Bernhardt/Hamlet

Question 1

Costume Designer: Marg Horwell quotes on Sarah

Answer 1

“we are playing with [Sarah’s] proportion constantly to manipulate the gender representations in order to make the struggles of Bernhardt proving she can play Hamlet more visible”

“costumes are based on period shapes but use contemporary fabrics … she can feel more vulnerable and small, or powerful and broad”

Question 2

Sarah Bernhardt actor:

Answer 2

Kate Mulvany

Question 3

Edmond Rostand actor:

Answer 3

Charles Wu

Question 4

Maurice actor:

Answer 4

William McKenna

Question 5

Director

Answer 5

Anne-Lousie Sarks

Question 6

Set and Costume designer

Answer 6

Marg Horwell

Question 7

Alphonse Mucha actor

Answer 7

Tim Walter

Question 8

Constant Coquelin actor

Answer 8

Marco Chiappi

Question 9

Lysette actor

Answer 9

Tahlee Fereday

Question 10

Rosamond actor

Answer 10

Izabella Yena

Question 11

Sarah Bernhardt Character Motivation:

Answer 11

to break gender barriers
retain her relationships (Edmond, Maurice)
Establish a legacy as the greatest actor

Question 12

Sarah Bernhardt Character Objective:

Answer 12

To play Hamlet
To make money
To prove men/her critics wrong
To shock the world
To show her talent
To create a legacy

Question 13

Sarah Bernhardt Character Function:

Answer 13

The protagonist
Show the struggles of women
To challenge status quo of P society

Question 14

Sarah Bernhardt Character Traits:

Answer 14

Egotistical
Mercurial
Loud
Opinionated
ambitious

Question 15

Sarah Bernhardt Character Status:

Answer 15

High status - upper echelons of society as an actor
… but she is losing her wealth and is a women (automatically second caste in P society)

Question 16

Edmond Rostand Character Motivation:

Answer 16

To create art (that lives on after he dies AKA legacy)
To love Sarah and keep his family together
To move his legacy out of Sarah’s shadow

Question 17

Edmond Rostand Character Objective:

Answer 17

Become a famous playwright
To write for Sarah
Write a good play

Question 18

Edmond Rostand Character Function:

Answer 18

Be Sarah’s writer, her lover, her defendant, her challenger … an obstacle for Sarah

Question 19

Edmond Rostand Character Traits:

Answer 19

Egotistical
Opinionated
Dedicated
Loving

Question 20

Edmond Rostand Character Status:

Answer 20

lower status, just a writer

Question 21

Themes of Bernhardt/Hamlet:

Answer 21

• Gender Inequality
• Love
• (gender) Expectations
• Identity
• Status and legacy
• authenticity vs artifice

Question 22

Bernhardt/Hamelt theatre styles:

Answer 22

Heightened Naturalism and Melodrama

Question 23

Heightened naturalism theatre style:

Answer 23

slightly exaggerated
realistic acting
illusion of reality
fourth wall

Question 24

Melodrama theatre style:

Answer 24

stock characters
codified gesture
exaggeration and over-emphasis (gesture and enunciation)
Slow movement

Question 25

Context of play:

Answer 25

Paris 1899 Art Nouveau style in La Belle Epoqué (eg. the play posters, the tree sets, lysette's costume) The Divine Sarah: the first international celebrity

Question 26

Motifs of play:

Answer 26

Flowers, trees, rocks - Beautiful and languid idealised women, world Sarah has created Opulence and materialism - power (illusion of)

Question 27

Contrast example Act 2, Scene 3/4: (set)

Answer 27

maximalist opulent crowed dressing room dinner party vs minimalist rehearsing space with one table and the blue infinite backdrop

Question 28

Contrast example Act 2 Scene 1 vs Act 2 Scene 3 (costume and character):

Answer 28

dark and brooding, awkwardly fitting Hamlet costume, round hose elizabethan pants, puffed+slashed sleeves vs Sarah Bernhardt dinner party, slim-fitting dress with opulent greens and sparkling rhinestones

Question 29

Contrast example Act 1 Scene 4 (costuming):

Answer 29

Sarah's Hamlet costume vs Lysette's Ophelia costume (the new ingenue is upstaging Sarah, who as an aging women must use male costume for power in P world)

Question 30

Contrast example transition from Act 2 Scene 4-5:

Answer 30

sudden tonal shift with Kabuki drop

Question 31

Contrast example Act 1 Scene 1 (theatre styles):

Answer 31

spotlight on 'Hamlet' in the melodrama presentational acting vs the naturalistic lighting that illuminates the entire stage with 'Sarah' and heightened naturalism

Question 32

Variation example Act 1 Scene 1 (acting):

Answer 32

Sarah (haughty, overbearing, dismissive gestures) vs when playing Hamlet (codified gesture, serious, weighty, grave) Up-tight Sarah vs relaxed Edmond

Question 33

Variation example entire play (costume):

Answer 33

The pieces of the Hamlet costume deconstructing over the play

Question 34

Variation example in Act 2 Scene 3, dinner, (acting and character):

Answer 34

Sarah's changing demeanour with Rosamund, Maurice, her male peers/critics

Question 35

Rhythm example Act 2 Scene 4 (acting):

Answer 35

"I play him as myself" - banging her chest, deliberately contracting the pace to emphasises her ponderous projection, revealing character pscyhe

Question 36

Rhythm (contrasting) example Act 2 Scene 3 (acting):

Answer 36

fast pace of Maurice and Sarah convo vs slow tension of drawn out pace of Sarah and Rosamund

Question 37

Motion example Act 2 transition from Scene 3- 4 (set):

Answer 37

As the set of Sarah's dressing room smoothly and independently pulls back from her, into the wings, the particular arrangement of the movement sees the space around Sarah expand, becoming an isolated and vulnerable figure in Scene 4 use of trucks

Question 38

Cohesion example (flower symbolism):

Answer 38

- Sarah's dressing room Act 2 Scene 3 - Lysette costume - Alphonse costume

Question 39

Cohesion example (set):

Answer 39

continuous fluid movement of the set through entire play as directorial intention of a play within a play

Question 40

Cohesion example Act 2 Scene 1 (costuming):

Answer 40

Elizabethan theatre costumes

Question 41

Emphasis example Act 2 Scene 4 (acting):

Answer 41

Sarah "I play him as myself"

Question 42

Emphasis example Act 2 transition bw Scene 3 - 4:

Answer 42

reading of the cyrano script

Question 43

Emphasis example Act 2 transition bw Scene 4 - 5:

Answer 43

Kabuki drop

Question 44

Quote from director Anne-Louise Sarks on women and flower symbolism

Answer 44

"this aesthetic of beautiful, languid, romanticised women taking the forms of flowers was a significant part of art nouveau. That idealised romantic women is something that Sarah challenges through her determination to play Hamlet, a man"

Question 45

Actor Audience relationship types:

Answer 45

- Presentation acting: Elizabethan melodrama - Representation acting: heightened naturalism, immersive

Question 46

Marg Horwell, set designer intention:

Answer 46

"friction between the real and the representation"

Question 47

Play wright

Answer 47

Theresa rebeck