Oft Have I Heard of You
-Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost
We heard a bit from Love’s Labour’s Lost in January when Ryan Puffer performed a monologue as Don Adriano de Armado. The play follows the King of Navarre and his three companions as they attempt to swear off the company of women for three years….That didn’t last long. The princess of France comes along with her ladies, one of them being Roasline, and the men make fools of themselves in short time.
This week, Twin Cities actor, Samantha Papke is bringing Rosaline to life. She “has a little speech towards the end of 5.2, which happens to be the longest scene in [Shakespeare’s] canon, where she gives Berowne the what's-what about the shallow advances he's made toward her that have consisted mostly of his biting wit. It's a great speech about the nature of humor and how empty it can be if a comic uses his wit solely for his own purposes and not for those of his audience.”
When we asked Papke to tell us what she’s know for, she humbly said “basically nothing” and then listed plenty. “My husband,” she said, “and I by proxy, run a theater company in the Twin Cities, Classical Actors Ensemble, where we focus on early modern playwrights--most notably Shakespeare and his contemporaries like Thomas Middleton, John Webster, Ben Jonson, and Christopher Marlowe. I've been performing with the company for about 7 years now, and before that I was doing a lot of improv…and other theater around town. However, Shakespeare has been an interest of mine since college, so when I found CAE, it was love at first sight in terms of both the work and my husband. How cheesy, I know.”
We love a cheesy theatre-love story!
Samantha Papke as Rosaline in Love’s Labour’s Lost:
THE MONOLOGUE: LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST, ACT V SCENE 2, ROSALINE BY SAMANTHA PAPKE
“Oft have I heard of you, my Lord Biron,
Before I saw you; and the world's large tongue
Proclaims you for a man replete with mocks,
Full of comparisons and wounding flouts,
Which you on all estates will execute
That lie within the mercy of your wit.
To weed this wormwood from your fruitful brain,
And therewithal to win me, if you please,
Without the which I am not to be won,
You shall this twelvemonth term from day to day
Visit the speechless sick and still converse
With groaning wretches; and your task shall be,
With all the fierce endeavor of your wit
To enforce the pained impotent to smile.
A jest's prosperity lies in the ear
Of him that hears it, never in the tongue
Of him that makes it: then, if sickly ears,
Deaf'd with the clamours of their own dear groans,
Will hear your idle scorns, continue then,
And I will have you and that fault withal;
But if they will not, throw away that spirit,
And I shall find you empty of that fault,
Right joyful of your reformation.”
MORE ABOUT THE MONOLOGUE PROJECT
Our goal of Shakespeare from the Ground’s Monologue Project is to collect a library of Shakespearean monologues to share with our community for virtual entertainment while we are still socially distanced. You don’t need to be a professional actor to participate. If you’re inspired and ready to record, great! If you need help selecting your Shakespeare Monologue or getting it recorded, reach out and we’ll help you get the ball rolling. Are you ready to take to the boards once again…virtually?
