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2. David Cardy/LOLLIO and Terrence Hardiman/ALIBIUS
You’ve just been rehearsing your first scene in the play (See p.34 of this pack), what’s happening at the
beginning of the scene?
David Well, this is obviously setting up the madhouse…
Terrence I’m Alibius who runs the place, he calls it a hospital .. He professes he’s
going to cure the fools and madman, he’s going to make money out of them too.
David Lollio is his right hand man, in fact he’s the only other man who seems to be working with
him, and my speciality is dealing with fools.
Terrence And mine is to deal with the madmen. You have to remember that at that time people
went to the madhouse to be entertained, to watch the fools and madmen performing … it
was pretty cruel.
David And then my boss has a young wife and …
Terrence I’m pretty concerned I’m going to lose her, and I confide in Lollio that I am older than she
is and I’m frightened to death that she’s going to get taken away by some young fellow.
And Lollio says ‘who have you got to be afraid of?’
David Of course the number one person he’s got to be afraid of is Lollio.
Terrence But I don’t know that, I would never suspect that of him.
David No because he thinks I’m a very diligent servant.. so it sets up the storyline that he’s got a
young wife, that he keeps her trapped, and he asks me to keep her when he’s not about.
Terrence To watch where she goes and keep an eye on her.
David Which is perfect for me because it gives me more opportunity to err…
Terrence Exactly. You see I’m not afraid that the madmen will get at her at all, it’s all these young
men who’ll be after her. But I don’t imagine that these young men will dress up and
pretend to be fools and madmen in order to…
David Get at her. So he wants me to help keep her for himself.
Why does Lollio speak mostly in prose?
David Yes, us low life characters don’t get afforded the quality of poetry.
Terrence Whilst those who are middle class and up get the fiery stuff. It’s often a kind of status
thing.
David And also shows when there is actual high emotion, the verse is always there. Whereas
when there’s comedy and knock about, mistaken identities and the fun, it tends to be
prose.
This scene comes after the set-up of the main plot, how does the asylum plot balance out the other?
David Really? We haven’t read that! We don’t know yet because he haven’t seen it yet .. no it’s
mayhem really. At the beginning you hear whip cracks and shouts and screams, so it’s a
very disordered place in the madhouse, and yet through the story of Isabella she creates
order, she shows the men who try to woo her the true way of life … and the main plot goes
from a very ordered beginning into mayhem and chaos.
Terrence In a strange way our side of the story, the sub-plot, it’s a kind of comment on the main
one, similar themes are there.
David Yes, at the beginning you have two very pure women, and the choices they make in their
lives, how they are going to respond to the men who want to bed them is the main crux.
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