Rachel Kohler

In the 2015 Umpqua Community College production of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, director Stephanie Newman’s choice to cast a pair of identical twins in the role of Feste, the fool, creates an Illyria in which identity is inextricably linked to physical appearance, highlighting the connections between identity and appearance already extant within the text itself.

Ancient kings were a favorite subject of the playwrights of early modern England. There was, however, a conspicuous absence in this theatrical pageant of monarchy. No one seems to have been writing plays about King Arthur. His story was of great interest to everyone from ancient chroniclers to early modern English royalty. He is the subject of histories, chronicles, poetry, romances, ballads, and pageants. As he became increasingly politicized, however, his story became increasingly dangerous. Arthur, as an important part of Tudor and Stuart propaganda, was available for use in theatrical activities that upheld the regime, such as pageants and masques, but the royal propagandistic monopoly on his person made him unsuitable for use on the professional stage, which made do with the occasional reference and the portions of the Arthurian legend which did not include Arthur himself. This study will begin with a brief outline of the history of the Arthurian legend in England, then move into an exploration of the political, propagandistic, literary, and theatrical use of the legend in the Tudor and Stuart regimes.

The Dramaturg as Director: Reviving The Misfortunes of Arthur documents my MFA Dramaturgy production of Thomas Hughes’ The Misfortunes of Arthur and my  efforts to explore the role and authority of the dramaturg in a production with no director,
allowing me to discover what kind of rehearsal process and performance might result from having the dramaturgical research take a larger role in shaping a production, especially in the case of more obscure early modern plays. In the end, the dramaturgical information that I provided to bridge the 400 year knowledge gap helped the actors to create clear, strong performances, proving that a dramaturg's direct and deep involvement in a production of this nature can indeed improve the clarity of a performance, but the ambivalent use of authority created some organizational issues. Although a greater controlling authority might have been better able to deal with problems, a dramaturgical approach to directing seems to be successful, and it is much appreciated by actors.