in good king charles’s golden days · the shaw story 2 the players 3 the story 4 the playwright 5...

In Good King Charles’s Golden Days

The Shaw Story 2

The Players 3

The Story 4

The Playwright 5

Who’s Who 6-7

Director’s Notes 8

Designer’s Notes 9-10

Production History 11

World of the Play 12-16

Did You Know? 17

Say What? 18

Sources 19

Activities 20-32

By Bernard Shaw

C ONNECTIONS Shaw Festival

Study Guide

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THE SHAW STORY MANDATE

The Shaw Festival is the only theatre in the world which exclusively focuses on plays by Bernard Shaw and his contemporaries, including plays written during, or about the period of Shaw’s lifetime (1856 – 1950).

The Shaw Festival’s mandate also includes: • Uncovered Gems – digging up undiscovered theatrical treasures, or plays which

were considered major works when they were written but which have since been unjustly neglected

• American Classics – we continue to celebrate the best of American theatre • Musicals – musical treats either from, or set during the period of our mandate • Canadian Work – to allow us to hear and promote our own stories, and our own

points of view about the mandate period. MEET THE COMPANY — OUR ENSEMBLE • Our Actors: All Shaw performers contribute to the sense of ensemble, much like the

players in an orchestra. Often, smaller parts are played by actors who are leading performers in their own right, but in our “orchestra,” they support the central action helping to create a density of experiences that are both subtle and informative.

• Our Designers: Every production that graces the Shaw Festival stages is built “from scratch,” from an original design. Professional designers lead teams who collaborate with each production’s director to create set, costumes, and lighting designs that complement the play’s text.

• Our Music: Music played an important role in Bernard Shaw’s life – in fact, he wrote music criticism for several years under the pseudonym Corno di Bassetto. Just as the reach of musical theatre is vast and manifold, so is The Shaw’s approach - present-ing Brecht and Weill, Rodgers and Hart, and everything in between.

• Our Play Development: The goals of Shaw’s Play Development Program include: 1) to develop new adaptations and translations that will tell classic stories in a contempo-rary way; 2) to produce new plays alongside those of Shaw and his contemporaries.

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW As Artistic Director Jackie Maxwell says, “We all know the man can talk, but Bernard Shaw is also one of the most prescient, provocative, sparklingly articulate writers in the English language. His words and ideas, expressed in plays that are well-known, such as this season’s The Devil’s Disciple, or in plays that are not so familiar but no less interesting, have extraordinary relevance today. It is a joy to draw attention to those ideas and bring them to life on our stages.”

OUR THEATRES The Shaw Festival presents plays in three distinctive theatres. The Festival Theatre with 869 seats is The Shaw’s flagship theatre; the historic Court House where The Shaw first began performing seats 327; and the Royal George Theatre, modeled after an Edwardian opera house, holds 328.

THE SHAW’S COAT OF ARMS In 1987, on the occasion of our 25th Anniversary, the Shaw Festival became the second theatre company in the world to be granted a Coat of Arms by the College of Heralds. A large painted sculpture of our Coat of Arms adorns the lobby of the Festival Theatre.

C ONNECTIONS Shaw Festival Study Guide

WHAT MAKES SHAW SPECIAL

Festival Theatre

Court House Theatre

Royal George Theatre

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Director EDA HOLMES

Set Designer CAMELLIA KOO

Costume Designer MICHAEL GIANFRANCESCO Lighting Designer BONNIE BEECHER

James, Duke of York ANDREW BUNKER

King Charles II BENEDICT CAMPBELL

Louise de Kéouaille, LISA CODRINGTON Duchess of Portsmouth

Nell Gwynn NICOLA CORREIA-DAMUDE

Mrs Basham MARY HANEY

Barbara Villiers, CLAIRE JULLIEN Duchess of Cleveland

Sally ESTHER MALONEY

Queen Catherine of Braganza LAURIE PATON

George Fox RIC REID Isaac Newton GRAEME SOMERVILLE

Godfrey Kneller KEN JAMES STEWART

A philosopher, a religious leader, an artist, an actress and a King meet at Sir

Isaac Newton’s house. The set-up for a joke? No, it’s Shaw’s Restoration

comedy, where everything from geometry to art to love potions are debated and discussed by some of history’s leading figures. If only King

Charles’s mistresses would stop interrupting!

C ONNECTIONS Study Guide

A practical, hands-on resource for the classroom which contains background information for the play, suggested themes for discus-sion, and Ontario curriculum-based activities. Designed by educators and theatre profession-als, the activities and themes for discussion are organized in modules that can be used independently or interdependently according to the class level and time availability. In Good King Charles’s Golden Days is recom-mended for students in grade 9 and higher. This guide was written and compiled by Suzanne Merriam and Amanda Tripp. Additional materials were provided by Joanna Falck, Eda Holmes, Camellia Koo, and Michael Gianfrancesco Cover: Julie Martell, Claire Jullien, Lisa Codrington Photo by Shin Sugino Previews April 17 Opens May 21 Closes October 9


THE PLAYERS

THE ARTISTIC TEAM

THE STORY

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In Good King Charles’s Golden Days A True History That Never Happened By Bernard Shaw

play’s subtitle, A True History That Never Happened , gives us an insight into Shaw’s almost whimsical approach to this fascinating and humorous play. In writing it, he took the opportunity to play the ‘what if’ game: what might have happened had several prominent men of history met at the height of their powers? What if a leading scientist had a painter, a religious leader and a King to his house for a good discussion? And what if this discussion was, on occasion, interrupted by one or several of the King’s mistresses? The result was In Good King Charles’s Golden Days - a witty and decidedly Shavian take on some great men (and women) of history. The men that gather in the play include the host for the gathering, the great philoso-pher and scientist Sir Isaac Newton. His guests are leading portrait painter Godfrey Kneller, religious rebel and founder of the Quakers George Fox, King Charles II and Charles’s argumentative brother, James II. Between them they discuss almost every-thing: questions of leadership (all of them being leaders in his own field) along with arguments about art versus science versus religion. Even King Charles expresses his excitement in anticipation of the discussion: Charles: I confess to unbounded curiosity to hear what George Fox can have to say to Isaac Newton. It is not altogether an impertinent curiosity. My trade, which is a very unusual one, requires that I should know what Tom, Dick and Harry have to say to one another. I find you two gentlemen much more interesting and infinitely more important. And into this mix of great men, Shaw introduces a few great women - to “relieve the intellectual tension”. Nell Gwynn, the famous comic actress; Barbara Villiers, Duch-ess of Cleveland, one of Charles’ most notorious mistresses who had five of his ille-gitimate children and held great power in his court; Louise De Kerouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth, a mistress from France who was known for maintaining her ‘baby face’ good looks throughout her life. They each come to Sir Isaac Newton’s house looking for Charles, and none is too happy to find the other there. However, they hold their own with the great men and bring their own insights to discussions of science, religion, art, and love. When the Duchess accuses Charles of having been unfaithful to her “a thousand times”, Newton calculates with absolute mathematical precision that King Charles would have to be almost three hundred years old for that to be true: “Figures cannot mock, because they cannot feel. That is their great quality and their great fault,” he tells her. As in last year’s hit Getting Married, they fall into both serious and comic debate about big topics–it’s another great discussion play that only Shaw could write.


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Such a lot of interesting people lived then and he is throwing them all in together to sink or swim Charlotte Shaw (wife of Bernard Shaw)

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BERNARD SHAW An acclaimed dramatist, critic, and social reformer Bernard Shaw was born in Dublin where he grew up in an atmosphere of genteel poverty. He attended four schools and was tutored by a clerical uncle, but left his formal education behind him at the age of fifteen. He developed a wide knowledge of music, art, and literature under the influence of his mother, a singer and vocal music teacher, and as a result of his visits to the National Gallery of Ireland. In 1876 he moved to London, where he spent his afternoons in the British Museum and his evenings pursuing his informal education in the form of lectures and debates. Shaw declared himself a socialist in 1882 and joined the Fabian Society in 1884. He soon distinguished himself as a fluent and effective public speaker, as well as an incisive and irreverent critic of music, art, and drama.

Shaw’s first play, Widowers’ Houses, was produced privately in 1892 for the members of the Independent Theatre Society. Shaw achieved his first commercial success with the American premiere of The Devil’s Disciple, the income from which enabled him to quit his job as a drama critic and to make his living solely as a playwright.

In 1898 he married Charlotte Payne-Townshend, an Irish heiress whom he had met through his Fabian friends Beatrice and Sidney Webb.

Harley Granville-Barker, a young actor-manager, helped to advance Shaw’s popular-ity in London with his famous repertory experiment at the Royal Court Theatre from 1904 to 1907. Of the “thousand performances” of this venture, over 700 were of plays by Shaw, including the premieres of John Bull’s Other Island (1904), Man and Superman (1905), Major Barbara (1905), and The Doctor’s Dilemma (1906). Shaw’s best-known play, Pygmalion, was first performed in 1913. Two generations later, it attained even greater fame as the musical My Fair Lady.

During World War I, Shaw’s anti-war speeches and a controversial pamphlet entitled Common Sense About the War made him very unpopular as a public figure. In Heartbreak House (performed 1920) Shaw exposed, in a country-house setting on the eve of the War, the spiritual bankruptcy of the generation responsible for the carnage. Next came Back to Methuselah (1922) and Saint Joan (1923), acclaim for which led to the awarding of the Nobel Prize for Literature in1925. Shaw continued to write plays and essays until his death in 1950 at the age of 94.

IN HIS OWN WORDS...

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A bachelor, an Irishman, a vegetar-ian, a fluent liar, a social-democrat, a lecturer and debater, a lover of music, a fierce opponent of the present status of women, and an insister on the seriousness of art

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*KING CHARLES II (1630 -1685) King of England from 1660-1685. He was briefly King of Scotland after his father’s execution in 1649. But Charles’s invasion of England in 1651 ended in his defeat at Worcester, followed by a humiliating flight to France. Two years after Oliver Cromwell’s death in 1658, a reconstituted Parliament restored the throne to Charles - on Parliament’s terms. (Shaw described Charles II as “the first king of England whose kingship was purely symbolic”.) In the Restoration period under this “Merry Monarch”, the arts and sciences flourished in reaction to their suppression during Cromwell’s Commonwealth.

*SIR ISAAC NEWTON (1642 -1727) Newton's reflecting telescope, made in 1668, brought him to the attention of the scientific community. In1672 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society. He also studied and published works on history, theology and alchemy. In 1687, with the support of his friend the astronomer Edmond Halley, Newton published his single greatest work, the 'Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathmatica' ('Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy'). This showed how a universal force, gravity, applied to all objects in all parts of the universe. By the early 1700s he was the dominant figure in British and European scientific societies.

*SIR GODFREY KNELLER (1646-1723) Born in Germany, Kneller studied in Amsterdam and arrived in England around the year 1675. He became the leading portrait painter in England during the late 17th century, and was principle painter to the King. In the preface to In Good King Charles’s Golden Days, Shaw admits that it was William Hogarth, and not Kneller, who said “the line of beauty is a curve” - many decades after the time of this play.

Who’s Who In Good King Charles’s Golden Days

*JAMES, DUKE OF YORK (1633-1701) Became James II after the death of his brother Charles II. The fourth and last of the Stuart kings, James was very unpopular due to his high-handed attitudes and his Catholic sympathies. His reign lasted only three years. In 1685 he fought off an invasion by the Duke of Monmouth, Charles’s eldest illegitimate son. In 1688 some prominent Englishmen invited James’s Protes-tant daughter Mary and her Dutch husband William of Orange to seize the throne, in what became known as the Glorious (or Bloodless) Revolution.

* Portrait painted by Godfrey Kneller

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GEORGE FOX (1624 -1691) Founded the ‘Quakers’ or Society of Friends. Puzzled by the inconsistency between what Christians said they believed and the way they behaved, Fox became a religious activist at the age of 19. He was imprisoned eight times for preaching views that annoyed the religious and political establishment of his time. Fox's aim was to inspire people to live by the principles of their faith. He objected to the hierarchical structure and the rituals of the churches of his time. He thought that believers should have a direct relationship with God and that no person (priests, for example) and no thing should come between them. Not surprisingly, these views infuriated the mainstream churches, and Quakers were persecuted in Britain until 1689.

BARBARA VILLIERS (1641 -1709) Duchess of Cleveland after 1670, was Charles II’s favourite mistress for the decade following his Restoration. The King acknowledged five of her seven children as his own. After losing his favour to Louise de Kéroualle, Villiers consoled herself with other lovers such as John Churchill, later first Duke of Marlborough, and the playwright William Wycherley. In 1677 she settled in Paris, returning to England just before Charles’s death in 1685.

NELL GWYNN (1650 -1687) According to legend, she began her theatrical career as an orange-seller. Her vivacity and charm soon made her Drury Lane’s leading comedienne. Though virtually illiterate, Nell was an enchanting presence on the stage, especially admired for her impudent prologues and epilogues. In 1670 she retired from the stage, becoming the King’s mistress and bearing him two sons. On his deathbed, Charles is said to have begged his brother James: “Let not poor Nelly starve”. James paid off Nell’s debts and provided her with a generous pension for the rest of her short life.

LOUISE DE KÉROUAILLE (1649 -1734) Was reputed to be a French spy. It is more likely that she served Charles in gaining secret financial support from France’s “Sun King,” Louis XIV, for Charles’s administration. She was made Duchess of Portsmouth in 1673, the year after she bore Charles a son.

CATHERINE OF BRAGANZA (1638 -1705) Wife of Charles II, was Queen of England until Charles’s death in 1685. She had no children. In 1678, a group of Protestants led by Titus Oates invented a “Popish Plot” which accused Catherine of complicity in a plot to kill Charles and place his Catholic brother James on the throne. In the end this “plot” was discredited and Catherine was cleared of any wrongdoing. Catherine helped reconcile Charles to the Catholic faith shortly before he died. In 1692 she returned to Portugal, where she was regent for her ailing brother King Pedro II.

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Eda Holmes talks about directing In Good King Charles’s Golden Days

Q: What’s your vision of the play? A: My vision for the play centers around two things 1) the notion of people who have ideas that are so full of passion that they are driven to arguments, fits, and fist fights and 2) a time machine that allows these historical figures to exist fully alive forever so that through them we can wrestle with the basic issues of politics, religion, science, and human relations with a view that looks both back at history and forward to our own world. Q: Who would you suggest as the ideal audience for your production? A: I suppose the ideal audience for this play would be anyone with a passion for science, politics, religion or art. Shaw himself said that the perfect audience for his plays would be a pack of philosophers — so really that means anyone who is thrilled by thinking. Q: Have you ever directed this playwright’s work before? A: No! Q: What do you find most interesting about this playwright? About the play? A: I am overwhelmed by his unquenchable curiosity about humanity; I am charmed by his imagination; I am humbled by his political commitment as a socialist; I am in awe of his extraordinary intellect that never shrank from challenging assumptions about the world. In Good King Charles’s Golden Days is like a celebration of his curiosity, imagination, political thought, and humanity. And it is funny, which is truly a feat of genius. Q: What do you want us to tell people about your work on this play? A That I tried really hard. Q: How accessible will our production be for students and what do you want younger audience members to know about the play’s message and your direction? A: My direction will be as accessible as the play. I would like the younger audience members to come away with a notion of ideas being extremely passion-filled and exciting. I don’t think that it is as accessible as say, Shaw’s Arms and the Man though — there is a lot of British history in it — but the outfits are great.


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Camellia Koo talks about designing the set

Q: Can you describe your vision for In Good King Charles’s Golden Days? A: The play is a collision of humanity and a collision of ideas, so we used Newton's theories on gravity and his model for the universe/solar system as our main inspiration. The set resembles both an orrery, a model/mobile of the solar system, as well as the elliptical shape of a planet's orbit, while at the same time, placing us slightly abstractly, as opposed to naturalistically in Newton's study. The entire set floats in a void, like a celestial body does in space. In Act II, we go to a more intimate location and another form of orrery comes into play. The characters in the play circle around each other, both verbally and physically, and then spontaneously break into fist fights, and at the centre of it all sits King Charles II, in disguise but ever present; the planets elliptically orbiting around the sun, on inevi-table collision courses with each other. Q: Have you previously designed plays by Bernard Shaw? A: I designed Heartbreak House for a set design project while in second year of theatre school. It was only a paper project (texts analysis, research, drafting, making a maquette and doing a final design presentation of the model). In Good King Charles's Golden Days will be the first produced/staged play of Bernard Shaw that I've de-signed. Q: What do you find most striking about In Good King Charles’s Golden Days? A: I love what the characters talk about, argue about, in this play...religion vs. science, war vs. peace, circles vs. ellipses, straight lines vs. curves... Q: What do you want audience members to know about your design? A: I hope the audience members pick up on the subtle details of the set that reflect what the characters talk about. Also, Newton's study is full of his many wide ranging experiments, but the whole room is also a sort of bell jar for the collision of characters that Bernard Shaw wrote to exist inside it.

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The orrery model (left) is one of the images that influenced the design of the set. A model of the set (maquette) is pictured on the right.

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Q: Can you describe your vision for In Good King Charles’s Golden Days? A: The characters in the play were real people, so I feel it is my responsibility to capture who these people really were, and portray them in a recognizable way, but also in a theatrical way that suits the tone of the script and the way that Shaw has portrayed them. Inspired by the set design, the director and I looked at photographs of planets in the solar system, which inspired the colour palette for the costumes. Q: Have you previously designed plays by Bernard Shaw? A: This is my first time designing a Shaw play. I'm inspired by the script which I was not previously familiar with, and am excited to be a part of such a great tradition here at the Shaw Festival. Q: What do you find most striking about In Good King Charles’s Golden Days? A: I am intrigued by the improbability of the situation in the play - the fact that all of these important and fascinating people from the 17th century all end up in one room discussing ideas that still seem relevant to us today in one way or another. Q: What do you want audience members to know about your design? A: While they are certainly inspired and informed by research and paintings from the period, they are also meant to suit the characters and the individual actors. The overall feeling and impression of the characters and the period have taken precedence over complete historical accuracy.

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Michael Gianfrancesco talks about designing the costumes

Costume sketches by Michael Gianfrancesco

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Gordon Rand (James) and Peter Hutt (King Charles) admire a beautiful portrait as Philippa Domville (Louise) and Helen Taylor (Nell Gwynn) look on. 1997 Shaw Fest Production.

Peter Hutt (King Charles) advises Sarah Orenstein (Queen Catherine) to flee Portugal upon his death. 1997 Shaw Fest Production. Photos: Andree Lanthier

Shaw wrote In Good King Charles’s Golden Days for the Malvern Festival, England, where it premiered on August 12th, 1939. It appeared in London the following year. The first North American production was on January 24, 1957 at the Downtown Theater on New York’s East 4th Street, where it ran for nearly two years, one of the longest runs of any Shaw play in the USA. One critic wrote, “This may well be simply Shaw’s funniest play” and James Agate, writing for The Sunday Times, noted that the play was the best to have “come from the Shavian loom since Methuselah”. Directed by Eda Holmes (who last season directed The Little Foxes) the ensemble features Benedict Campbell as King Charles II, Graeme Somerville as Sir Isaac Newton, Rick Reid as George Fox, and Laurie Paton as Queen Catherine of Braganza. Good King Charles was first produced in Canada by the University Alumnae Dramatic Club on March 15th, 1951, directed by Herbert Whittaker with a cast that included John Colicos, Ted Follows and William Needles. The Canadian professional premiere took place at the Royal Alexandra Theatre, Toronto on January 30th, 1969, in a production by an ambitious new venture called Theatre Toronto (great-grandparent to the Canadian Stage Company). This cast included some familiar names, such as Dawn Greenhaigh, Nancy Kerr and Richard Monette. This is the Shaw Festival’s third production of In Good King Charles’s Golden Days. The cast of the 1981 production included Michael Ball, Irene Hogan, David Schur-mann and Joseph Ziegler. The cast of the 1997 production included Patricia Ham-ilton, Peter Hutt, Blair Williams, Guy Bannerman, and Laurie Paton.

Excerpt from the January 25, 1957 New York Times play review, following the North American premiere

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SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONTEXT In Good King Charles’s Golden Days–A True Historical Timeline 1649 Charles I is executed at Whitehall at the climax of the English Civil War. His son, Charles II is not proclaimed King at this time. England enters a period known as the English Commonwealth and the country becomes a de-facto republic, led by Oliver Cromwell 1651 January Charles II is crowned King of Scotland (Scotland and England are separate kingdoms at this time) September Following Charles II’s coronation as King of the Scots, he raises a Scottish army and invades England. Many English royalists support him, but in a hard-fought battle at Worcester, Oliver Cromwell defeats the king’s army and Charles flees into exile abroad 1653 December Oliver Cromwell appoints himself as ‘Lord Protector’ of England, giving himself powers akin to a monarch. His popularity with the army props up his regime 1658 September Oliver Cromwell dies and is succeeded as Lord Protector by his son, Richard. The Commonwealth of England collapses into chaos. Charles II is invited to return from exile 1660 May Charles II is officially restored to the English throne 1665 March The bubonic plague breaks out in London. The contagion spreads quickly. By the time the epidemic finishes in December1665, one quarter of the capital’s inhabitants have perished! 1666 September A fire breaks out in a baker’s shop in Pudding Lane in the City of London, spreading quickly. Within four days, two-thirds of the city has been destroyed and 65, 000 people are left homeless 1667 June England suffers a humiliating military defeat as Dutch ships attack and break through an English fleet and raid the naval dockyard at Chatham, burning and taking many ships. The diarist Samuel Pepys wrote: ‘Never were people so dejected as they are in the City...this day’ 1673 March The Test Act is passed, requiring public office holders to accept com- munion in the Protestant form and swearing an oath of allegiance recogniz- ing the monarch as head of the Church of England. The intention of the Act was to exclude Catholics and dissenters from public office. Charles II’s brother James, a Catholic, is a victim of the act. He is forced to surrender his public office as Lord High Admiral as he refuses to take the oath 1685 February Charles II suffers a stroke. On his death-bed he converts to Ca- tholicism and passes away a few hours later. He is succeeded by his brother, James, whose adherence to Catholicism makes many of his Protes- tant subjects suspicious. Nonetheless, James enjoys considerable popularity when he first accedes to the throne as James II


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A TRUE HISTORY THAT NEVER HAPPENED When the play was first produced, it was described as A History Lesson In Three Scenes. The subtitle was later changed to A True History That Never Happened. As T.F. Evans explains it in his article, In Good King Charles’s Golden Days : The Dramatist as Historian: Shaw's claim to be writing a ‘True History’ , even if it never happened, is justified by his ability to re-create the mental atmosphere of the seventeenth century and to put into the mouths of the representations of the various historical figures the kinds of arguments and ideas that they would have expressed had the meeting he imagined actually taken place.

SO, WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? Re-creating the intellectual atmosphere of the 17th century A revolution of the intellect, known as the Enlightenment, grabbed hold of Europe between 1600 and 1800. The Enlightenment marked the birth of modern thought, shaking up the minds of the continent like few things before or since. This revolution challenged previous ways of understanding reality and sparked a transformation in Western European thought. The writers, philosophers and scientists of the time referred to the period as one of ‘Enlightenment’ because they were making a break with the past and replacing the obscurity and ignorance of European thought with the ‘light’ of truth. The Pre-Enlightenment world was an age of faith where explanations for everything from the weather to personal failure came from the Church and kings ruled by divine right as representatives of God. The Enlightenment marked the beginning of the end of the Church’s authority in every arena. Religion would now serve a spiritual purpose and science was free to begin exploring and explaining the world. In many ways, revolutions in thought are the most far-reaching. They affect our ideas about authority, of what is possible, of right and wrong and of humanity’s potential. Two of the great revolutionary ideas of this period were:

1. the development of empirical thought: The idea that knowledge should come from evidence gathered from sensory experience and inductive reasoning. Inductive thinking begins by making observations and then deciding on general principles to explain those observations. This model of ‘systematic empirical induction’ made the scientific revolution possible!

2. the mechanistic worldview: The mechanization and mathematization of the universe. The mechanistic worldview holds that the world is ordered and coherent and that the human mind can grasp that order. The universe is made up of matter and motion and governed by mechanical laws. The mechanistic universe is understood as a vast machine of interacting objects, like a giant clock. In the Western world, we continue to live our daily lives with a worldview that is largely based on Enlightenment thought.

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Isaac Newton The 1687 publication of his Principia Mathematica was a major event in the history of Western science and a turning point in the history of Western culture. In this work he describes: • The empirical physical law of universal gravitation • Laws of motion (which dominated the scientific view of the physical universe for

the next three centuries).

Natural Laws are laws set by nature and therefore have validity everywhere.

Acceptance of the validity of the mechanistic worldview, empirical thought and the existence of Natural Laws had far-reaching consequences in the following areas:

Religion • The mechanistic worldview changed people’s concept of God’s role in the universe. God went from being understood as an interventionist in human affairs to the designer of humans and the world they inhabit • Newton argued that as a designer, God used rational and universal principles that

were available for people to discover

Learning and Education • Human experience is the foundation of human understanding of truth. People

should trust their experience over the word of ‘authority’. • Knowledge should be derived from inductive reasoning: making observations

about phenomena and then deriving principles to explain those observations. • Human beings can be improved through education and the development of their

rational faculties.

Mathematics • The development of Probability Theory (Blaise Pascal) developed into a respected

and useful branch of mathematics. • Probability theory allows us to draw conclusions about the likelihood of potential

events and the underlying mechanics of complex systems. • This changed the way humans regard uncertainty, risk, decision-making, and an

individual's and society's ability to influence the course of future events. • It can be used to determine the expected outcome in seemingly random or un-

certain situations - from the chances that a plane will crash to the probability that a person will win the lottery.

Human Sciences • Human life (social and individual) can be understood in the same way the natural

world can be understood and manipulated or engineered once the laws that govern human behavior and interaction are understood. • Political Science, Social Science, Psychology and other humanistic sciences sprang

from a mechanistic understanding of human beings.

Educated Europeans in the 17th century were part of a conceptual revolution. They had a new understanding of thought and the human mind, of method, of nature, and of the uses of knowledge - with which they could create new possibilities for humanity. Some key thinkers from this period who shaped our world with the power of their ideas include scientist Francis Bacon, religious leader John Calvin, and philosophers Hobbes, Locke, and Pascal. These famous names are also mentioned in the play.


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MORALS AND VALUES: RELATIVE OR ABSOLUTE? It is generally considered good manners to refrain from discussing religion and politics in polite conversation. Why? Because people tend to care deeply about their religious and political convictions, quickly turning polite conversation to explosive argumentation! But is polite conversation even half as interesting as emotionally-charged conversation? Certainly not! Shaw takes a group of very opinionated characters, representing different scientific, religious, artistic, and political perspectives and places them in a room together - then we watch as the drama unfolds and sparks fly in a collision of wildly differing points of view! As the audience, we are left to judge for ourselves–Is one view right? Is one view wrong? If so, whose view is correct? Or is it all just a matter of opinion? Philosophers have argued about these same questions for centuries. Why is the debate over whether morals and values are relative or absolute so important? Because a person might go to great lengths to protect what they feel is right and to preserve those values. In Good King Charles’s Golden Days is populated with absolutists. An absolutist believes there is a single moral standard that applies to all people all of the time. It is black and white thinking. If two people disagree about what is right, then one of them is wrong! A relativist believes that morality is subjective (depending on the individual, their culture, religion, etc.) and seeks to honour individual perspectives. Relativists argue that because we can only experience the world and speak from our own particular point of view, truly objective moral knowledge is impossible to attain. The relativist and absolutist perspectives are captured in the dialogue between Charles and his wife Catherine in Act II. Catherine: Our consciences, which come from God, must all be the same. Charles: They are not. Do you think God so stupid that he could invent only one sort of conscience? Catherine states that there can be only one true religion although England has fifty. For Charles, this diversity is welcome, “Well, the more the merrier, if only they could let one another live.” “Have you no conscience?” she asks, and he explains that he does have one, but not a conscience of the standard British style. He replies, “No two consciences are the same. No two marriages are the same. No two love affairs are the same. No two marriages are the same. No two illnesses are the same. No two children are the same. What is right for one is wrong for the other”.


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LITERARY STYLES Discussion Play

A discussion play is basically ‘all talk’. Many of Shaw’s plays are known for their involved arguments and sparkling dialogue. Much of the play’s ‘action’ is contained in the words, ideas and arguments of the characters rather than in plot, action, or character. The discussion play is a dramatic genre that was introduced and perfected by Shaw. He has been both praised and criticized for his emphasis on dialogue and discussion over plot and action. Shaw has called his own plays Problem Plays, Discussion Dramas, and Plays of Ideas. He regarded social criticism as the most important function of art and claimed that his plays were not primarily plays - but instructive arguments in dramatic form. In Good King Charles’s Golden Days may be one of the most extreme examples of a comedy discussion play that Shaw wrote. The plot is minimal, and largely made up of excuses to bring the characters into Isaac Newton’s home so that they can engage in discussion.

Comedy

Restoration Comedy came about during Charles II’s restoration to throne. He supported the arts, where previously theatre had been banned. Charles gave rights to produce theatre to two theatre companies who competed for audiences which saw the birth of Restoration comedy - notorious for cynical and sophisticated sexual ex-plicitness of leisured gentlefolk. The writing was topical and plots were very involved. The restoration period saw the rise of professional actresses and celebrity actors.

Comedy of Manners grew from Restoration Comedy. This comedic style held the behaviours of the rich and leisured class up for scrutiny. The writing was savagely critical of social manners and explored and mocked society in such a way that led to suggestions of modifying codes of behaviour to deal with the hypocrisies that manners can hide.

High Comedy appeals to the intellect and arouses thoughtful laughter by exhibiting the inconsistencies and incongruities of human nature and by displaying the follies of social manners. Both Restoration Comedy and Comedy of Manners are examples of High Comedy.

Low Comedy employs burlesque, horseplay, or the representation of low life. It has been called "elemental comedy," in that it lacks seriousness of purpose or subtlety of manner and has little intellectual appeal. Some features are: quarreling, fighting, noisy singing, boisterous conduct in general, boasting, burlesque, trickery, buffoonery, clownishness, drunkenness, coarse jesting, wordplay, and scolding.

Realism Strongly satirical and sometimes cynical, Realistic Comedy is interested in both individuals and types, and rests on observation of life. The appeal is intellectual and the texture is coarse. This comedic style became popular during the reign of James I.

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The Vicar of Bray

In good King Charles's golden days, When loyalty no harm meant; A furious High-Church man I was, And so I gain'd preferment. Unto my flock I daily preach'd, Kings are by God appointed, And damn'd are those who dare resist, Or touch the Lord's anointed. And this is law, I will maintain Unto my dying day, sir, That whatsoever king shall reign, I will be Vicar of Bray, sir!

When Royal James possess'd the crown, And popery grew in fashion; The penal law I shouted down, And read the declaration: The Church of Rome, I found would fit, Full well my constitution, And I had been a Jesuit, But for the Revolution. And this is law, I will maintain Unto my dying day, sir, That whatsoer king shall reign, I will be Vicar of Bray, sir!

When William our deliverer came, To heal the nation's grievance, I turned the cat in pan again, And swore to him allegiance: Old principles I did revoke, Set conscience at a distance, Passive obedience is a joke, A jest is non-resistance. And this is law, I will maintain Unto my dying day, sir, That whatsoer king shall reign, I will be Vicar of Bray, sir!

Did

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When glorious Anne became our queen The Church of England's glory, Another face of things was seen, And I became a Tory: Occasional conformists base, I damn'd, and moderation, And thought the Church in danger was, From such prevarication. And this is law, I will maintain Unto my dying day, sir, That whatsoer king shall reign, I will be Vicar of Bray, sir!

When George in pudding time came o'er, And moderate men looked big, sir, My principles I chang'd once more, And so became a Whig, sir: And thus preferment I procur'd, From our faith's great defender, And almost every day abjur'd The Pope, and the Pretender. And this is law, I will maintain Unto my dying day, sir, That whatsoer king shall reign, I will be Vicar of Bray, sir!

The illustrious House of Hanover, And Protestant succession, To these I lustily will swear, Whilst they can keep possession: For in my faith, and loyalty, I never once will falter, George, my lawful king shall be, Except the times should alter. And this is law, I will maintain Unto my dying day, sir, That whatsoer king shall reign, I will be Vicar of Bray, sir!

The title, In Good King Charles’s Golden Days was taken from the following poem, entitled The Vicar of Bray The Vicar of Bray, living under King Henry VIII, King Edward VI, Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth, was first a Papist, then a Protestant, then a Papist, then a Protes-tant again. He was taxed for being a turncoat and an inconstant changeling, but defended himself by saying, “I always kept my principle, which is this, to live and die the vicar of Bray." The poem's phrase 'turned the cat in pan' refers to a turn-coat: a soldier who turns his coat inside-out to show the other side's colours, if they were winning.

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Glossary

lackey someone who does menial tasks or runs errands for another paunching belly - a protruding abdomen fluxions the rates of change of continuously varying quantities Romish Roman Catholic (an insult) trull prostitute, strumpet mitre a headdress worn by bishops and abbots cabalistic sign a sign belonging to the Cabala (an ancient Hebrew mystical system) micapanis soft portion of bread used as a carrier for the active ingredients of a medication Popish blockhead Roman Catholic (an insult) blockhead: a fool; stupid person Odsfish an oath suggesting taking the Lord’s name in vain latchet strap or lace for fastening a sandal or shoe to the foot jackanapes a saucy or mischievous child pennorth the amount that can be bought for a penny groundsel a common weed Noll refers to Oliver Cromwell - who, after the execution of King Charles I in 1649, ruled as Lord Protector from 1653 until his death in 1658. He was opposed to the Roman Catholic Church. dragoon an army unit mounted on horseback lawn sleeves the sleeves of lawn (a kind of cotton) forming part of the dress of an Anglican bishop Popery (usually an insult) the Roman Catholic Church, esp. its doctrines, ceremonies, and system of government mollycoddle a man or boy who is used to being coddled mummery any performance, ceremony, etc., regarded as absurd, false, or ostentatious cozenage deception, trickery fustian pompous or pretentious speech conventicle a secret or unauthorized meeting, esp. for religious worship, as those held by Protestant dissenters in England in the 16th and 17th centuries chicanery trickery or deception by the use of deceptive reasoning blue stocking a woman with intellectual or literary interests camera obscura a darkened enclosure in which images of outside objects are projected through a small aperture or lens onto a facing surface perihelion the point nearest the sun in the orbit of a planet or other celestial body philosopher a lover of knowledge (philos “loving” + Sophia “wisdom”) who seeks to understand and explain the principles of existence and reality philosopher’s stone a substance, sought by alchemists, believed to have the power of changing baser metals into gold

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Books & Articles

Atkinson, Brooks. “Theatre: Shaw and the Abstract Idea.” The New York Times January 25, 1957. Evans, T. F. In Good King Charles’s Golden Days: The Dramatist as Historian. SHAW: The Annual of Bernard Shaw Studies, 7 (1987), 259-77 Laurence, Dan. 1988. Something About Shaw. Prepared for The Academy of The Shaw Festival with permission from Explorations in Shaw as originally com-piled by T.V. Ontario. Dukore, Bernard F. 1972. Bernard Shaw, Playwright. Aspects of Shavian Drama. University of Missouri Press; Columbia. Weinert, Friedel. 2004. The Scientist as Philosopher: Philosophical Consequences of Great Scientific Discoveries. Springer.

Websites

Comedy www.dbu.edu/mitchell/comedydi.htm#High%20Comedy: Discussion Play www.eng.fju.edu.tw/English_Literature/shaw/Pygmalion.html Enlightenment Thought www.teach12.com/ttcx/CourseDescLong2.aspx?cid=447 www.wsu.edu/~dee/ENLIGHT/SCIREV.HTM www.wsu.edu/~dee/ENLIGHT/PREPHIL.HTM www.123HelpMe.com/view.asp?id=22892 The Vicar of Bray http://lit4lib.sky7.us/bray.html

Timeline www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/timeline/civilwars_timeline_noflash.shtml


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In Good King Charles’s Golden Days Pre and Post - Show Activities

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES: TABLE OF CONTENTS

Theme 1: What if … Page Pre-Performance Teacher Background & Preparation 21 Warm-up: Limbo 21 Class Discussion & Brainstorming 21 Main Activity: “What if…” improvisation 22 Follow-up discussion 22 Post-Performance Teacher Background & Preparation 23 Warm-Up: “Obsessions” Creative Writing Activity 24 Warm-Up: “Writer’s Tennis” Creative Writing Activity 24 Main Activity: Scene Writing 24 Follow-up Discussion 25 Theme 2: Comedy Styles Pre-Performance Teacher Background & Preparation 26 Warm-Up: Heads Up! 26 Main Activity: Forms of Comedy 27 Class Discussion Questions 27 Post-Performance Teacher Background & Preparation 28 Class Discussion 28 Warm-Up Activity: Comedy Discussion 29 Main Activity: What I’m Really Thinking... 29 Follow-up discussion 29 Blackline Masters Blackline Master #1 30 Blackline Master #2 31 Blackline Master #3 32

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In Good King Charles’s Golden Days - Pre-Show Theme 1: What if... Grades 9 — 12

Pedagogical Intent: Based on the technique of improvisation students will explore the theme of What If... through creating scenarios in which famous people meet. Grade: Grades 9 - 12 Subjects: Drama, Dance, English, History Objectives and Competencies: In these activities, students will: • explain how movement and voice communicate a role • identify and use effective styles of collaboration in drama • create an original or adapted dramatic presentation using a variety of strategies (eg., improvisation) • create roles/characters using a variety of appropriate techniques

Materials: 20 slips of paper per student; hat/bag/box

Warm-Up Activity: Limbo — In pairs, students choose to be either “A” or “B”. Student “A” sits in a chair, in limbo, unaware of set-ting, or characters. Student “B” decides on a setting (eg. driving instructor’s car) and the two characters in-volved in the scene (eg. driving instructor and new student driver). Student “B” enters the scene and begins to act as their character (the driving instructor) speaking in-role to student “A” (the student driver). Student “A” does not move or speak (remains in limbo) until he/she has discovered the identity of the two characters and the setting. Once this has occurred, student “A” joins the scene, in-role, to contribute and end the scene. Have partners switch places with student “B” in limbo and student “A” choosing a new setting and characters. Class Discussion: Shaw subtitled the play In Good King Charles’s Golden Days - A True History that Never Happened — that is, he brings together a group of interesting people of varied backgrounds, responsibilities, and accomplishments, some famous, some not so famous—to argue about science, culture, religion, and politics. Charlotte Shaw, al-ways a keen critic of her husband’s work, liked the play. “Such a lot of interesting people lived then & he is throwing them all in together to sink or swim.” The characters in In Good King Charles’s Golden Days are figures from history and lived during the same period in history. However, there is no record of these people ever coming together in the home of Isaac Newton in Cambridge in the year 1680. As a class, create a list of famous people (from today or from history) under the following headings: •Inventors •Artists •Leaders •Religious Figures •Rulers •Sports Figures •Scientists Discuss: In your opinion, which 3-4 people might you bring together to generate the most interesting discussions. Why?

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In Good King Charles’s Golden Days - Pre-Show Theme 2: What If... Grades 9 — 12

Main Activity: Through the technique of improvisation, students will explore the What If... scenario by cre-ating scenes involving 3-4 different famous people in various settings. On 10 slips of paper, each student writes the names of 10 different famous people or characters (either real or fictional). Collect the names in a bag/hat/box. On 10 slips of paper, each student writes different settings or locations where people might be found waiting (for eg. dentist’s office, bus station, line for spaceship, magic potions shop). Encourage students to be creative. Collect settings in a different container. Working in groups of 3-4, allow each student to choose a character and a setting/location (they will not share this information with other group members). Two group members begin the improvisation in-role as their characters, waiting in their selected setting/location. Each character assumes the other person is also waiting in the same location, for the same reason. Instruct other group members to join the improvised scene. Explain: during improvisation encourage characters to ask questions of each other and react to the situation without giving away too obviously why each particular character is waiting. Allow time for each group to participate

Class Discussion: What skills are you developing as you improvise in drama? Do you agree with the statement: “Improvising is more listening than speaking”? How important is your belief in the imaginary situation when you are improvising? How did that belief enable the audience to recognize various famous people and settings/locations? Why might improvisation be essential in the training of professional actors? Shaw believed that the purpose of theatre was not only to instruct audiences but also to expose ill-conceived attitudes and cruel social conditions of his time. Why might Shaw write a play in which he brings together historical characters, in a historical setting if his purpose is to bring about change in his present-day society?

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Pedagogical Intent: In this activity, students explore the What If... scenario through the creative writing process of playwrighting. Grade: Grades 9 - 12

Subjects: Drama, English

Objectives and Competencies: In these activities, students will: • demonstrate an understanding of subtext, motivation, and status in the development of a character • demonstrate an understanding of the function of the playwright in the development of an original scene or

dramatic presentation • create an original or adapted dramatic presentation • identify, sort, and order main ideas and supporting details for writing tasks, using a variety of strategies

In Good King Charles’s Golden Days - Post-Show Theme 1: What If... Grades 9 — 12

Materials: paper and pens

Teacher Preparation: To ensure success with students as playwrights teachers should establish in the classroom the following guidelines: 1. Create a safe environment where students feel free to comment on each others work in a constructive way. 2. Create a foundation so that students have something to refer to when they are having difficulties or are

feeling ‘stuck’. Provide the following Classic 5 Act Dramatic Structure (this structure may be applied to a scene, one act or full length play).

Introduction — Something happens Development — There is a response to what has happened Climax — Something massive changes, their world changes Denouement — How do the characters respond to that change Resolution — A reaction to what has happened, or a wrap up

3. Establish freedom of speech in which students feel safe to express themselves as they wish but make it clear the words they choose must be justified in the writing.

Class Discussion: In Good King Charles’s Golden Days has been described as a ‘discussion play’ in which there is no real plot, rather captivating discussions, debates, and questions that ask the audience to critically think about such themes as kingship, religion, art, science, and theatre. How did Shaw incorporate the essential ingredients of suspense, conflict and tension in his ‘discussion play’? Discuss: Every play has conflict in it, whether it be battles or struggles between characters, or inner struggles of an individual. In comedy, the conflicts are resolved and there is a happy ending. In tragedy the conflicts are more difficult and serious and are frequently only resolved by death. Decide: In your opinion is In Good King Charles’s Golden Days a comedy or tragedy? Ask: In each act, identify points of conflict. Trace how each came to be. Ask: What do the conflicts show you about the different interests of the characters? Ask: Do the conflicts represent ideas that Shaw is trying to explore in the play?

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Creative Writing Warm Up #1 Obsessions Students gather in a circle with paper and pens/pencils. Instruct students to write a list of obsessions (things they are currently obsessing about in their minds). Allow 3-4 minutes. Each student reads their list of obsessions out loud. Instruct students to choose one obsession and write it on a separate piece of paper. Pass the paper two people to the left. Instruct each student to write a monologue or short scene with the word appearing in the first line. All students share what they have written out loud. Allow class to comment on one thing they liked and/or ask one question.

In Good King Charles’s Golden Days - Post-Show Theme 2: What if... Grades 9 — 12

Main Activity Scene Writing In groups of 4 — 5, students discuss which famous people they would like to see together in a scene. Instruct students to choose: • a famous person who is living • a figure from history • a fictional character Appoint one person from the group to act as secretary and record what is discussed. Instruct each group to discuss what type of characters these people are and what type of situation they are in using the following guidelines: 1. Assign to each character the following information:

a. Name b. Age c. Occupation d. Short family biography e. Distinguishing characteristics (physical or personality)

2. Briefly describe the relationship between the characters.

3. Choose a setting/location.

4. Choose a time period.

5. In one or two sentences describe what might be happening in the scene.

Note how each character perceives the situation and what they want out of it — at least one paragraph for each character. Remind students that each character will have his or her own point of view about what is hap-pening and will think that she or he knows best. Make each conflict specific to the character.

Creative Writing Warm Up #2 Writer’s Tennis In pairs, students quickly write one line at a time, passing the page back and forth until the monologue/scene is complete. Advise students to try to avoid questions.

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Main Activity cont’d Make sure each group member has a copy of the character information. Individually, each student will: 1. Write a story in narrative form, three paragraphs in length. • Paragraph #1 - all the characters are present and a problem is introduced. • Paragraph #2 - one character devises a plan to deal with the problem. • Paragraph #3 - the implementation of the plan, and its success or failure. • Transform the story into three scenes with dialogue. • Students read their scenes out loud. • Students select scenes to rehearse and present. Classroom Discussion: • Did each of the scenes have conflict? • Why is conflict important? • What did each character want? • What was preventing the characters (s) from getting what he/she wanted? • Discuss the conflicts in the play In Good King Charles’s Golden Days.

In Good King Charles’s Golden Days - Post-Show Theme 2: What if... Grades 9 — 12

Classroom Discussion: Each of the characters in In Good King Charles’s Golden Days has a particular objective. Discuss the goals of each of the following characters and the obstacles they face to achieve their goals: King Charles II (Rowley) Isaac Newton George Fox Nelly Mrs Basham Duchess of Cleveland Kneller Catherine of Braganza Louise James

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Warm-Up Activity Students stand in a circle. Teacher or leader is outside the circle. Instruct students to look at the floor. When teacher/leader calls “heads up”, students are to make eye contact with one other person in the circle. If the student finds that person is making eye contact with them, they both say “Dude” and gesture in a cool manner towards that person. The two who have made eye contact, cross through the middle of the circle and trade places. Repeat pattern. Extensions:

• students say “Dude” as very snobby people and switch places incorporating attitude and mannerisms of a snob

• students say “Dude” as California surfers incorporating attitude and mannerisms of a cool surfer • students say “Dude” in a highly excited manner, (greeting an old friend) incorporating attitude and mannerisms of an excited person • students say “Dude” as spies, incorporating attitude and mannerisms of a spy

In Good King Charles’s Golden Days - Pre-Show Theme 2: Comedy Grades 9 — 12

Pedagogical Intent Through research conducted to learn about different forms of comedy, students will recreate scenes from In Good King Charles’s Golden Days applying a specific comedic style. Grade: Grades 9 - 12

Subjects: Drama, Dance, History, and English

Objectives and Competencies: In these activities, students will: • explain how movement and voice communicate a role • perform, in the classroom, a variety of dramatic presentations using a range of forms • trace the development of a convention of comedy • create an original or adapted dramatic presentation, using a variety of strategies • demonstrate an ability to take responsibility, both as an individual and as a group member, when working

in an ensemble to create and rehearse a drama

Materials:

• access to computers, • copies of scenes from In Good King Charles’s Golden Days (see Black Line Masters #1 & 2, p. 30, 31) • definitions of high and low comedy (see p. 16)

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In Good King Charles’s Golden Days - Pre-Show Theme 2: Comedy Grades 9 — 12

Main Activity Provide students with definitions of ‘high comedy’ and ‘low comedy’ (see page 16) For the following activity, students may access definitions on http://www.dbu.edu/mitchell/comedydi.htm#High%20Comedy: Instruct: In groups of two or three, assign one of the following comedy styles and instruct students to conduct research using the above website: Comedy of Humours Comedy of Manners Burlesque Comedy of Situation Commedia Dell’arte Farce Realistic Comedy Sentimental Comedy Satire Restoration Comedy Parody Tragicomedy Instruct: using the chart (see Black Line Master #3) students fill in the chart with researched information. Allow time for each group to share their research. Discuss: the characteristics that indicate whether the comedy style falls under ‘high’ or ‘low’ comedy. Instruct: divide students into groups of four or five. Explain: Working with scenes from In Good King Charles’s Golden Days, (see Black Line Master #1 & #2, p. 30 & 31) assign groups to present the scene according to either a high comedy style or a low comedy style (refer to chart). Allow time for groups to discuss, rehearse, and present scenes. Classroom Discussion: Following the presentations ask: • What style (s) of comedy were presented? • Describe the elements that distinguished each style of comedy? In your opinion, which comedy form was most effective in portraying these scenes? Explain your choice. • Discuss examples of both “high” and ‘low’ comedy in today’s media (television, films, commercials) • What is the purpose of comedy? Why is it important for us to laugh at ourselves? Ask: Shaw’s intent was to use theatre and his plays to put forth his ideas and views on life and society. Why might he choose to use comedic elements?

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In Good King Charles’s Golden Days - Post-Show Theme 2: Comedy Grades 9 — 12

Pedagogical Intent: Through this activity students will discuss the comic elements inherent in the play In Good King Charles’s Golden Days and will explore the inner thoughts or inner monologue of characters through developing a short scene. Grade: Grades 9 - 12

Subjects: Drama, Dance, History, and English

Objectives and Competencies: In these activities, students will: • explain how movement and voice communicate a role • perform, in the classroom, a variety of dramatic presentations using a range of forms • create the inner and outer life of a character using a variety of strategies • create an original or adapted dramatic presentation, using a variety of strategies • script, revise, and present a scene, making appropriate use of research, improvisation, and rehearsal.

Materials: list of famous characters and settings/locations from What If…Activity (p. 22)

Class Discussion: Discuss: Review the list of comedy styles from the pre-show activity (see p. 27). Which comedy styles were evident in In Good King Charles’s Golden Days ? Cite examples from the play. Discuss: In the play In Good King Charles’s Golden Days, Shaw has brought together a group of people to dis-cuss ideas. In your opinion, does Shaw favour one character’s idea or view of life? How has Shaw used comedy to either support or discourage a specific character’s expressed point of view? Discuss: If Shaw’s intent was to use theatre and his plays to put forth his ideas and views on life and society why might he choose to use comedic elements? Discuss: Which characters did you find most comedic? Why?

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In Good King Charles’s Golden Days - Post-Show Theme 2: Comedy Grades 9 — 12

Warm up Activity: Discuss: often, characters are amusing when they put forth one image while behaving in an opposite manner. Did Shaw draw on this comedic element in In Good King Charles’s Golden Days ? Instruct: with a partner discuss movies and/or TV shows in which this comedic style has been used, e.g. High School Musical, The Mask, The Nutty Professor. Main Activity: Instruct: in groups of four, student choose to be either A, B, C, or D. Students A & B work as partners. Students C & D are partners. Each group chooses two characters from the list of famous people and a setting/location (see page 22 - What If…activity for character and setting choices). Allow time for students to develop a short scene, with a beginning, middle, and end, using the following guidelines:

1) Students A and C begin a conversation as their chosen characters in their chosen setting/location.

2) Students B & D shadow their partners, in-role as their partner’s inner thoughts. For example, when student A speaks in-role as their character, student B speaks the inner thoughts of that character out loud.

3) Encourage students B & D to also explore the inner movements of their partner’s characters.

4) Each group should rehearse their scenes three times without stopping.

5) Each group presents their scene.

6) If time, allow groups to choose new characters and setting. Students switch positions allowing students

B & D to be in-role as new characters, and students A & C acting as their inner thoughts. Ask: did the scenes contain comedic elements? What worked well? Discuss: in your opinion, explain why you think it worked as comedy? Ask: Were there any poignant moments, or moments when the scene could have become dramatic or tragic? Discuss: What determines the line between comedy and tragedy?

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Blackline Master #1 Script for a group of five. As Charles and Nell turn to the door to go out, the Duchess of Cleveland, 39, formerly Lady Castlemaine, and born Barbara Villiers, bursts into the room and confronts them in a tearing rage. BARBARA: Ah! I have caught you, have I, with your trull. This is the scientific business which made it impossible for you to see me this morning.

CHARLES: Be silent for a moment, Barbara, whilst I present you to Mr Newton, the eminent philosopher, in whose house you are an uninvited guest.

BARBARA: A pretty house. A pretty philosopher. A house kept for you to meet your women in.

MRS BASHAM: [coming indignantly to the middle of the room] Oh! Mr Newton: either this female leaves the house this instant or I do.

BARBARA: Do you know, woman, that you are speaking of the Duchess of Cleveland?

MRS BASHAM: I do not care who I am speaking of. If you are the Duchess of Cleveland and this house were what you said it was you would be only too much at home in it. The house being what it is you are out of place in it. You go or I go.

BARBARA: You insolent slut, I will have you taken to the Bridewell and whipped.

CHARLES: You shall not, Barbara. If you do not come down with me to your carriage without another word, I will throw you downstairs.

BARBARA: Do. Kill me; and be happy with that low stage player. You have been unfaithful to me with her a thousand times.

NEWTON: Patience, patience, patience. Mrs Basham: the lady is not in a state of reason: I will prove to you that what she says has no sense and need not distress us. [To Barbara] Your Grace alleges that Mr Rowley has been unfaithful to you a thousand times.

BARBARA: A hundred thousand times.

NEWTON: For each unfaithfulness allow a day--or shall I say a night? Now one hundred thousand nights are almost two hundred and seventyfour years. To be precise, 273 years 287 days, allowing 68 days for Leap Year every four years. Now Mr Rowley is not 300 years old: he is only fifty, from which you must deduct at least fifteen years for his childhood.

BARBARA: Fourteen.

NEWTON: Let us say fourteen. Probably your Grace was also precocious. How many years shall we strike off your age for the days of your innocence?

NELL: Five at most.

BARBARA: Be silent, you.

NEWTON: Say twelve. That makes you in effect about twentyeight.

BARBARA: Have I denied it?

NELL: Flatterer!

NEWTON: Twentyeight to Mr Rowley's thirtysix. Your grace has been available since, say, the year 1652, twentyeight years ago. My calculation is therefore correct.

BARBARA: May I ask what you mean by available?

NEWTON: I mean that the number of occasions on which Mr Rowley could possibly be unfaithful to you is ten thousand two hundred and twenty plus seven for leap years. Yet you allege one hundred thousand occasions, and claim to have lived for nearly three centuries. As that is impossible, it is clear that you have been misinformed about Mistress Gwynn. Nell claps vigorously.

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Blackline Master #2

Script for a group of four. Barbara storms in with a sheet of drawing paper in her hand.

BARBARA: [thrusting the paper under Charles's nose] Do you see this?

CHARLES: [scrutinizing it admiringly] Splendid! Has Mr Kneller done this? Nobody can catch a likeness as

he can.

BARBARA: Likeness! You have bribed him to insult me. It makes me look a hundred.

CHARLES: Nonsense, dear. It is you to the life. What do you say, Jamie? [He hands the drawing to James].

JAMES: It's you, duchess. He has got you, wrinkle for wrinkle.

BARBARA: You say this to my face! You, who have seen my portrait by Lilly!

NELL: You were younger then, darling.

BARBARA: Who asked you for your opinion, you jealous cat?

CHARLES: Sit down; and dont be silly, Barbara. A woman's face does not begin to be interesting until she

is our age.

BARBARA: Our age! You old wreck, do you dare pretend that you are as young as I am?

CHARLES: I am only fifty, Barbara. But we are both getting on.

BARBARA: Oh! [With a scream of rage she tears the drawing to fragments and stamps on them].

CHARLES: Ah, that was wicked of you: you have destroyed a fine piece of work. Go back to France. I tell you I am tired of your tantrums.

Barbara, intimidated, but with a defiant final stamp on the drawing, flings away behind James to one of the chairs against the cupboards, and sits there sulking.

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Characteristics of High Comedy Characteristics of Low Comedy

Comedy Style

Comedy of Humours

Comedy of Situation

Realistic Comedy

Comedy of Manners

Commedia Dell’arte

Sentimental Comedy

Burlesque

Farce

Satire

Restoration Comedy

Parody

Tragicomedy

Blackline Master #3

in good king charles’s golden days · the shaw story 2 the players 3 the story 4 the playwright 5...

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