Word: baldric
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...Killing of Richard III, Robert Farrington is something of a Richardist but more of an entertainer. His hero-modern, brisk, amused-is James Bond in a baldric, a lewd, shrewd "clerk" who undertakes secret missions for the king. Seen through his eyes, Richard comes off as a reasonably decent Renaissance statesman, astute in the chancellery but stupid in the field...
Lear is the most titanic figure in all drama. When Carnovsky first enters, dressed in a purple tunic, a silver-trimmed orange cloak, and a heavy gray embossed baldric, he mounts an improvised black bear-skin throne, stands with right hand alott, and all those present instinctively kneel. Though an octogenarian, this Lear is no weakling. He is not just a great man; he is not even just a king; he seems to be almost a god implanted on Olympus. (In an inspired touch, this same bit of business is pathetically echoed towards the end of the play...
that Jack Davidson looks too young for Monsieur and was not entirely in command of his lines at the opening, since he stepped in on short notice for an ailing actor. His yellow-plumed cap and his baldric and sword underscore the dolt's infatuation with the prerogatives of nobility; and it is quite in keeping with his character that he punctuates his talk by garbling an irrelevant Latin proverb (not in the text). Since the croupe has four men and four women, Dandin's sleepy valet Colin has been turned into a maidservant, Collette, with no detriment, thanks...
...Orlando spends his time in overalls (who ever heard of a fairy-tale hero's heading for the altar in overalls?). His brother Oliver wears riding habit, carries cigars, and flourishes a cigarette lighter. The usurping Duke Frederick is decked out entirely in white, except for a diplomat's baldric-like red sash, and, with his beard, is a double for Peter Ustinov. For him Baker has invented (taking a cue from Violenta in All's Well?) a silent female companion who slinks about in a black gown and ling cigarette-holder, a refugee from a Charles Addams cartoon...
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