All the World’s a Stage
A Mad World, My Masters on BUniverse
Click here to watch Willing Suspension Productions on BUniverse.
Willing Suspension Productions — the theater company comprising graduate students and some undergraduates in the Arts and Sciences English department and dedicated to staging rarely produced Renaissance plays — presents A Mad World, My Masters, by Thomas Middleton, first staged about 1605.
The play, a comedic tale of theft and deception, satirizes urban life in 17th-century London. Young gallant Dick Follywit tries to get his inheritance before his grandfather, Sir Bounteous Progress, dies. Follywit and cronies Mawworm and Hoboy masquerade as Lord Owemuch and his servants, as bandits, as a courtesan and her pimps, and as actors to steal from Sir Bounteous. The gullible Sir Bounteous falls for their schemes. Meanwhile, the Courtesan and Penitent Brothel are plotting for Penitent to seduce Mistress Harebrain, in the process conning money from Sir Bounteous, the jealous Master Harebrain, and others. Follywit’s schemes are becoming too complicated and unmanageable, and he falls victim to, and in love with, the Courtesan and makes her an honest woman. The play ends with all tricks repaid and all satisfied.
March 6, 2008, 5 p.m.
Agganis Black Box Theatre
About the company:
Willing Suspension Productions is a theater company specializing in rare English Renaissance drama and comprising graduate students and some undergraduates in the Arts and Sciences English department. It was founded in 1993 at Boston University. Past performances include The Alchemist by Ben Jonson, The Borderers by William Wordsworth, and Edward II by Christopher Marlowe. A Mad World, My Masters was directed by Liam Meyer (GRS’09), Kristin Smith (GRS’08), and Matthew Stokes (GRS’07) and produced by Jennifer Airey (GRS’08).
The players:
Dick Follywit…………………………Jarman Day-Bohn (COM’08)
Sir Bounteous Progress……………….Dan Salerno (GRS’09)
Rank Gullman, a Courtesan………….Emily Gruber (GRS’08)
Master Harebrain………………………Lucas Griswold (CAS’11)
Mistress Harebrain………………………Emily Brownell (CAS’11)
Master Penitent Brothel………………..Owen Schmitt (CAS’10)
Leftenant Mawworm…………………….Don Meeg (COM’08)
Ancient Hoboy………………………….Benjamin DeTora (CAS’10)
Gunwater/The Constable………………Paul Hansen (CAS’09)
Mother Gullman…………………………Rebecca Madden (CAS’10)
Master Possibility/Prudence…………..Fabiana Cabral (CAS’10)
Master Inesse………………………………Ambar Castillo (CAS’10)
Molly/The Watch……………………………Samantha Burton (CAS’10)
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