Whats in a Comedy

So Our play the Duke of Venice is a comedy and we tried to use the Shakespeare-Comedy formula to come up with our plot. 

First off we came up with an A-line and B-line plot. Shakespeare uses regularly uses in his plays. Our A-line plot involves Francisco and Fillippa while our B-line plot is centered around Lucio. 


Comedies usually start with a broken society and at then end everything society is fixed. This is usually represented by a marriage (ex. Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Knight, Taming of the Shrew, etc.) Our play begins in a broken society Venice which is getting a new ruler. This causes many problems but in the end they are amended by marriages. 

Foil character, who provide contrast between character) are found in many shakespeare plays (Bassanio and Antonio, or Portia and Jessica)so we decided to have some in ours. For example Francisco is responsible for ruling Venice but he would rather see the world. He is carefree and lacks responsibility. Lucio, has traveled the world and wants to settle down. He's experienced the life Francisco wants and is now looking for a life filled with duty and responsibility. 


Also, Shakespeare uses Dynamic characters that undergo a change in the course of the play (ex. Katherine-Taming Of the Shrew) Francisco and Fillippa  Francisco doesn't want to rule and doesn't take life seriously. He's using his power to further his own dreams by threatening to conquer Croatia. Fillippa wants the power and respect that her brother has. Fillippa takes life way to seriously and hasn't figured out the true meaning of living. both characters under go changes as a result of the plot.

Most Comedies involve young love. There are often obstacles keeping the characters from there loves and these are resolved in the end. For example, in Taming Of the Shrew Bianca can't be with her love until her sister is married and in Twelfth knight Orsino and Viola can't be together because Orsino thinks Viola is a man. In The Duke of Venice, Fillippa can't be with Lucio because she is pretending to be Francisco's lover. 


Mistaken Identity is also a common theme in Shakespeare Comedies. For example: The Comedy of errors is a play that entirely revolves around mistaken identity. In our play Fillippa is pretending to be a (word for female suitor??) that her her brother falls in love with. This leads to misunderstandings and comical situations. 

Some Stock Characters we could add to our play:
The fool 
The Drunk
Perhaps Fillippa has a wise servant
etc.


Another thing we need to work on is a new name. Shakespeare's comedies often have clever names (ex. Twelfth Knight, Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About nothing) We could get away with ours because there are some straight forward names (ex. The Merchant of Venice, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Two Gentlemen of Verona etc.) However I think a clever name would be more exciting. 


The general theme of Shakespeare Comedies is that loves always wins out in the end.