On Stage: Twice Told Tales of the Decameron

Giovanni Boccaccio set the stage for many a Shakespeare plot twist.

Trust me – if you’re reading this, you’ve already heard of The Decameron. Why? Because most people have at least read Shakespeare in a classroom setting, and if that applies to you, you’ve encountered The Decameron, Giovanni Boccaccio's collection of 100 short stories. Written in 1350, The Decameron is the source of many plots and plot twists found in Shakespeare’s works, and high school English teachers and college professors love to mention it at the beginning of any discussion of Shakespeare. As a student, you may have filed away in the back of your head that Shakespeare was totally derivative and shouldn’t get as much credit as he does. 

This month, Great Lakes Theater Festival began offering free public performances of Twice Told Tales of the Decameron, two original Boccaccio stories that later turned up as Shakespeare's Two Gentlemen of Verona and Cymbeline. Twice Told Tales serves as introduction to GLTF's upcoming spring productions of Two Gentlemen of Verona and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged). 

Because Twice Told Tales is a touring production, and because the source material comes from the 1300s, GLTF presents the show in the style of a touring theater troupe from that time. Bowing to modern social mores, the four actors include one woman; however, there is still one male actor who plays a woman’s part. The set consists of a wooden frame painted to imitate a stage. Behind the frame are curtains, which pull back to reveal canvasses with crudely painted scenes, changed as necessary by the actors. A crate, a chest and two buckets are used at different times as chairs, beds, a town square, a bar and a courtroom. Otherwise, like Hemingway, they tell the audience members just enough to encourage using their imagination. Costumes vary from jester's leggings and hats to gowns, veils, Italian Renaissance smocks and a sultan’s vibrant suit – all things that might have been standard in a medieval traveling theater troupe’s arsenal. 

The effect of this simplicity is twofold: the sets and costumes don’t draw unnecessary attention and they encourage the suspension of disbelief. Imagine a production of Hamlet, where all of the characters are high-school jocks, Hamlet shoots Polonius, and the duel occurs with kitchen knives. The director may have had the desire to confront the audience with images that they could identify with; what results is a juxtaposition that detracts from the play itself, from the story and characters, and forces the audience to attempt to reconcile contrasting images and understandings. In Twice Told Tales, the set and costumes stay out of the way, allowing the audience to focus on the stories.