tis well: I'll have thee speak out the rest soon. Good my lord, will you see the players well bestowed? Do you hear, let them be well used; for they are the abstract and brief chronicles o f the time: after your death you were better have a bad epitaph than their ill report while you live.
POLONIUS.
My lord, I will use them according to their desert.
HAMLET.
God's bodykins, man, much better: use every man after his desert, and who should 'scape whipping? Use them after your own honour and dignity: the less they deserve, the more merit is in your bounty. Take them in.
POLONIUS.
Come, sirs.
HAMLET.
Follow him, friends: we'll hear a play to-morrow.
(Exit POLONIUS with all the Players but the First.)
HAMLET.
Dost thou hear me, old friend; can you play the Murder of Gonzago?
PLAYER.
Aye, my lord.
HAMLET.
We'll ha't to-morrow night. You could, for a need, study a speech of some dozen or sixteen lines, which I would set down and insert in't, could you not?
PLAYER.
Aye, my lord.
HAMLET.
Very well. Follow that lord; and look you mock him not.
(Exit First Player.)
HAMLET.
My good friends, I'll leave you till night: you are welcome to Elsinore.
ROSENCRANTZ.
Good my lord!
HAMLET.
Ay, so, God be wi' ye;
(Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN.)
HAMLET.
Now I am alone.
O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!
Is it not monstrous that this player here,
But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,
Could force his soul so to his own conceit
That from her working all his visage wann'd,
Tears in his eyes, distraction in's aspect,
A broken voice, and his whole function suiting
With forms to his conceit? and all for nothing!
For Hecuba!
What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba,
That he should weep for her? What would he do,
Had he the motive and the cue for passion
That I have? He would drown the stage with tears
And cleave the general ear with horrid speech,
Make mad the guilty and appall the free,
Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed
The very faculties of eyes and ears. Yet I,
A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak,
Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,
And can say nothing; no, not for a king,
Upon whose property and most dear life
A damn'd defeat was made. Am I a coward?
Who calls me villain? breaks my pate across?
Plucks off my beard, and blows it in my face?
Tweaks me by the nose? gives me the lie i' the throat,
As deep as to the lungs? who does me this?
Ha!
'Swounds, I should take it: for it cannot be
But I am pigeon-liver'd and lack gall
To make oppression bitter, or ere this
I should have fatted all the region kites
With this slave's offal: bloody, bawdy villain!
Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!
O, vengeance!
Why, what an ass am I!
'Tis well: I'll have thee speak out the rest soon. Good my lord, will you see the players well bestowed? Do you hear, let them be well used; for they are the abstract and brief chronicles o f the time: after your death you were better have a bad epitaph than their ill report while you live.
POLONIUS.
My lord, I will use them according to their desert.
HAMLET.
God's bodykins, man, much better: use every man after his desert, and who should 'scape whipping? Use them after your own honour and dignity: the less they deserve, the more merit is in your bounty. Take them in.
POLONIUS.
Come, sirs.
HAMLET.
Follow him, friends: we'll hear a play to-morrow.
(Exit POLONIUS with all the Players but the First.)
HAMLET.
Dost thou hear me, old friend; can you play the Murder of Gonzago?
PLAYER.
Aye, my lord.
HAMLET.
We'll ha't to-morrow night. You could, for a need, study a speech of some dozen or sixteen lines, which I would set down and insert in't, could you not?
PLAYER.
Aye, my lord.
HAMLET.
Very well. Follow that lord; and look you mock him not.
(Exit First Player.)
HAMLET.
My good friends, I'll leave you till night: you are welcome to Elsinore.
ROSENCRANTZ.
Good my lord!
HAMLET.
Ay, so, God be wi' ye;
(Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN.)
HAMLET.
Now I am alone.
O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!
Is it not monstrous that this player here,
But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,
Could force his soul so to his own conceit
That from her working all his visage wann'd,
Tears in his eyes, distraction in's aspect,
A broken voice, and his whole function suiting
With forms to his conceit? and all for nothing!
For Hecuba!
What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba,
That he should weep for her? What would he do,
Had he the motive and the cue for passion
That I have? He would drown the stage with tears
And cleave the general ear with horrid speech,
Make mad the guilty and appall the free,
Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed
The very faculties of eyes and ears. Yet I,
A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak,
Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,
And can say nothing; no, not for a king,
Upon whose property and most dear life
A damn'd defeat was made. Am I a coward?
Who calls me villain? breaks my pate across?
Plucks off my beard, and blows it in my face?
Tweaks me by the nose? gives me the lie i' the throat,
As deep as to the lungs? who does me this?
Ha!
'Swounds, I should take it: for it cannot be
But I am pigeon-liver'd and lack gall
To make oppression bitter, or ere this
I should have fatted all the region kites
With this slave's offal: bloody, bawdy villain!
Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!
O, vengeance!
Why, what an ass am I!
Resources
1776
Amadeus
American Shakespeare Center
Apuleius, The Golden Ass
Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson
Chicago by Kander and Ebb
Community
Eurovision
Oscar Hammerstein, II
Heathers
Victor Hugo
Mean Girls
Lin-Manuel Miranda
William Shakespeare
Lemony Snicket
Emily C. A. Snyder
Stephen Sondheim
Stuart Spencer
Joss Whedon
- 1776 Trailer | DVD | CD
- “Sit Down John,” William Daniels (See Hamilton section)
Amadeus
- Amadeus DVD | Script | Trailer
- Salieri narration scene
American Shakespeare Center
Apuleius, The Golden Ass
- The Golden Ass | Project Gutenberg | Chapter 22 “Cupid and Psyche”
- Edith Hamilton’s Mythology
- Cupid and Psyche
- Cupid
- Psyche
Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson
- Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson Broadway.com Show Clips | CD | Bootleg
- Referential Music:
- “I’m Not Okay,” My Chemical Romance
- “Bring Me to Life,” Evanescence
- “Bye Bye Beautiful,” Nightwish
- “A Presidential Emo: The Story of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” from Wait in the Wings
Chicago by Kander and Ebb
- “All That Jazz” from Chicago, directed by Rob Marshall (See Hamilton section)
Community
- The Complete Series
- Introduction to Modern Warfare scene
- “My Dinner with Andre” parody | original
- SPOILERS: “The Day Community Died” from Entertain the Elk
Eurovision
- “Lion of Love,” Dan Stevens (See Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson section)
Oscar Hammerstein, II
- Oscar Hammerstein, II
- Collected Musicals DVD
- “The Hills Are Alive” from The Sound of Music, Julie Andrews (See Hamilton section)
Heathers
Victor Hugo
- Les Miserables book
- Musical: 10th Anniversary Concert CD | DVD
- Movie:
- Les Miserables, Liam Neeson
- Les Miserables, Charles Laughton
Mean Girls
- Queen Bees and Wannabes, Rosalind Wiseman
- Mean Girls DVD | Trailer
- Mean Girls: The Musical CD | Trailer
Lin-Manuel Miranda
- Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton: The Revolution (Collected lyrics)
- “John Adams Rap,” performed by Lin-Manuel Miranda (cut from Hamilton; see 1776 section)
- “Alexander Hamilton” performed by Lin-Manuel Miranda at the White House for President Obama
- “Alexander Hamilton” performed by the Original Broadway Cast for the #Hamilfilm
- “Hamilton and Motifs” by Make Stuff on YouTube
William Shakespeare
- William Shakespeare, As You Like It
- William Shakespeare, Hamlet
- Kenneth Branaugh “Rogue and peasant slave”
- Richard Burton “Rogue and peasant slave”
- Chiwetel Ejiofor “Rogue and peasant slave”
- Mel Gibson “Rogue and peasant slave” (second half)
- Ethan Hawke “Rogue and peasant slave”
- Campbell Scott “Rogue and peasant slave”
- David Tennant “Rogue and peasant slave”
- William Shakespeare, Merry Wives of Windsor
Lemony Snicket
- Lemony Snicket
- The Unauthorized Autobiography
- A Series of Unfortunate Events
- Books
- Movie | Trailer
- Netflix Series
- SPOILERS:
- “The Failure of Adults: What A Series of Unfortunate Events Gets Right” Pop Feminist Article
- “A Series of Unfortunate Events is Anything But,” Pop Feminist Article
Emily C. A. Snyder
- Cupid and Psyche
- Love and Death Trilogy
- “Cupid and Psyche Featurette” 2014 Productions
- “Bad Quarto” (Workshop Production), 2009
- “Bad Quarto” Script
- Cupid and Psyche production, directed by Brenda Huggins
- Love and Death Trilogy
- The Merry Widows of Windsor on New Play Exchange
- “The Merry Widows of Windsor: Rewriting Shakespeare in the Light of #MeToo,” O Beauty Unattempted!
- “My Digital Couch: A Conversation with Renaissance Woman Emily C. A. Snyder,” Zelda Knapp, A Work Unfinishing
Stephen Sondheim
- Stephen Sondheim
- Stephen Sondheim, Finishing the Hat
- Into the Woods CD
- SPOILERS:
- “Witch’s Rap” from Into the Woods, Bernadette Peters
- “Witch’s Rap” from Into the Woods, Meryl Streep
- “Last Midnight” from Into the Woods, Bernadette Peters
- “Last Midnight” from Into the Woods, Meryl Streep
- “I Know Things Now” from Into the Woods, Original Broadway Cast
- “I Know Things Now” from Into the Woods, Movie
Stuart Spencer
Joss Whedon
