Cymbeline - Episode 2 - Screwed To My Memory

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Hi there folks and thank you for listening to Play On Podcast. Epic Audio Adventures Reimagining Timeless Tales. Once again, I am executive producer Michael Goodfriend, and last time I mentioned some of the more critical perspectives of the play we're currently producing, Cymbeline. Not to pile on, but legendary literary critic Harold Bloom once called it partly a Shakespearean self-parody. Many of his prior plays and characters are mocked by it.

Bloom might be on to something here. Part of the reason Cymbeline is so self-reflectively Shakespearean is that it was one of the last plays the Bard ever wrote, close to the end of his life. There are recurring themes in Shakespeare's late romances, and you'll hear them in this series. an older man as the central figure, young lovers who are important to the plot, but not necessarily the main focus, complex set pieces, wide ranging locations, a balance of court and country life.

pre Christian imagery and themes of magic and redemption. In nineteen twenty-two, the critic Lytton Straitchy wrote that this period of Shakespeare's work showed that he was quote. getting bored, bored with people, bored with real life, bored with drama, bored in fact, with everything except poetry and poetical dreams. But 100 years later, we could argue that towards the end of his life, Shakespeare was in fact pushing boundaries more than any other time in his career.

Listen to some of the other late romances we've already adapted to huge success, such as Pericles, The Winter's Tale, and The Tempest. They are almost cinematic in their scope and wildly daring in their structure. It wasn't until the second half of the twentieth century that magical realism became popularized as a literary term, but as you're going to discover when you continue hearing this series, Shakespeare was dabbling in the genre long before it had a name.

And once again, he's ahead of his time and how he forces us to wrestle with thorny problems. Listen to how Yakimo manipulates Imogen in their first scene together. But are we wrong to be frustrated with Imogen as well? There's such a thing as being too trusting. And later, when we're put in the excruciating position of witnessing the moment-to-moment sequence of violations Yakimo commits as he sneaks into Imogen's bedroom and hovers over her sleeping body.

It's almost like Shakespeare is challenging us to intervene. Nobody is off the hook in these profoundly vexing situations. For better or worse, scenes like the ones you're about to hear will forever be screwed to my memory. Next chapter podcast presents the Play On Podcast series, Simbling. Episode 2. Screw. For the best listening experience, be sure to use headphones or earbuds.

Falsehood is worse in killing. The goodness of my Exceeds the depth of your vulgarity. I dare you to this match. Here's my ring. I will not allow this. By the gods, the game is odd. If I bring you insufficient proof that I have possessed the most Precious bodily part of your mistress. My ten thousand ducats are yours, and you keep your diamond too. Yes?

So, if I return having left her with the honor that you so trust in, then she, your jewel, this your jewel, and my gold are yours, as long as you've provided me your introduction to the court to ensure I'll be received. I embrace these conditions. Add them to the agreement. Post ma'am. Only you must agree to this. If you set off to conquer her, and you prove to me that you have prevailed.

I will no longer be your enemy. She's not worth our debate. If she remains unseduced, then for your foul opinion and for the assault you have made on her chastity, you will answer me with me. Give me your hand. We are bound. We'll have these things set down by lawful council, and I'll leave straight away for Britain before this bargain catches colour. Starts. Agreed. Ah will they stick to it, you think? Back away. Come please, let's follow them.

Now, Master Doctor, have you brought those drugs? As your Highness requested, yes, here, madam. But might I inquire, your grace? Without offense, my conscience urges me to ask. Why you have ordered me to make these poisonous compounds, which usher one towards a long drawn out death, but even though slow, deadly? Doctor! I'm shocked you ask me such a question. Ugh.

Haven't I been your faithful pupil? Have you not taught me how to make perfumes, distill, preserve, so well that our great king himself begs me to give him more of my blends? Having progressed so far, unless you think me evil, isn't it appropriate that I expand my knowledge in other experiments?

I'll test the strength of these compounds of yours on creatures that are not even worth hanging. But no human To assess the power they have, then administer aids to reduce their effects, and this way learn each one's virtues and qualities. Your Highness will harden your own heart if you do this. Besides, to witness these effects will be both disagreeable and foul. Oh, do not worry. Um Here comes a falling scoundrel. He's the one I'll work on first.

He's pulling for his master and enemy to my son. Your Highness. How are you, Pisanio? Well, madam. Doctor, your service for this time is ended. Feel free to go. Hisanio, a word. I do not like her. She thinks she has strange lingering poisons, but I see her intent and will not trust one of her malice with so diabolical a drug. The one she has will stupefy and dull senses awhile, which first perhaps she'll try on cats and dogs, then afterwards aim higher.

But there is no danger in its masquerade of death, just a paralysis of life force for a while, only to wake more fresh. She will be fooled with false effects, and I will be more honest, acting false with her. No further service, Doctor, until I send for you. I humbly take my leave Doctor Sonio She's weeping still. But do you think in time she will run dry and accept wiser advice where she's now ruled by folly? Go do your work.

And when you tell me that she loves my son, I'll be the first to tell you then that you're as great as your own master. Greater! For his fortunes have no voice. And his name? Posthumus is gasping for a breath. He can't return nor stay on where he is. And what can you expect when he you lean on has no friends to help keep him from falling? Oh, uh. Oh, madam, you dropped this. You don't know what you pick up, but...

Take it for your labor. It is a thing I made, which five times now has rescued the king from death. I do not know a thing more curative. No, no, no, take it, please. Madam, a small sampling of more rewards that I intend to give you. Tell your mistress how her situation stands. Do it in your words. Think what you'd gain to change your loyalties. I'll sway the king to give you any promotion you might desire. Think on my words.

A sly and loyal knave, he won't be moo what I gave him, if he then drinks it, we'll eliminate the last ambassador for her love, and then, unless her spirits lift, she'll surely choose to taste it too. Fare you well, Pisario. Think on my words. And that I will do. But when to my good lord I prove untrue, I'll hang myself. That's all I'll do for you.

A father cruel, a stepmother false, a foolish suitor to a wedded lady, whose husband has been banished. Oh that husband Supreme crown of my grief and the aggravation of it endless. Oh, if thieves had stolen me like my brothers, I'd be happy. But misery awaits all grand desires. Tie up my horse. How can it be? Where can I find the princess? I will take you to the Immediately, sir. Madam, a noble gentleman of Rome, Gacimo by name, with good repute, comes from my lord with letters. Rome.

Wow. Madam, change your look. The worthy Leonidas is now safe. And sends his dearest affection. Oh Oh! Oh, thanks, good sir! Oh you are kindly welcome. How lustrous all of her that sees the sun If inside she's decorated with as rich a mind she is the one true Phoenix And I've lost the wager. Boldness be my friend. Yakimo is one of the noblest reputation, to whose kindnesses I am most deeply bound. Treat him accordingly as you value your truest Leonidas, whose love for you, dear Imogen Oh

Oh, that's all I'll read aloud. Oh. Oh, even the very middle of my heart is warmed by the rest and drinks it gratefully. You are as welcome, worthy, sir, as I have words to welcome you, and this will show in all that I can do. Thanks, Ferris Lady. What? Are men mad? Has nature given us eyes to see the starry heavens that can distinguish the fiery stars above? Yet can we not, with our own precious spectacles, discern between what's fair and foul? Uh uh w uh w what awes you so?

Oh, the indulgent will. A glutted yet unsatisfied desire, gorging first on lamb, yarns next to feed on garbage. Oh Uh what, dear sir, possesses you? Are you well? Thanks, madam. Well Uh uh excuse me, sir. Please ask my man to wait just where I left him. He's foreign and temperamental. Daniel, I was going, sir, to welcome him. Sira, no more music, please. Thank you. Did you find my lord well? How is his health? Well, madam. Are his spirits high?

I hope he finds some joy. Extremely high. He's amiable with all. So cheerful and fond of games. He's called the British Reveller. Well when he was here he tended more towards sadness and often not knowing why. I never saw him sad. There is a Frenchman Who loves a girl at home? His size belch from him like a hot furnace.

Well the jolly Brit. Your lord, I mean, laughs loud and free cries off a side split just to think that men who know what woman is, and what she can't help to be, will waste their free days waiting for their own most certain bondage. Ah uh that's what my lord says I'm at him with his eyes flooding with laughter. It entertains us all to be near him and hear him mock the Frenchman, but

Heaven knows, some men commit worse offenses. W not he, I hope. Hm not he although The gifts the gods endowed him with could be less squandered for his bounties lush and now adding you who belong to him. It's priceless. Well it inspires awe in me. It inspires some pity too. What do you pity, sir? Two creatures with all my heart. Am I one, sir? You look at me. Do you see some broken thing that deserves your opinion?

How deplorable to hide from the sun's radiance and find comfort with a spent candle in the dark. I beg you, sir. Respond with more directness to the questions I ask of you. Why do you pity me? That others do. I was about to say, enjoy your Yes. It is the business of the gods to avenge it, not mine to speak of it. Oh but you seem to know something of me, or what concerns me. Please.

Please, since worrying that things go badly can hurt more than knowing that they do. Reveal to me that which you spur then hold back. Had I this cheek to bathe my lips upon? This hand his touch? Every touch would force the feeler's soul to an oath of loyalty. This object, which imprisions the wild motion of my eye, fixating it just here. Should I, damn me, slobber on lips as trafficked as the stairs of Jupiter's temple? Fondle and grab hands made hard with hourly tricks?

Tricks of working girls with looks as base and smoky as the light of stinking tallow candles? No! It would be right for all the plagues of hell to rise together and confront this obscene sight. My lord, I fear Has forgot Britain. And himself. It's not I, nor my need to inform you that declares his most despicable change, but it's your grace. That from my own mute conscience to my tongue charms out this foul report. I'll hear no more.

Oh dearest soul, your cause pierces my heart with pity enough to make me sick. A lady so radiant placed side by side with harlots, paid for from your own generous coffers. Such infected stuff it could well poison, poison. Be revenged. Or she that bore you was no queen and you prove worthless of your ancestry. Revenge? How should I be- If this is true, and my heart reminds me that both my ears must not in haste condemn him, if it's true. How should I be revenged?

If he made me lie like Diana's virgins between cold sheets, while he straddles a noose trumpet, Every night. Despite your love drawing from your purse, avenge it.

I dedicate myself to your sweet pleasure. More noble than that deserter of your bed. And we'll stay loyal to your affections. Both discreet and true. Come now, Pisanio! Let me offer my service on your lips. And damn my ears for listening to you for far too long. If you were honorable, you would have told this tale to do what's right, not for the end you seek, so base, so foul.

You wrong a gentleman who is as far from your description as you are from honor, and solicit here a lady that disdains you and the devil too. Come now, Pisanio! The king, my father, shall be well informed of your assault, my lady. No! Pisanio! My ladies! I was being problems! Oh, happy Leonidas! I must say the credit that you give your worthy lady deserves your trust. Bless you and live long. Oh, give me your pardon!

I spoke like this to see if your sacred pledge was deeply rooted. But now I'll restore your lord to his true self again. That is the one who's pure and faithful. You make amends? Oh he sits among men like A descended god! His honor seems beyond mortal. Please don't be angry, most mighty princess, that I have dared to test what your response might be to this false tale. Which has only confirmed your excellent judgment in choosing such a peerless gentleman, whom you know cannot sin.

The love I bear him spurred me to challenge you. But unlike others, the gods made you steadfast. I beg your pardon. All's well, sir. Madam, she I offer you all I have at court. My humble thanks. Uh, I had almost forgot uh to entreat your grace for a favor. It's quite small, yet to your lord important. Please, what is it? Some dozen of us Romans and your lord, the b best feather of our wing, have pooled our funds to buy a present for the emperor. Jewel.

Of exquisite form, whose value's great, and I am anxious being a stranger here to have them safely stored. Might it please you to take them in your protection? Willingly, upon my honour for their safety, since my lords invested in them, I will keep them in my bedchamber. Ha! Ah, they are in a trunk which my servants are now watching. I'll be so bold to send them to you. Oh only for tonight. I I must sail back tomorrow. Oh?

Oh no No I fear so or I'll fall short of my word by lengthening my stay. Ah Send your trunk to me. It shall be kept safe and faithfully given back. You're very welcome.

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Has there ever been a man with luck like mine? Bold my ball, just kiss the jack. And then was hit away. I had bet a hundred pounds on that key. And then that damn monkey, son of a whore, had to scold me for swearing? And what did he get for it? Your mighty bull cracked his head open. If his brains were like the one who's cracked it, they'd have run out fast. Hey, when a gentleman is inclined to swear, no standerby has a right to cut off his curses.

Right? Right. No, my lord. Nor to crop in ass his ears. You know no freedom. I apologize to him. Oh, I wish he shared my rank. To have smelled like a fool. It peeves me more than anything. I puffed on it. I'd rather be less noble than I am. You know, they don't dare fight with me because of the queen, my mother. Every vulgar lug gets his belly full of fighting, yet I, being superior, can only strut up and down like a cop.

Your cock and ball is capin' too, crowing cock with your fool's cap on. What did you say? It is not fitting for your lordship to take on every character that you give offense to. I know that. But it is fitting. for me to inflict offence upon inferiors Ay, only befitting your lordship Did you hear about the foreigner that's come to court tonight? What did we do? A stranger? And I know nothing of it? He's a strange fish himself and doesn't know it.

It's an Italian who has come, a friend of posthumous Leonatus, they say. Posthumous? A banished scoundrel, and he's one too, whoever he is. Uh is it fitting for me to take a look at him? It it won't diminish my dignity. It cannot be diminished, my lord. Hmm not easily I think. I'll go see this Italian What I have lost today at Pauling. Oh win from him tonight. Come on. Go. All right then. Let's go. I will follow your lordship.

That such a crafty devil as his mother should give the world this ass! A woman with a brain that pierces all, and this, her son, can't subtract two from twenty tries he might and end up with eighteen! Oh poor princess, you divine image in what you've endured? May the gods hold firm your precious honor's walls and keep upright that temple, your fair mind, so you might stand to enjoy your banished lord and this great land.

Oh who's there? Oh my woman Helen. To serve you, madam. What time is it? Almost midnight, madam. Oh I have read three hours then. My eyes are weak. Fold down the page where I have stopped. To bed. Do not remove the candle. Leave it burning. And if you manage to rise by four o'clock, please call to me. Mm-hmm. Sleep's seized my body and soul.

I entrust myself and my dear husband's goods held safe in that trunk to your protection, gods. From fairies and the tempters of the night, guard me. I pray you. Imposthumous husband. Good night. The crickets sing, and man's overworked mind repairs itself by rest. In the tale Tarquin stepped softly too, so as not to wake Lucrece, whose maidenhood he wounded. Oh, Venus. How perfectly you suit your bed. Fresh lily, unblemished as the sheets, how I long to touch a kiss. One kiss.

Oh rubies beyond compare, how exquisite their caress. It is her breathing that so perfumes the chamber. The candle's flame bows towards her and would peek under her lids to see its shaded lights. But to my plan. To observe the chamber. I'll write all of it down. Such and such pictures near the window. Those are bed's adornments, drapery, carved mantle. My such and such and the contents of the room.

Ah but some natural details of her body would bear witness and enrich my account. More than ten thousand petty furnishings. Oh sleep, mimic death, lie heavy upon her and numb her senses like a figure of stone lying quietly in a chapel. Off bracelet Uh. as slippery as the Gordian knot, was tangled. It's mine to testify for outside eyes as strongly as his doubting heart within, driving her lord in by her left breast. with five spots, like the crimson drops in the base of a cow slip blossom.

Here's evidence stronger than any argument. This secret will make posthumous think I've picked the lock and taken the treasure of her honor. No more. What for? Why should I write this down that's riveted, screwed to my memory? She was just reading the tale of Tereus. Here the pages folded Where Philemo succumbed I have enough. Back to the trunk again and shut it tight. Swift, swift you dragons of the night, that dawn's new light may wake the raven.

I hide and fear, though she's a heavenly angel, hell is here. Time's up. Times.

The play on podcast series Cymbeline was written by William Shakespeare and translated into modern English verse by Andrea Tome. All episodes are directed by Rakesh Palassetti and based on the National Asian American Theater Company's. Stage production directed by Stephen Brown Freed. Radio play by Catherine Eaton.

Executive Producer Michael Goodfriend. This podcast was recorded under a SAG After Agreement. The cast is as follows: Porva Beatty as Cecilius, Lord, and Caius Lucius. Annie Fang as Arvara. August, Frenchman, Lady, and the Writer. Christine Toy Johnson as Cymbeline. Anna Ishida as Giacomo, Roman soldier, and jailer. Norea Kang as Cornelius, mother, soothsayer, lord,

And Messenger, Jennifer Lim as Imogen, K.K. Magi as Posthumus, Maria Christina Aloveras as the Queen and Valerius, Sarah Suzuki as Fulario, Gadarius, and Kamino. Companion, Gina Yi as Clawton and Roman Soldier, Giuliana Celestio as Pisanio and Jupiter. Casting by the Telsi Office, Karen Castle, CSA. Voice and text coach, Julie Foe.

Mix and sound design by Lindsay Jones. Original music composition by Caroline Ng and Lindsay Jones. With additional composition, orchestration, and arrangement by Stephen Brownfried. Sound engineering and mixing by Sadaharo Yaki. Mix Engineer and Dialogue Editor Larry Walsh. Podcast Mastering by Greg Cortez at New Monkey Studio. Coordinating producer, Transcend Streaming, Kira Bowie and Liana Keys. The play on podcast series Cymbaline is produced.

Produced by Next Chapter Podcasts and is made possible by the generous support of the Hits Foundation. Visit next chapter podcast.com for more about the Play On Podcast series. For more about the Play Visit playonshakespeare.org for more about Play on Shakespeare. Subscribe to Play on Premium for ad-free episodes and join our Patreon for exclusive merchandise and early commercial free readings.

Go to nextchapterpodcast.com for our bonus content, where you'll find interviews with the artists, producers, and engineers who brought it all to life. And remember, falsehood is worse in kings than beggars. play on premium to get merch like t-shirts, hoodies, and coffee mugs.

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