Monday, October 6, 2008

The Rover and Soap Operas

So I was looking over the Rover and once i got the drift of what was going on, the only thing i could think of was that this play was like a modern day soap. I mention this in my letter to the playwright but i didn't go into as much detail as I'm doing now. You got the romance angle, Florinda and Helena falling in love and in Florinda's case with a man she's not suppose to be with. The Drama, Florinda having to marry someone one else and Helena's man cheating on her with a prostitute. Who isn't exactly faithful to him either. and Then there are the fights, caused by misunderstandings and the women and the men making assumptions. And the plot twists increases the problem. Like Florida almost managing to get married but is found out by her brother and thus dragged off. But in the end she does get married to the man she's in love with. Modern day elopement right there. Not to mention all the close calls that happen in the play like Florinda's near rape and Willmore's near Death at the hands of his angry lover Helena. The only difference between this play a typical soap is the fact that it actually has an ending, there are no loose ends and everything is basically tied up. Okay i know this was a little weird but it was the only was i could make a connection to this play once i started imagining the rover in this way it really started to click. Now if i could just figure out half of the words that they used I'll be doing good. To tell the truth I'm not sure which is worse tyring to figure out Shakespeare or trying to figure out the rover.

1 comment:

PapaDog said...

Actually, staging it as a modern soap opera could be quite effective. The heightened (bordering on melodrama) emotional turmoil, living outside of family/social expectations, a prostitute who really has a heart, all these are grist for the mill. Soaps also often delve into touchy, controversial subjects like prostitution and even rape. These are handled in a sympathetic and realistic way in order to how the effects on people and society in general. Maybe this could help show Blunt for the ogre he really is.
But, then again, Blunt doesn't really get a proper comeuppence for a modern sensibility. Perhaps toning down the action to the point that Florinda is locked in the room but uses Blunts own clumsiness and foppery against him to avaid his "advances" might work