BYRON'S BEPPO: A Venetian Love Story
| Wit, tenderness, and worldly-wise comedy mingle in Byron's Beppo, which he wrote in the brightest of an Italian summer. He first mentions it in a letter to his publisher, 'I have written a poem, humorous, on a Venetian anecdote which amused me.' The story had been told to him while he was staying at his summer home just outside Venice. Byron was there with the wife of 'a merchant of Venice', and her husband used to spend the weekend with them ... courting another lady. Byron's amica was 'as pretty as an antelope - with large, black, Oriental eyes' -- she, no doubt, was the inspiration for Laura in the poem. Two themes emerge eventually in Beppo: the tolerance of the Italians in matters of love and marriage and the contrast between Italian and English attitudes and manners. |
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Byron was fully aware of the corruption of Venetian Society, but instead of being disgusted by its vanity, frivolity, and immorality, he accepted them with amused delight. 'A woman is virtuous (according to the code) who limits herself to her husband and one lover; only those who have two, three, or more, are considered a little wild.' |
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More than any other poet, Byron conveys the fun of being alive and sinning, of living a normal social life made up of commonplace activities like dining, drinking, talking, riding, and making love. Adapted from 'Byron's Poetry, a Critical
Introduction ' by Leslie A. Marchand, |
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If you should compare the text of Beppo with that crafted to make BYRON'S BEPPO: A Venetian Love Story, you will find that 29 of 99 stanzas have not been included! In his poem, Byron is constantly digressing, but in shaping it for the threatre it seemed wise to curtail some of these digressions - especially since we were adding so many more from his letters. We feel Byron might have smiled at the soul searching that has gone on between actor, director and author about these necessary changes. He called BEPPO, 'A poem where I have said all the good I know or do not know of the Italians - and none of the harm.' Our modern Italian audiences laughed at his gibes and comments, figuring he couldn't possibly mean them! |
IL GAZZETTINO VENEZIA - ANNO 114 - N. SABATO 22 APRILE 2000 |
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(Translated from Italian) |
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APPLAUSE FOR BYRON'S BEPPO A very special and most appreciative audience welcomed this theatrical performance at Scoletta dei Calegheri, sponsored b the Venice chapter of the women's club Zonta International. Lord Byron was brought back to life by the fresh approach taken by English actor Ian Frost in this enjoyable adaptation by American playwright and producer Bill Studdiford. BYRON'S BEPPO is a brilliant one-man show, rich in poetry and wit. Using both the poem and also the letters written by Lord Byron at that time, Frost and Studdiford told a very Venetian love story which unfolds at the height of Carnival. At the Curtain Call, after much applause, the talented and experienced actor and author thanked the president of Zonta, Patriia Pala Cariello, for the honor and opportunity of performing Byron's poetry in English in the city whose life and spirit he loved so much. |
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The Dispatch, Hucknall, England BYRON'S BEPPO: A Venetian Love Story - yet another memorable one-man show by actor Ian Frost: Wit, tenderness and comedy are all there in Byron's celebration of this city he loved - a wholly delightful evening's entertainment. |
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