NO TRIFLING WITH LOVE A Record and Analysis of a Production by ADRIENNE L. WINTERMANS ...

213 Pages·2011·25.73 MB·English

NO TRIFLING WITH LOVE
A Record and Analysis of a Production
by
ADRIENNE L. WINTERMANS
B.A., St. Francis Xavier University, 1967
A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF
THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
MASTER OF ARTS
in the Department of
THEATRE
We accept this thesis as conforming to the
required standard
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
April, 1969
In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for
an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that
the Library shall make it freely available for reference and Study.
I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis
for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or
by his representatives. It is understood that copying or publication
of this thes,is for financial gain shall not be allowed without my
written permission.
Department of | K*c: h 1
The University of British Columbia
Vancouver 8, Canada
Date
ABSTRACT
No Trifling With Love, a new adaptation by Frank
Canino of Alfred de Musset's 19th Century French play, was
produced and directed by Adrienne Wintermans, in partial
fulfilment of the requirements for a Master of Arts degree
in the Department of Theatre of the University of British
Columbia, at the Dorothy Somerset Studio Theatre, from
November 20 to 23rd, 196 8. The following is a detailed
record of that production, together with the director's
analysis and interpretation of the script.
No Trifling With Love was performed by a predomin
antly student cast, in costumes and setting designed by
Michelle Bjornson, with choreography by Richard Blackhurst
and with original music composed and arranged by Jim Colby
and played by three musicians employing flute, piano,
guitar and percussion instruments.
This record is divided into three main sections.. The
first is an essay in five parts, consisting respectively of:.
the biographical and historical background of the playwright
and the play; the literary influences found in On he badine
pas avec 1'amour; a comparison of the adaptation used for
this production with previous translations of the play; an
analysis of No Trifling With Love in this adaptation; and
finally a short section setting forth as simply as possible,
the specific directorial concept used for this production.
The essay is followed by a short bibliography which
is not intended as a complete list of the works on or by
de Musset, but gives an indication of those which were taken
into consideration during the preparation of this production.
The second section is made up of the prompt script of
the production, showing the division of the play into units,
blocking, and music, lighting and scenery cues. The script
is followed by a unit by unit analysis of each scene,
briefly discussing the directorial approach taken in terms
of purpose, action, motivation, dominant emotions, character
dominance and particular difficulties involved.
The third section is made up of various tables,'
records and illustrations relating directly to the production.
Included are lists of light cues, set changes, property and
costume lists, cost lists and box office reports. Also in
cluded are transcripts of the music composed for the production
samples of the programme and copies of the press reviews.
The illustrations include colour photographs of the production,
renderings of the sets, costumes and projections, and finally
blue-prints of the floor plan and working drawings.
iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Introductory Essay . .. 1
Notes 56
Bibliography . . . . . . . .. 58
Prompt Script 60
Scene Analysis 115
Tables 162
Appendix 181
Illustrations 189
V
LIST OF TABLES
Page
Music Cues 162
Light Plot . lg6
Projection Plot • • 170
Set Change Plots . . . .. 172
Property List 173
Costume Plot 176
Cost Report 178
Box Office Report 18°
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY
If
INTRODUCTION
This essay has been divided into five parts, each one
dealing with a different type of introductory material, but
all of them important in one way or another to this produc
tion of No Trifling, with Love.
Part I is devoted to biographical details of the life
of Alfred de Musset, in order to throw some light on his
personality and the forces at work on him personally, socially
and as a writer before and during 1834, when he wrote On ne
badine pas avec 1'amour. This section ends with an attempt
to analyze his position in the French theatre, through the
use of some critical opinions.
Part II is a partial list of the literary influences
that have been detected in the play. This, apart from being
interesting in itself, will help to place the play in its
historical perspective and at the same time point out some
of the salient features of the construction and mood of the
piece.
In Part III Frank Canino's adaptation will be compared
to previous translations of On ne badine pas avec 1' amour., in
order to show why it has been chosen for the production and
to point out its advantages over the others.
2
Part IV is an analysis of No Trifling with Love (hence
forth I will use the French title to refer to the original,
the English one for the adaptation) covering the general
features of structure and characterization, the relative im
portance of the various components of the play and an attempt
to define its meaning, avoiding however a detailed scene-by-
scene analysis, which has been left for the notes accompanying
the prompt script.
Part V states the director's concept used for the pro
duction as simply as possible and points out how it was carried
through in the different physical aspects of the production.
3
I. ALFRED DE MUSSET; BACKGROUND
The life of Alfred de Musset has been thoroughly docu
mented in several biographies and volumes of his correspondence
and other personal data. And because de Musset based a ll his
literary work on his personal experiences, his biography is
of considerable importance and interest in the study of his
plays. It would be impossible even to summarize the whole
story of his l i fe here, therefore I w i ll limit myself to some
of the most important details of his l i fe before and around the
time of writing On ne badine pas avec 1'amour in 1834. The
remainder of this part of the essay w i ll be an.attempt to pin
down the position of Alfred de Musset in French literature and
in the theatre.
De Musset was born in Paris in 1810 and lived there a ll
his l i f e, with the exception of a four-month trip to Venice
with George Sand. His family was happy and well-to-do, and
Alfred was a precocious, temperamental, passionate child,
thoroughly pampered by his doting mother and his older brother
Paul, both of whom seem to have recognized his genius when
he was s t i ll an infant. His father was of an old French family,
but was forced into unusual paths by the Revolution: he
fought under Napoleon until the Battle of Marengo and then
went into the c i v il service. He also had literary inclinations
and published a biography of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, followed