Raunchiness in Renaissance England

If you think “Gossip Girl” is raunchy, you haven’t brushed up on your English dramaturgy. The Renaissance aristocracy had their fair share of dirty laundry, and in the rendition of John Ford’s “’Tis Pity She’s A Whore” on show in the Loeb Experimental Theatre from May 1-9, things are going to get even dirtier.

Complete with contemporary costume design, a modern club scene setting, and a dirt pit constructed on stage, “’Tis Pity” is a complete reinterpretation of the Jacobean tragedy. According to Director Olivia A. Benowitz ’09, these changes were implemented so that the show will better resonate with a college crowd, even as it retains the scandalous elements that has made this particular play one of the most controversial works in English literature.

“I wanted to keep people engaged, because I know that the language can be tough to get around,” Benowitz says. “So, the hip-hop music, the modern dress, and the dirt are a way to keep the play grounded in a context that the audience can understand, so that they really see what things are relevant.”The plot, which revolves around the forbidden love affair between Giovanni (Tony J. Sterle ’11) and his sister Annabella (Julianne I. Ross ’11), involves a rather convoluted storyline. However, the upbeat tempo of this production is accessible for college-age audiences.

“[We] wanted it to be a sexy, really entertaining piece of theater, as well as a critique,” says Caroline R. Giuliani ’11, who plays Vasques and Donado. “It’s really hard to deliver a message to people who aren’t interested in what they are watching.”

The production has incorporated a number of unique stylistic elements and techniques in addition to the modern costumes and setting. Dancers interspersed amidst the cast members are constantly on stage; their presence attempts to mimic the voyeurism of society. In addition, each actor is cast in two different roles, a decision that Ross admits has been a difficult hurdle to overcome.“I think the challenge for us as actors is to make each of our characters separate people and to give each of them distinct personalities and motivations, as opposed to just playing different characters in different costumes,” Ross says.

It is not only the actors who have found themselves taking on multiple personalities and duties, however. About a month into production, a minor casting fiasco forced Benowitz to assume the roles of Hippolita and Putana on top of her directorial responsibilities.

“It’s been very stressful. But it’s also been really great, because I think I’ve been able to bond with my cast in a way that I wouldn’t have done otherwise,” she says. Despite taking creative liberties with the tragedy, Benowitz believes that her particular interpretation of “’Tis Pity” remains true to the spirit of Ford’s original work. The play does not shy away from hard-hitting topics such as incestuous love affairs, adultery, and domestic violence. Yet it also seeks to portray these subjects realistically.

“I read the incest as a metaphor for the things that are taboo in our own society, such as gay marriage and homosexuality in general,” Benowitz says. “Any kind of alternative lifestyle that people don’t understand, people demonize to such a degree when there are so many worse things going on in the world. [The play] bashes you over the head with its moral, but its process of doing so gives you a lot of options to interpret what you are seeing,” Benowitz adds. “You find yourself rooting for the incestuous couple in the end. That [might] make you feel a little uncomfortable, but I think it will make you come out with the sense that morality or goodness has to be judged on a case-to-case basis.”

—Staff writer Eunice Y. Kim can be reached at kim30@fas.harvad.edu.