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In
Spring semester 1997 I had the unique experience of not only
teaching Mary Pix's The Beau Defeated,
but of directing it as well. And to make it more challenging, I did
this at the English Department of Fu Jen Catholic University in
Taiwan.
The decision to
produce a Pix play came easily. Of course, I would chose a
Restoration play, and for a department with approximately 85% women
students I wanted to provide a good role model. And unlike her
peers, Pix wrote plays with a number of juicy roles for women.
Costuming presented
the biggest problem since 18th century British styles are hard to
find. It took a year of planning, sewing, shopping in America, and
resorting to Taiwanese wedding gowns, but we managed to dress 21
actors in semi-realistic costumes on less than $US800. Our Theatre
Archive has a number of
pictures.
I taught the play in
two courses: an undergraduate 18th century British literature and
culture class and a graduate level seminar on Restoration
literature. Results were truly amazing. Students liked the novelty
of being able to see "their play." I found that I was
able to tie the play in very nicely with some of the themes we had
been exploring: changing roles of women, changing class roles, and
the rise in sentimentalism, to name a few. One amazing development:
my undergraduates preferred Pix's play to Congreve's
The Way of the World, just
as contemporary audiences had. They found the characters more
accessible and human and thought the action-though not the
language-- was better (we had seen a filmed version of
Way of the World.)
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