3 Henry 6: Act 5, Scenes 1-3

318.

opening night for Vinegar Tom last night was wild! i was so freaking proud of all those performers and stage managers. the audience reaction was stellar. some were balling their eyes out and some were completely offended and some were dazed and confused and some were excited and it was a-may-zing. and then a cop pulled us over after and asked Julia, who was driving, in a slow and condescending voice: 'ma'am, your tail light is out. do you know what a tail light is?' and other ridiculousness. so perfect after a night of semi-feminist theater. HA. love this show. love these people. in fact, i am in the green room now with them, soaking up the gloriousness! love LoVe LOVE it. love this process from start to finish.


on to Shakespeare! this play just got real crazy!!! here goes:

act 5, scene 1

   (Warwick and others on the walls at Coventry.)

Warwick: where is my back-up?

Messengers: they are all on their way.

   (King Edward, Gloucester, and soldiers enter.)

Edward: won’t you open the city gates for us?

Warwick: will you withdraw your troops and be Duke of York?

Edward: but your king is my prisoner. answer this: what is a body without a head?

Gloucester: come on, Warwick, kneel before Edward.

Warwick: i would rather chop of my own hand than kneel to him.

Edward: i will get you. (see quote below.)

   (Oxford, Montague, and Somerset enter, with armies, separately and enter the city.)

Gloucester: the gates are open. let’s go in.

Edward: so more of them can come and surround us? no way.

   (Clarence enters. Clarence and Gloucester  whisper together. Clarence takes the red rose out of his hat and throws it at Warwick.)

Clarence: i will not ruin my father’s legacy and work against my brother, who is lawfully king. please forgive me Edward and Richard. it won’t happen again.)

Edward: welcome back! we  love you ten times more now that we know what it is to hate you.

Warwick: you’re a traitor! Edward, i will meet you at the battlefield.

act 5, scene 2

   (Edward enters with Warwick, who is wounded.)

Edward: lie there and die, Warwick, and with you dies our fear. now on to Montague. (he exits.)

Warwick: ‘i must yield my body to the earth.’ there is nothing i can do but die.

   (Oxford and Somerset enter.)

Somerset: Margaret has brought soldiers from France!

Warwick: Montague, come quickly!

Somerset: Montague is dead, Warwick, but his last words were about you.

Warwick: run away. save yourselves! i will see you in heaven. (he dies.)

Oxford: let’s go meet with Margaret!

act 5, scene 3

   (Edward, Gloucester, Clarence, etc.)

Edward: we are doing well so far, but i suspect things may still turn against us. Margaret is near here with French soldiers.

Clarence: we can take her.

Gloucester: her army will be as strong as ours.

Edward: i know where she is. let’s go get her!

here's the best thing about today's reading: Clarence is ridiculous. i LOVE when he says all this stuff about not being able to work against his father's wishes and how he can't hurt his brothers. blah blah blah. except that he DID. hello! and then Clarence and Richard are just like- sure, welcome back! how can anyone trust anyone else? i feel like that's such a huge thing in this play. war screws up families. that's the moral.

quote of the day:
'sail how thou can'st, have wind and tide thy friend,
this hand, fast wound about thy coal black hair,
shall, whiles thy head is warm and new cut off,
write in the dust this sentence with thy blood:
"wind-changing Warwick now can change no more."'
     -Edward; act 5, scene 1

for tomorrow: the rest of act 5?

-rebecca may