17:27:34
Jeralyndwile’s quote from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare’s closing to the audience, reminded me of something similar from another play that I studied at school, The Country Wife by William Wycherly.
It’s a Restoration Comedy from about the 1670s, a farce of sorts that was lewd, crude and flew in the face of tradition. It had numerous points at which it mocked the members of its audience, and the stereotypical types of people who went to the theatre in those days.
The part I was instantly reminded of was the prologue, which admonishes the crowd before the play has even started. Jeralyn’s Shakespeare quote is the epilogue, if memory serves, and attempts to head off any criticisms made of the preceding action.
Wycherly at first reading seems to be doing it in reverse, begging for the audience’s mercy before a word is spoken, but when read in context with the rest of the play, you can fully grasp its mocking tone. If memory serves, my teacher skipped the prologue until we were about halfway into the play so that we wouldn’t get confused by it.
Says you Confed’rate Wits no Quarter give,
Ther’fore his Play shan’t ask your leave to live:
Well, let the vain rash Fop, by huffing so,
Think to obtain the better terms of you;
But we the Actors humbly will submit,
Now, and at any time, to a full Pit;
Wycherly also blames the actors for messing up his work!
I need to dig out this play and re-read it, I reckon. It had a short run in London a few months back, and I’m annoyed with myself that I missed it, as I didn’t get an opportunity to see it while studying.