Launcelot Gobbo

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In the Globe Theatre Company's production of The Merchant of Venice, Launcelot Gobbo was played by Marcello Magni.

About Marcello Magni

Marcello Magni was trained in Paris, London, Bologna, Milan and Padua. He is a founder member of Theatre Complicitie, and has appeared with them, and other companies throughout the world. He has also worked extensively in film and television. His latest work in England was directing the RSC production of Everyman.

Click on the numbered links to follow Marcello's journey as he creates and plays the character of Launcelot Gobbo in the Globe Theatre.

Marcello Magni - Introduction

The rehearsals for the Globe's 1998 Theatre Season take place in a converted warehouse in O’Meara Street; about 5 minutes walk from the Globe theatre itself. The rehearsal room is very large and has an outline of the Globe stage marked out in tape on the floor; there are also 2 pillars in the room. These arrangements help the actors to prepare for working on the Globe stage. The actors will not rehearse on the Globe stage until the technical rehearsal, although some classes are held on the stage.

Each day each actor will receive his/her ‘call’ which is the time s/he is expected to report for rehearsal. During the rehearsal period an actor's day will vary considerably, an actor may rehearse scenes, attend a class (voice, text and movement) or have a costume fitting with the wardrobe department. A typical day might begin at 10.00am and finish at 6.30pm – sometimes there are also evening calls.

During the rehearsal period (particularly at the beginning) an actor will research his/her character. To help the actors the assistant director will find relevant books, pictures etc. and bring these to rehearsal. Extracts from books and pictures are often stuck onto the rehearsal room walls. Actors will also experiment with using props in rehearsal; these will be rough versions of the final prop and will help them to build the prop into the scene. Similarly some form of rehearsal costume will be worn e.g. long skirts for the women, this will help actors to get used to moving, sitting etc. in their costume. In particular actors will use the actual shoes they will wear in performance during rehearsal. This is to wear the shoes ‘in’, as they are made using Elizabethan techniques and there is no specified ‘left’ and ‘right’ foot. Many actors also feel that wearing the correct shoes helps them to ‘get into’ character.

The companies have 6 weeks of rehearsal before the technical and dress rehearsals Generally the beginning of this period is spent improvising around the text and in development of character; towards the end of these 6 weeks actors will rehearse scenes in detail and run parts of the play. The exact method of working in rehearsal is established and shaped by the director.

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Marcello Magni - Character Notes 1

At the beginning of the rehearsal period one of the exercises Marcello found most useful was an improvisation in which the company created the city of Venice. Each person adopted a role and explored what the city might have been like in the 16th Century. They also looked at the possible relationships between the groups that might have existed in that society and the status of women and the Jewish community.

To work on his character Marcello is trying to do as much research as possible, particularly into Venice in the 16th Century and the role of clowns or fools in Shakespeare.

Marcello is a founder member of Theatre de Complicite, which have a tradition of physical theatre, drawing on Commedia dell’ Arte. This experience influences Marcello's approach to creating the role of Gobbo. Marcello is interested in playing Launcelot Gobbo as a hunchback (Gobbo means hunchback), as it would place Gobbo as an outsider in Venice. Marcello feels it might also explain why Launcelot Gobbo is working for Shylock - does Shylock's status as a Jew in Venice mean that Gobbo is the best servant he can get? Marcello has decided that Gobbo has come to Venice from the countryside, in the hope of finding profitable employment and improving his status.

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Marcello Magni - Character Notes 2

At this point in rehearsal the company went for a residential week away. Marcello had the opportunity to improvise Gobbo's life in between the scenes in which he is not featured in the play. He found this very useful, in particular it highlighted how much time Gobbo spends with Jessica, as they are both left in Shylock's house together for much of the day. Marcello feels that because of this Gobbo is increasingly jealous of Lorenzo. The residential week also emphasised for Marcello how different Gobbo's life would be in Bassanio's service at Belmont.

Marcello is working now in detail to find the comedy in the character, he is exploring the use of repetition of actions. He believes that each time a comic action is repeated its potential effect increases – Marcello is trying to use this idea to develop physical or visual sequences to go with some of his speeches. One of his biggest challenges is to make Gobbo humorous and entertaining for a contemporary audience. Many of the lines are very dense and difficult to understand – Marcello has to find ways of communicating the meaning in each speech. One way he does this is to focus on each word of the speech individually then gradually build up to the whole speech; this helps him to really think about each word and the meaning of the speech as a whole.

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Marcello Magni - Character Notes 3

It has been decided that the production will open with a masque or carnival scene. Marcello is responsible for devising this, which will involve the actors using a mask and developing a character that is different from the one they play in The Merchant of Venice itself. This will largely take place in the yard amongst the groundling audience.

The company have now had some rehearsal on the Globe stage itself and this has led to some discoveries for Marcello – most importantly the amount of secret plotting that goes on between Jessica and Launcelot in order to arrange her elopement with Lorenzo. Marcello must find ways of communicating with Jessica secretly across a large stage, in a way that it will be possible for the audience to see, but which will be undetected by Shylock.

It has been decided that Marcello will be responsible for the interval calls, he will announce the interval and go out onto the piazza to call the audience into the theatre at the end of the interval - he will have to stay in character throughout this period.

Marcello is also now concentrating on fully developing the physicality of his character. He is exploring ways in which Gobbo's hump will effect his performance and movements. During rehearsal Marcello sits, moves and even writes as he feels Gobbo would – even after he has finished rehearsing his scenes – this helps him to develop the character in greater detail.

There are still some lines and scenes which are

problematic, in particular Act 3 Scene 5 in Belmont. Marcello is still exploring different ways of playing the scene – especially his conversation with Lorenzo. Above all Marcello is now looking forward to working on the Globe stage in front of an audience.

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Marcello Magni - Character Notes 4

Now that The Merchant of Venice has gone into performance the company go into rehearsal for the next play in the season The Honest Whore by Thomas Dekker (with Thomas Middleton). Marcello will play Candido, this is quite a large role and Marcello faces intensive weeks of rehearsal and performance. At present if Marcello has a matinee he rehearses from 9.00am-12.00 then performs in the afternoon. If he has an evening performance there will be a longer rehearsal period during the day. The play will be in modern dress and is set in Milan near Marcello's home town in Italy.

Candido is a very patient character who does not react to provocation. He is totally different from Launcelot Gobbo who wants social advancement and tries to grab any chance he gets to improve his circumstances. Candido is master of his household whereas Launcelot Gobbo is a servant.

During The Merchant of Venice Marcello announces the interval and remains in the yard in mask throughout. Marcello aims to involve the audience with his character – which for the mask is that of the monkey. Marcello is a skilled practitioner of mask work, yet feels that the mask of the monkey is very challenging. The character is charming, naive, innocent and yet at the same time devilish. Marcello feels that there are elements of the character of the monkey in Launcelot Gobbo.

Increasingly during performance Marcello has become aware of the vulnerability with which Launcelot Gobbo begins the play. When we first see him with Shylock he has very little status in Venetian society and is desperate to find a new master. For Marcello this desire for status is the driving force behind all of Launcelot Gobbo's thoughts and actions. When he gets a job with Bassanio Launcelot's ambitions are fulfilled as he has moved to a position where he is respected and comfortable.

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Marcello Magni - Character Notes 5

Marcello ideally likes to have 2 hours to prepare for a performance. He likes to have met the other actors before he sees them in character on stage. When Marcello is working with Theatre de Complicite the whole company runs through one or two key scenes before the performance - as a form of warm up. The Globe company do not do this, but warm up individually.

Act 3 Scene 5 is still the most difficult scene for Marcello, there are so many different possibilities for the scene. Marcello is unsure whether Launcelot is deliberately trying to make Lorenzo jealous or if he is innocent of the effect of his behaviour. Marcello is also unsure whether Jessica is hurt by Launcelot's comments to her in this scene, or whether she simply thinks that he is joking.

Now that the play has settled into performance Marcello is finding greater calm as a performer but feels that he is still constantly looking for ways of finding the ‘energy, passion and determination for performing on stage’.

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Marcello Magni - Character Notes 6

At this point, just over half way through the run of the play, The Merchant of Venice was given a 3 week break from performance. This was to give the actors in the White Company the opportunity to rehearse full time for their second play of the season, The Honest Whore and to open the production with a week of performances, before the play went into repertory with The Merchant of Venice. Marcello plays Candido in The Honest Whore, which is quite a large role, this means that he has been very busy with rehearsal, technical rehearsal and previews.

As the company had not performed The Merchant of Venice for some while they were called to rehearsal before the show for a line run of the play (for which the actors just say their lines, without movement). This helped all of the actors to think about their characters and the words and rhythm of the play.

Marcello found the first performance after the break quite difficult as he found it easy to forget the small details of his performance. During this period the weather was very hot and this proved to be an added pressure for Marcello as his performance is very physical. Marcello now takes a shower after Act 2!

Since beginning to perform The Merchant of Venice again Marcello has discovered lots of new elements to his portrayal of Launcelot. For example now when Shylock insults Launcelot Marcello has found a sense of pride and dignity for the character that he did not previously have in his performance. Marcello is also working to develop a sense of Launcelot's concern in Act 2 Scene 2 as he tries to decide whether he should leave Shylock's service.

Marcello feels that having a break from the play has been a useful learning process as it has enabled him to look at it afresh and from a different perspective. He now feels he has the freedom to imagine new things and to be playful in the role. At this point in the run Marcello finds it useful to discuss the production with the rest of the company, to look at what is working well in performance and to consider possible improvements.

Marcello has found it ‘a joy’ to return to performing The Merchant of Venice, he has particularly grown to appreciate the strength of the play's structure.

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Marcello Magni - Activities

The activities have been devised assuming that students know the story of the play. For more detailed work it may be useful for students to look at Launcelot Gobbo's lines in Act 2 Scene 2 and Act 3 Scene 5.

Where appropriate there are notes for teachers (TN) at the end of each activity.

1. Rehearsal Calls

2. Adjectives

3. Venice and Belmont

4. Say each word

5. What happens off stage?

6. Status

7. Fools

8. Quick Change

9. Animals

10. Interval Bells

11. Difficult lines

12. What difference does the character of Launcelot Gobbo make to The Merchant of Venice?

13. Act 3 Scene 5

14. Running a scene

1. Rehearsal Calls

Look at the copy of the call sheet for the first 4 days of rehearsal. Work out what Marcello would be doing on each day.

Write a day or days in the life of an actor in the Globe Theatre Company – try to think about how s/he might feel in these early days of rehearsal. … Many of the actors compared them to the first days at a new school.

2. Adjectives

One way Marcello worked on his character was to write a list of adjectives which he felt described Launcelot Gobbo....

Either: From what you know about Launcelot Gobbo write your own list of adjectives to describe him.

Or: Choose a character you have played in Drama, or know well from a book and write a list of adjectives which describe him/her.

3. Venice and Belmont

One of the first things the company did was an improvisation around their ideas of Venice; they could represent or play anything/body they wished. It is very important to the actors to develop a sense of where and when the play is set. Try some of the following activities: -

Brainstorm – what do you think of when you think of Venice? (You could compare your ideas with how you think Venice might have been in the 16th century).

What kind of people would live in Venice in the 16th century? – (many were traders, businessmen or merchants) Present a freeze frame which shows the different activities which may have taken place.

As a group create a street scene in Venice - as you think it might have been in the 16th century – then repeat the exercise for the 20th Century.

Belmont does not actually exist; it is Shakespeare's creation. It is presented in the play as a place of grace and beauty.

As a group try to create a place that seems different from Venice – how will you communicate this difference to an audience?

4. Say each word

Another technique Marcello uses is to go through a speech building it up word by word eg.. for his first line "Certainly, my conscience will serve me to run from this Jew my master." Marcello would go through the speech saying "Certainly", then "Certainly, my", then "Certainly, my conscience" and so on ..

Try this technique for yourself with any line or speech in the play. Do you think it is a useful technique? What effect does it have on your understanding of the language and line/speech as a whole?

5. What happens off stage?

Actors work to understand their character as a whole, not just what s/he does and says on stage. To help them actors use an exercise in which they decide what happens to their character in between the scenes in which s/he is featured.

What do you think happens to Launcelot Gobbo in between his exit in Act 2 Scene 2 and when we next see him in Act 2 Scene 3? You could improvise this scene in groups, or write down your ideas in a script format.

6. Status

Marcello feels that Launcelot Gobbo's new job with Bassiano will improve his social status.

How can an actor show a character's change of status to an audience? – How might this effect the way s/he speaks, sits and moves and his/her attitude to other characters?

Suggest ways in which Marcello can communicate Launcelot Gobbo's increased sense of status to the audience in the Globe.

7. Fools

Marcello is currently researching the role of the fool in Shakespearean drama.

Try to do some of your own research on this subject. You might look in the library, on a CD ROM or on the Internet.

Send the most interesting information to Marcello – he might be able to use it in his performance.

8. Quick Change

Launcelot Gobbo's change into the livery of Bassanio's servant will take place between Act 2 Scenes 3 & 4. Marcello will have 6 lines to change his costume – how will he do this?

Suggest ways that Marcello can complete his quick change, (he may be wearing some of his second costume under the first).

Design a costume that can be changed quickly.

Imagine you are Marcello – give instructions to Jessica on how to deliver her lines in a way which give him as much time as possible to complete his quick change.

9. Animals

One exercise actors often use in rehearsal is to decide which animal most reminds them of their character. The animal Marcello chooses may effect the way he moves or stands as the character of Launcelot Gobbo.

What animal does Launcelot Gobbo remind you of? – Give reasons for your answer. (One animal Marcello thought of was a parrot).

Try this exercise for yourself, maybe with characters from a book you are reading or a television programme. Make sure you explain why the character reminds you of that animal.

Think about the way the animal you have chosen might move, sit or stand if it were a person. Try these ideas out practically.

10. Difficult lines

The lines which Marcello has the most difficulty understanding and delivering in a way which makes sense are:

It is much that the Moor should be more than reason; but

If she be less than an honest women, she is indeed more than I took

her for."

Act 3 Scene 5

Can you help Marcello? What do you think these lines mean and how should Marcello say them?

11. What difference does the character of Launcelot Gobbo make to The Merchant of Venice?

What should Marcello aim to give to the play through his portrayal of Gobbo?

Use close reference to the text and ‘Marcello's comments’ to inform your answer.

You could develop your ideas into a course work essay.

12. Act 3 Scene 5

Marcello is still uncertain about the way in which he should play Act 3 Scene 5

Look at this scene again and re read Marcello's comments. How do you think Marcello should play the scene?

13. Running a scene

When he is working with Theatre de Complicite Marcello will meet with the company before the performance and run through a key scene. The company at the Globe do not do this.

What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of running a scene before performance?

In what way do you think the Globe company should work?

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