SAH Commons | Katherine Williams | Group Activity https://sah.hcommons.org/members/katschawill/activity/groups/ Public group activity feed of which Katherine Williams is a member. Sat, 04 Apr 2026 12:12:47 -0400 https://buddypress.org/?v=10.6.0 en-US 30 hourly 2 5d12280882de544b8bbb622991f38501 Anna Kamaralli replied to the topic Wrap Up Thread in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/wrap-up-thread/#post-31806 Mon, 01 Jun 2020 03:33:38 -0400 Thank you so much for organising this, Nora. Getting other people’s takes definitely showed me things that I would not have picked up reading on my own.

My final thought is probably that I’m surprised at the 1622 date for this play. Its overall ‘feel’ for me is that it owes heaps to medieval morality plays, and if I’d read it without knowing I…[Read more]

]]> 0 193fd6da24e8951b7cb87180abf1a002 Andrew Loeb replied to the topic Wrap Up Thread in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/wrap-up-thread/#post-31653 Wed, 27 May 2020 13:49:57 -0400 I have nothing especially exciting in the way of final thoughts other than to say thanks, Nora, for organizing this. It was a lot of fun revisiting this play, and the rich variety of insights that everyone offered made it a really enlightening experience. Hope everyone is well. Keep me in the loop if you’ve got any other wacky plays you want to talk about.

]]> 0 7d49e12a8aa21eb5f17e32c0667c0b84 Nora J Williams started the topic Wrap Up Thread in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/wrap-up-thread/ Tue, 26 May 2020 07:48:39 -0400 Hi everybody — we did it! Thanks so much for joining in on this wacky adventure with me. It’s been such an anchor for me over the past six weeks, and I’ve learned so much from reading all of your insightful posts.

Before the reading group comes to an end, I wanted to create a space for any final thoughts: overarching themes, big questions, stuff…[Read more]

]]> 0 91c356014c35c67898e9734137168574 Charlene Smith replied to the topic Act Five in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-five/#post-31516 Fri, 22 May 2020 21:47:14 -0400 thank you, Nora, for taking us on this wacky play. It’s fascinating how utterly dissonant this play is. Often you hear of actors who aren’t in the same play, but these characters don’t all seem to be in the same play, or at least, it’s such a strange way to take part in British mythmaking. I wonder how it would play to an American audience which…[Read more]

]]> 0 be5a8eeb3f7562ea44f26c63ae0ff1b1 Charlene Smith replied to the topic Act Two in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-two/#post-31504 Fri, 22 May 2020 18:16:28 -0400 This is a great read,  Nora, thanks for arranging this, and Act Two really brings home the theatrical possibilities. The comedy holds up and it’s nice to see the sibling affection contained within it. Though of course, as has been mentioned, it was funny for me until the Prince got violent and then it was decidedly not funny. Nora started hinting…[Read more]

]]> 0 56460d9c0c8c72efed6d0b9d5e128c40 Charlene Smith replied to the topic Act One in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-one/page/2/#post-31497 Fri, 22 May 2020 17:18:59 -0400 Thanks for these great comments. I’m coming in. on the last day of the project!

Already fascinated in Act One, by much of what has been mentioned, particularly the introductions of three seemingly important female characters so early. I too caught that Modestia gets a soliloquy in the first scene, and when reading it, I was compelled to speak it…[Read more]

]]> 0 e711edd9c454f13ccfb47451dcdd8796 Anna Kamaralli replied to the topic Act Five in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-five/#post-31455 Thu, 21 May 2020 00:06:22 -0400 Like most others here, I’m picking up this final act as a fantasy of purging the country of women. Donobert’s opportunity to bequeath his estate to two men, now his daughters have removed themselves from the picture. The installation of Uther as king and foretelling of his having a son without any mention, unless I missed it somewhere, of Igraine.…[Read more]

]]> 0 3afa3896a00ae023716b3c8bdd297914 David Nicol replied to the topic Act Five in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-five/#post-31418 Tue, 19 May 2020 23:20:58 -0400 OK, I hate to be a pooper, but I have issues with this Act. Not with scene 5.1 (that’s a scene – wow!), but ultimately 5.2 is a bit of a squib. Of course my main complaint is, where’s my boy the Clown? How does he feel about Joan being taken away to pine away in some weird bower? Doesn’t he have any bon mots to share with us at the end? Nope, he…[Read more]

]]> 0 a730be1a9c616784ec9a6d4d33098b5c Andrew Loeb replied to the topic Act Five in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-five/#post-31410 Tue, 19 May 2020 14:47:05 -0400 Like Peter, I was struck by the references to the devil as a hound and what seems like an obvious reference to Dog in The Witch of Edmonton.  He’s not an actual dog here (Merlin references his human shape), but is he doggish?

There’s actually a ton of intertextual references to other witch/magic plays in this act. In addition to the Witch of…[Read more]

]]> 0 d0bd06f6527e5b1a931772da9942826f Eleanor Rycroft replied to the topic Act Five in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-five/#post-31403 Tue, 19 May 2020 12:15:04 -0400 So yes, as both of you say, Pete and Nora, Act 5 seems very much a case of ‘lock/shut away or kill all the unruly women, maintain patrilinealism at all costs, and establish a quasi-androgenetic origin myth for “Britain”‘, because, of course, no one does remember Joan’s name. There is dissidence in Artesia’s laughter however as you also note.…[Read more]

]]> 0 79d70201e947757f61c3b91eed978365 Nora J Williams replied to the topic Act Five in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-five/#post-31392 Tue, 19 May 2020 10:14:31 -0400 Artesiaaaaaaa!!! I’ve mostly stepped away from acting, but that’s one role I’d kill to play someday.

Pete, your point about the consolidation of the male power even in the absence of the daughters in the romance plot made me remember the end of The Changeling (also written by Rowley), in which Alsemero ostentatiously declares to his…[Read more]

]]> 0 a81febd9d3ddba54ddff4a8dd0859e0b Pete Kirwan replied to the topic Act Five in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-five/#post-31391 Tue, 19 May 2020 09:56:31 -0400 Also Nora – definitely agree about Artesia. Head held high, marching off, ‘Call that torture?!’

]]> 0 603d148318b8c9f68308332110265c95 Pete Kirwan replied to the topic Act Five in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-five/#post-31390 Tue, 19 May 2020 09:54:59 -0400 What a climax! I love 5.1.

The moment that stands out in my memory from the Read Not Dead reading was the final confrontation between the Devil and Merlin. I mentioned this in a previous thread, but those of you who know James Wallace will hopefully be able to imagine his voice as he channelled Inigo Montoya and Darth Vader in a low, slow, snarl…[Read more]

]]> 0 f1fa3b9ab9bbc6928efcab710b566fb0 Nora J Williams started the topic Act Five in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-five/ Mon, 18 May 2020 09:09:46 -0400 “The child has found his father. Do you not know me?”

It’s Act Five! We’re coming to the end of this wild and wacky adventure.

I have SO MANY thoughts about this act, but I noticed for the first time, as I re-read it for today, that literally all the women are gone by the end in one way or another. Picking up on Anna’s comment from the Act 4…[Read more]

]]> 0 3f67c104a3e3061d4dfb92020c661214 Anna Kamaralli replied to the topic Act Four in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-four/#post-31361 Mon, 18 May 2020 00:39:52 -0400 Alas, some aspect of my system absolutely refuses to let me post a picture, so instead of a witty, thowaway visual I am forced to included a laboured attachment, that hopefully is still worth a laugh.

I am completely staggered in this play by how they chose to use a pair of nubile ingénues. I kept expecting them to turn up again and have some…[Read more]

]]> 0 cede71e565b45726127ae038b8cbd741 David Nicol replied to the topic Act Four in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-four/#post-31211 Tue, 12 May 2020 14:09:35 -0400 Oh! And Pete, I love your point that magicians can be author-proxies. This is really interesting given that Rowley plays the Clown. If you’re right, he’s kind of fighting with himself. Shutting himself up.

Or if the play is a collaboration, maybe the Clown is Rowley and Merlin is Webster???

]]> 0 9ebcdccb83531f68b4a43006538c94de David Nicol replied to the topic Act Four in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-four/#post-31210 Tue, 12 May 2020 14:05:56 -0400 Pete, thanks for those fantastic suggestions about the Clown/Joan/Merlin relationship. Love the idea that it’s kind of a meta battle over what kind of play this is.

Anything that can help me like Acts 4 and 5 more is very gratefully received!

]]> 0 c437bbafa4d6e4e0fa835d2917bc057a Nora J Williams replied to the topic Act Three in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-three/#post-31209 Tue, 12 May 2020 13:09:39 -0400 Yes, I think that’s getting at it, Dave! Identity is a very complex thing in this play (I think this speaks to some of what Ellie’s talking about in this thread and the Act 4 thread with the ambiguous beard / masculine patrilineal anxieties as well). And I think it’s significant that our “big baddie” (the Devil) is racialized whereas the Saxons…[Read more]

]]> 0 d31df7120ba2aa8f863411436e9b5d91 Eleanor Rycroft replied to the topic Act Four in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-four/#post-31208 Tue, 12 May 2020 09:16:04 -0400 More beard reflections. I’m sorry – but Merlin’s beard is mentioned 4 or 5 times in 4.1., it’s clearly important! It becomes evident in this scene that his beard is too manly for his stature I think – the Gentlemen call him a “small gentleman” for instance, so there appears to be a mismatch between his height and his hair. It strikes me that there…[Read more]

]]> 0 444b1cf8f4ee9bd51ba029a72f2313a5 Pete Kirwan replied to the topic Act Four in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-four/#post-31206 Tue, 12 May 2020 05:59:42 -0400 Anna – just a right-click copy-and-paste worked for me!

David – love this: ‘In his Catalogue, Martin Wiggins points out that since the dragons are able to stop and start fighting on cue, they are probably performed by actors in costume.’ And there was me thinking they’d trained real dragons (young ones of course) – maybe they used those in court…[Read more]

]]> 0 d5f28c6d5a52cb6e4f12bf9801338048 Anna Kamaralli replied to the topic Act Four in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-four/#post-31204 Tue, 12 May 2020 01:24:21 -0400 Luddite alert: I don’t have a button for inserting an image. How can I insert an image? It must be possible because Pete just did it above.

]]> 0 b10fa1b33b814f7be42d1354ab8dac21 David Nicol replied to the topic Act Four in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-four/#post-31202 Mon, 11 May 2020 22:28:53 -0400 So many staging challenges!

  • In his Catalogue, Martin Wiggins points out that since the dragons are able to stop and start fighting on cue, they are probably performed by actors in costume.
  • Sadly, Wiggins has nothing to say about the stone that kills Proximus, which is quite baffling; I will say that in Day, Rowley and Wilkins’ The Travels of…

[Read more]

]]> 0 3bd1f955223a877052f1a6f090d6c109 David Nicol replied to the topic Act Three in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-three/#post-31201 Mon, 11 May 2020 21:38:16 -0400 Hi Nora, I think what you’re trying to say may be tied up with the central weirdness of most Ancient Britain plays of this period. They’re all messed up because they depict native Britons being invaded by foreign Saxon “Other” – boo hiss! Except the Saxons are the ancestors of the English, i.e. “us”. So, we’re the foreign Other. A lot of these…[Read more]

]]> 0 4d0cdee12f7921bb1e891c35b7a4e95e Nora J Williams replied to the topic Act Four in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-four/#post-31181 Mon, 11 May 2020 15:16:54 -0400 So true, Pete! That scene always makes me think about the role of improvisation for clowns, too: my sense is that we can’t assume the Clown is only interrupting Merlin with his hums as scripted? And what else might he be up to in his bid to get attention?

]]> 0 4e03e71b54e5d7e8243c1e8c7be06d3f Pete Kirwan replied to the topic Act Four in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-four/#post-31179 Mon, 11 May 2020 10:51:11 -0400 To give some slightly more serious thoughts, what I take away from Act IV is just how important the Clown is. This is the most conventionally Arthurian material so far – it’s telling the oft-retold story of the dragons and the castle, Merlin’s early prophecies, and the promise of Uter’s line. With the subplots and the Devil sidelined, the material…[Read more]

]]> 0 b81d2647c22ca1ff7db7efbc57c7143d Pete Kirwan replied to the topic Act Four in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-four/#post-31178 Mon, 11 May 2020 10:43:07 -0400 Also strong Han Sol0-chasing-stormtroopers energy to ‘Enter Edol, driving all Vortiger’s Force before him‘.

]]> 0 41c43c761e9126922394bfa38306efd0 Nora J Williams replied to the topic Act Four in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-four/#post-31177 Mon, 11 May 2020 10:40:40 -0400 🤣🤣🤣

Merlin: the original Roadrunner

]]> 0 575f4380f3a6870258d8f3d74d2c31b2 Pete Kirwan replied to the topic Act Four in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-four/#post-31176 Mon, 11 May 2020 10:38:00 -0400 Genuine live footage of Proximus.

Managing Anxiety: The Coyote and Roadrunner | Care for the Pack ...

]]> 0 3339c200cdf2dcbbed82abe02c346c9d Nora J Williams replied to the topic Act Three in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-three/#post-31173 Mon, 11 May 2020 09:45:02 -0400 There’s so much great stuff happening in this thread that makes me wish these discussion boards had Facebook-stlye ‘reaction’ options 😂 I’m so glad Ellie got deep into the beard discussion and Andrew into the music!

I wanted to pick up on the Devil’s ‘frying-pan’ face and Dave’s comment about the apparently instant costume change — I’m…[Read more]

]]> 0 cc7e0d2dd6ca347de6e3187304e9c205 Nora J Williams started the topic Act Four in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-four/ Mon, 11 May 2020 08:53:47 -0400 Wow! Act Four already!!

The fun continues with our second magic battle (prophecy battle?) and one of my favourite speeches and stage directions in all of early modern drama:

MERLIN: Hast thou such leisure to enquire my fate,
And let thine own hang careless over thee?
Knowst thou what pendelous mischief roofs thy head,
How fatal, and how…[Read more]

]]> 0 bb28b4044ba7846394ecf1174ef58639 Anna Kamaralli replied to the topic Act Three in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-three/#post-31086 Fri, 08 May 2020 01:58:39 -0400 Still baffled by what a decent chap the Devil appears to be.

]]> 0 7638acf741c222b8674619abede76db6 Andrew Loeb replied to the topic Act Three in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-three/#post-31055 Wed, 06 May 2020 20:20:50 -0400 Alright! This is what I came for: antic dances, devil charms, quotes from Doctor Faustus, antic dances!

I feel like a pretty solid chunk of my research career so far has involved saying “But what IS an antic dance?” “What IS hollow and infernal music?”

But let’s back up a bit first. I’m really impressed with just how comprehensively the term…[Read more]

]]> 0 c3720f7417f5c40867dd09a5a6c77169 Eleanor Rycroft replied to the topic Act Three in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-three/#post-31049 Wed, 06 May 2020 14:36:51 -0400 Those familiar with my research background won’t be surprised if I confine my discussion to Act 3’s presentation of Merlin as newborn with a beard because it is AMAZING.

But what in holy hell is going on? Early modern masculine ideology is clear that, in order to be considered a man, one must have a beard. Lucina assured us that Merlin will be…[Read more]

]]> 0 dae7bc29f66052ece8c05d29cb8ad05a David Nicol replied to the topic Act Three in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-three/#post-31035 Wed, 06 May 2020 02:36:31 -0400 I don’t even know where to start. So much awesome in one act. I can only offer random thoughts.

There’s some good poetry here! It has a smoothness that you don’t often get with Rowley. I like, “This world is but a masque, catching weak eyes, / With what is not ourselves but our disguise, / A vizard that falls off, the dance being done, / And…[Read more]

]]> 0 e633c379f54a4601eac93b42de2fa9d6 David Nicol replied to the topic Act Two in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-two/#post-31013 Tue, 05 May 2020 12:04:39 -0400 To answer Nora’s question…

The structure of the three plots, up to this point, certainly seems to match something like The Witch of Edmonton, where each of Dekker, Rowley, and Ford took responsibility for one plot line (again, if I’m remembering correctly?)….then again, everything’s about to start crashing together in Acts 4 and 5, so who knows?…

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]]> 0 f854a8cae81304c576d72c3f1f4eb5f3 Anna Kamaralli replied to the topic Act Two in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-two/#post-31010 Tue, 05 May 2020 06:51:18 -0400 Since there’s been some discussion of Webster and his potential influence, Edol reminded me of Webster’s Sir Thomas Wyatt (play and character). Wyatt “would run through fire” for the sake of the true Queen, but transforms into fury and martial resolve when she follows her hormones (like Aurelius) and marries a Spaniard. I haven’t made a lines…[Read more]

]]> 0 4934db69aae3809316d384961bc0b8c8 Anna Kamaralli replied to the topic Welcome! Introduce Yourself in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/welcome-introduce-yourself/page/2/#post-31007 Tue, 05 May 2020 03:39:04 -0400 I’m sorry, I broke one of the three cardinal rules and forgot to introduce myself before we got started. I’m Anna, and I want to expand my reading of Early Modern plays by playwrights other than Shakespeare. This one sounds gloriously outré enough to shoot right up to the top of the list. I’m in Sydney, so will probably post at odd times,…[Read more]

]]> 0 14718cff47cdaccf89c7f6c272ece7c9 Andrew Loeb replied to the topic Act Two in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-two/#post-30987 Mon, 04 May 2020 14:23:09 -0400 Late to the party once again, but I just wanted to quickly add a half-formed thought about how highly concerned this act seems to be with women as threats to masculinity. There’s an interesting parallel being drawn here between Joan and Artesia, both of whom are called “witch” and “devil” by men whose ideas of themselves are threatened by them.…[Read more]

]]> 0 251e50aa19420b6c3bccdf278f3591f6 Pete Kirwan replied to the topic Act Three in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-three/#post-30973 Mon, 04 May 2020 09:58:56 -0400 A miscellany of thoughts today – what an act!

3.1 is a great scene. I love how Joan is speaking verse while her brother is in prose; she’s sustaining the narrative of being in a courtly romance while he repeatedly undermines it. In this sense, when the Devil appears, I feel like he’s continuing to play into Joan’s narrative, and at this stage -…[Read more]

]]> 0 137b3cecdb7b8f58c8b0c61e53bd437e Nora J Williams replied to the topic Act Three in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-three/#post-30972 Mon, 04 May 2020 09:01:00 -0400 One last quick thought before I get to other work for the day: some really exciting stuff for Ellie’s work on forests and danger in this act. The Devil appears in the forest, Merlin’s “monstrous” birth happens in the forst — and yet, the Devil shows much more care to Joan than we’ve seen from any of the courtly men she’s encountered so far. All…[Read more]

]]> 0 94661b9f460555aaf55eb6b0ebc44c94 Nora J Williams replied to the topic Act Two in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-two/#post-30971 Mon, 04 May 2020 08:57:50 -0400 Coming back to this thread having read Act 3 again, I’m thinking back to one of Dave’s early questions about collaboration (and his nod to the possibility that the artificial crab is either a nod to Webster or (if I’m understanding correctly?) possibly a hint that Webster was a collaborator on this play). The structure of the three plots, up to…[Read more]

]]> 0 fd8368853ade95833dcf448c8295620b Nora J Williams edited the post Welcome to the 2020 Birth of Merlin Reading Group! in the group The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://thebirthofmerlinreadinggroup.hcommons.org/2020/04/11/hello-world/ Mon, 04 May 2020 08:35:36 -0400 Thanks for joining us on this weird and wonderful journey 😃
DISCUSSION BOARDS QUICK LINK

This is an asynchronous, extremely casual, just-for-fun space to read, discuss, and enjoy one of the wackiest plays ever written in English. It’s got dragons! It’s got magic battles! It’s got mixed-up English mythology! It’s got a self-insert Clown! The…[Read more]

]]> e4651e164ebaad8abb4523ac1f2ec86f Nora J Williams started the topic Act Three in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-three/ Mon, 04 May 2020 08:16:52 -0400 Enter the Devil in mans habit, richly attir’d, his feet and his head horrid

Welcome, friends, to Act Three!

The meeting of the Clown and Merlin is one of my favourite scenes in the whole play — It’s so funny! ‘Why, of what profession is your father, sir?’ ‘ He keeps a hot-house in the Low Countries’ 😆

Also super interested (a couple scenes b…[Read more]

]]> 0 8b3df326ab6ac7ee1a2e74dd63bdfb68 Duncan Lees replied to the topic Act Two in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-two/#post-30872 Fri, 01 May 2020 15:18:56 -0400 I haven’t quite finished all of Act 2, but, David, thanks for that note about the Roy Hudd connection. That’s the edition of The Birth of Merlin that the library at Warwick has, and until I saw your comment I was a bit confused by the reference in the catalogue to it containing a chapter by Roy Hudd… I was thinking “surely not that Roy Hudd?!”,…[Read more]

]]> 0 b793516555f23af41c0d1b56c18de1df Eleanor Rycroft replied to the topic Act Two in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-two/#post-30836 Thu, 30 Apr 2020 09:28:31 -0400 I’m fascinated with the shape of Act 2: how we move from the liminal, perilous and (as Pete says) identity-morphing space of the woods, ever closer to the court and ultimately the king’s bed-chamber – the place where legitimate heirs are begotten and patriarchy perpetuated. But something about that woodsy disorder continues to permeate all of th…[Read more]

]]> 0 389a488e758b6c7c5b1215f864fa0ea6 Sally Barnden replied to the topic Act Two in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-two/#post-30833 Thu, 30 Apr 2020 08:33:02 -0400 Yes to all of this! I wonder what role Uter’s costume plays as well–from Joan’s description, we’ve been told to expect a man with ‘most rich attire,’ a feather in his hat (and ‘excellent hangers,’ ha ha etc) – does Uter walk on stage matching the description? And he gives forty or so lines of Petrarchan-ish yearning before suddenly becoming…[Read more]

]]> 0 08efd776c35476bbb168c51629829749 Nora J Williams replied to the topic Act Two in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-two/#post-30823 Wed, 29 Apr 2020 15:48:59 -0400 One of the things I find so interesting about 2.1 is the knife-edge space between comedy and violence — that’s present in so much clowning, of course, but I think that Joan’s predicament perhaps brings it into relief for me in a slightly different way. Really interesting to think about in relation to Dave’s reminder that the Clown and Joan are a…[Read more]

]]> 0 dc62fb1bd63c3749430fdad4cbbd976a David Nicol replied to the topic Act Two in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-two/#post-30804 Wed, 29 Apr 2020 01:42:05 -0400 So much stuff to talk about! Great comedy, weird poetry and a battle of magic! Some random observations:

  • This comedy is very funny. If you rummage the shelves of your local academic library (not easy right now, I know) you might find a very obscure edition of this play, created to accompany a revival at Theatr Clywd in the 80s and featuring an…

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]]> 0 c5bc01d4aef4f17c6b61e9a17b020ae3 Sally Barnden replied to the topic Act Two in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-two/#post-30754 Mon, 27 Apr 2020 17:56:43 -0400 I’m just catching up with everyone’s comments on Act One – Act Two certainly accelerates the plot, with an abrupt pivot into magical rather than romantic/political territory.

Joan Go-too’t is reminding me of the Jailer’s Daughter from Two Noble Kinsmen – perhaps primarily just because she is apparently a working class woman cruelly rejected by a…[Read more]

]]> 0 ea596266a687788af2934a821c678ab0 Pete Kirwan replied to the topic Act Two in the discussion The Birth of Merlin Reading Group https://hcommons.org/groups/the-birth-of-merlin-reading-group/forum/topic/act-two/#post-30716 Mon, 27 Apr 2020 13:35:04 -0400 Couple of initial thoughts:

One of the interesting recurring features when working on the ‘Shakespeare Apocrypha’ was the recurrent forests – see also Mucedorus and Locrine – and what happens within those forests. In 2.1, aside from the misogyny (wow) that Nora has noted, I was struck by the coincidence of the location and the focus on naming. I…[Read more]

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