* 家族 Kazoku, meaning Family in Japanese. Sin(x) A trigonometric function in which the curve of y=sin(x) infinitely goes up and down resembling a wave.
Character List.
Akira 昭, 明, 亮, From Japanese 昭 “bright”, 明 “bright” or 亮 “clear”
Honoka 花From Japanese 和 (hono) “harmony” and 花 (ka) “flower”
Osamu 修Means “discipline, study” in Japanese
Tau
Act
Here lies the disputations between Families. Traditions and self-fulfilment. The pursuit of one’s own dreams against the dreams of others. The Sciences and The Arts.
[Enter Tau and Act]
Act:
Here comes the emperor of the household
Imposing strict discipline, truth be told.
A follower of stable tradition.
Of money and wealth, his core ambition.
Tau:
Why do you speak in such a manner?
It is imperative to keep your speech concise
And to always get to the point.
What use is rhyme and specific meter
If I cannot understand your speech?
Act:
You are one to talk about such things
When all that your Science and equations brings
Are constant headaches to those around you.
Tau:
If one cannot understand the beauty in numbers
Then how will you ever understand how colour arises
As molecules absorb ranges of visible light
Reflecting its complimentary colour
Act:
While your knowledge is quite impressive
Your way of thinking is slightly oppressive
How are you able to describe the arisen colour
Without the help of some literature?
Tau:
The sky is blue, is it not?
Act:
Yet it is through language and the arts
That you are able to identify
And use the specific word blue.
Ah- here he comes.
[Enter Osamu]
Osamu:
I trust you will be following in my footsteps.
Akira:
Yes, Father.
Osamu:
Do not disappoint me.
[Osamu exits]
Akira:
What will mother and father think of me, When my hands pour fragmented poetry?
Deprived arches resembling crescent moons Are creations under these tired eyes. So much of this ice-cream and chocolate,
It’s time pleasure relieves me from this state. Stimulate this endorphin production. More serotonin; no more destruction. What am I to prioritise, oh please. My allegiance lies within the arts.
[Enter Honoka]
Honoka:
My dear, what is keeping you awake now?
Akira hesitantly picks up application forms, distressed.
Akira:
Mother, what will become of my future?
I am unable to grasp these lovely things anymore.
My head is full of mathematics,
Tangents, complicated graphs and statistics.
I am afraid that simile and metaphor
Will be replaced with the equation of a line
Honoka:
Akira, my precious darling, my daughter.
Why must you pursue what ceases your laughter?
Why ponder and dwell on such a life?
Akira:
You know the extent of father’s wishes.
My mouth is forced shut as his words clamp my feet to the ground.
My life is enclosed within his coarse, pale hands.
I have no control over my direction or my thoughts.
This terrifies me, mother.
Honoka:
Your father is a stressed and busy man
Who wishes to do everything he can
To provide for all of us in the best way.
Frustrated, Akira places application forms on the ground.
Akira:
Yet he uses me for his own benefit
And dismisses my passions in favour of his own.
Discussion
The themes that pervade throughout this play consist of many conflicts. For example, the conflicts and tensions between families as Osamu places many restrictions upon his daughter, Akira, in order to uphold family tradition. (However, it is later noted that Osamu is fuelled by greed and a desire for money and wishes to obtain Akira’s riches should she succeed greatly in life.) Unable to speak up against his commands, Akira begins to apply for mathematics at university while turning to her mother for advice. She proclaims that her allegiance lies within the arts and states that she does not possess any motivation to study mathematics. Once Osamu enters the scene, his overwhelming presence renders Akira unable to retaliate as he belittles her hopes of wanting to study within the fields of the Arts. Enforcing his beliefs and plans for his daughter in rage, he begins to tear apart her books. Pages filled with personal poetry and stories are torn and scattered on the ground.
There is also conflict between following tradition as opposed to pursuing your own decisions. Akira has difficulty choosing between following her father’s orders and following her own dreams. However, during the course of the play and with the help of Honoka, Akira firmly makes her decision to study what she wants and Osamu’s ulterior motives are exposed which causes Akira and Honoka to move out. There is a sense that one can only truly feel happiness and freedom with something they truly enjoy.
Pervading throughout the play in sporadic bursts are interactions between two characters Tau and Act. One of the innovative aspects of Henry Medwall’s Fulgens and Lucres was its use of the double narrative. The functions of the characters A and B not only served to provide the play with more comedic aspects, thus giving the morality play and the moral interlude some distinction, but also provided a broadening actor-audience interaction. For example, A addresses the audience directly at the beginning of the play, questioning if they ‘have not ye etyn.’[1]
Though at a certain point they cross over into the fictional world, they retain a special function in communicating directly with the audience both about the real world of the hall where the feast and performance are taking place, and also about various aspects of the fictional world.[2]
Using this concept of transcending beyond the fictional and the real world, Tau and Act provide a double narrative through their own debate concerning the importance of Science in comparison to the importance of the Arts, specifically literature. Tau’s and Act’s debate is contrasted with that of Osama’s and Akira’s. While both character’s strength in their own belief is unwavering, consideration towards the other’s view point is present. Tau and Act serve to present how a debate should be. Stimulating and engaging with respect for other views. This awareness of other interpretations is not present within Osamu as his character is fuelled by greed and self-gratification.
As the play is set within modern society costume may not be as prevalent as it is in Fulgens and Lucres as specific editor’s insertion states that ‘Cornelius enters in the costume of a gallant.’[3] B comments on these ‘new and straunge’[4] fashions and the audience is able to directly identify and distinguish between Cornelius and Gayus through the differences in costume representing their position in society.
However costume may be used in relation to the names of Akira, Honoka and Osamu, similar to the allegorical characters present in various morality plays. The Japanese names given to the main three characters represent the internal attributes these characters hold. For example, Akira means “clear,” and this references her decision at the end of the play to pursue what she wants. Colour is also an important factor when designing costume, Akira may have white garments to display her stern and resolute nature. Blue may be appropriate for Honoka as she represents Harmony, the opposite of her husband who descends into chaos. Therefore, as an opposite colour, red is fitting for Osamu, conveying his inner anger and ulterior motives.
In terms of staging, a moral interlude such as Fulgens and Lucres would have been performed in a hall, in which ‘Medwall makes the most of the setting, interweaving it with the substance of his play to make a remarkable entertainment.’[5] For example, the seating/audience was constructed by social class as ‘there would be a raised dais at one end for the lord accompanied by principal guests,’[6] while the tables that ran down the sides of the hall would have constituted the bulk of the audience with the lowest in status at the far end. This use of space could be used to indicate a power struggle within the play. For example, Osama may be situated at the end of the hall where the Lords are seated to emphasise his overwhelming presence, and as the power shifts during the play, the position of the characters may change in response to this shift.
However, a more contemporary stage may be more appropriate for this play as a smaller stage may be befitting for a play with only five characters. Exits either side would permit flexible entry and exit and have the potential to create tension as the sounds of footsteps approaching can be amplified. Furthermore, the use of props can be easily implemented within a smaller stage rather than a hall. For example, in a fit of rage Osama begins to tear apart Akira’s poetry works while Honoka attempts to stop him. Bookshelves and pieces of art could be placed in the background.
Furthermore, a more contemporary stage may permit the use of levels such as stairs leading up to a platform overseeing the main stage. In comparison to the two ends of a great hall, this overhead platform is much more intimate, and the audience may be able to interpret who is currently in control through character position using these platforms. Tau and Act, being side characters who constantly go back and forth between the fictional world and reality may use stage levels to indicate which world they are currently in.
Endnotes
[1] Henry Medwall, Fulgens and Lucres, in EN302 Early Drama course booklet (University of Kent 2012), pg.39
[2] Peter Happe, English Drama Before Shakespeare, (London: Addison Wesley Longman., 1999), p.57
[3] Henry Medwall, Fulgens and Lucres, in EN302 Early Drama course booklet (University of Kent 2012)
[4]Henry Medwall, Fulgens and Lucres, in EN302 Early Drama course booklet (University of Kent 2012)
[5] Peter Happe, English Drama Before Shakespeare, (London: Addison Wesley Longman., 1999), p.57
[6] Peter Happe, English Drama Before Shakespeare, (London: Addison Wesley Longman., 1999), p.56
Bibliography
Primary Sources:
Henry Medwall, Fulgens and Lucres, in EN302 Early Drama course booklet (University of Kent 2012)
Secondary Sources:
Margaret Aston, The Fifteenth Century. The Prospect of Europe (London: Thames & Hudson, 1968), pp. 152-4
Peter Happe, English Drama Before Shakespeare, (London: Addison Wesley Longman, 1999)