The Knight of the Burning Pestle
 

A Quick Overview of the Play / Group Overview / The Cast

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A Quick Overview of the Play

Knight of the Burning Pestle is a carnival celebration of London life and London Theatre in which Francis Beaumont's comic genius is given free rein.  A grocer, his wife and their two apprentices attending the theatre in holiday mood interrupt and finally replace a fatuous love comedy with their own heart's desire: exotic spectacle and sound English sentiment.
 
 















Top  / Group Overview / The Cast



























Group Overview
 
Within the excerpt from Knight if the Burning Pestle we chose the audience can site many important points
that completes the play. The basis of our short dramatic piece lies within a couple of inter-playing conflicts. The
first, and most obvious, exists between Old Merrythought, played by Alex Medina, and Mistress Merrythought,
played by Erika Birdsall. Old Merrythought, being the drunk that he is, wanders around singing his intoxicated
tunes and making harsh comments while Mistress Merrythought complains about his constant drunkenness.
These comments produced by Old Merrythought leads us to the next conflict. Old Merrythought and his two
sons run into each other rather frequently. Old Merrythought, during these interactions does not forget to
comment about his sons producing conflict. Kevin Liu plays the first son, Jasper, while Michael Lewis plays the
second son, Michael. While these conflicts exist, a third one tends to surface. The audience members decide to
interact with the play. The citizen, played by Asher Kaufman, and his wife, played also by Michael Lewis,
constantly feel a need to voice their opinion. Comments regarding torturing the son and even to the extent of
hanging him tends to fly out of the citizen’s mouth.

Overall, we feel that this short piece contains all the characteristics of a good play. Within this play we will make
the audience laugh, cry, and even at times be serious. The presentation consists of serious moments, action
through verbal argumentation, and finally a drunken guy we all enjoy, through laughter, hearing sing his creative
intoxicated tunes.

Personal Views

Asher Kaufman- A couple of interesting points erupts about my character. As the citizen, I enjoy more
dramatic freedom because I am not in the play within the play. Due to this, my character tends to orchestrate
comments that deem problematic. The citizen in our excerpt is very vulgar and even, at times, evil. He even has a
tendency to express his feelings as rudely and hostile as he can. Calling people names (i.e., whoreson halter-
sack) and he even voices his opinion about what the parents should do to the son—hang him. This
character definitely fills the evil spectrum of this play, even though he is not the main evil character.

Erika Birdsall- My character, to put it blunt, is a bitch. She is constantly getting irritated at Old Merrythought
for his rude comments and his obsessive drunkeness. She is terrible mother who favors one of her kids over the
other. Michael, her favorite, receives tons of living and is very overprotected. The other son, Jasper , is hated by
her and achieves nothing in her eyes. Overall, she is very quick to express her hatred towards one son, and even
quicker to accept the other with wide-open arms.

Kevin Liu- I play the character of Jasper, the son of Mistress Merrythought and despised by the evil woman.
Though she favors her son Michael indefinitely more than I and would rather see me hanged before she ever
gives me her blessing, I come only to beg her love. Though my part was comparatively short (15 lines), it was
complex and required hours of analyzing how to interpret his role in the play. I walked away from the experience
with a deeper understanding of Jasper, The Knight of the Burning Pestle, and the work of Francis Beaumont.

Michael Lewis- The character of Michael is quite frustrated in his role as younger brother to villainous
Jasper. He is thankful for his mothers love and will to care for him. He is the archetypal "mama’s boy".
Wife is a perfect foil to the antics of citizen. The two allow for a comedic interlude from the mundane and the
activities of Rafe.

Alex Medina- My character is very interesting and fun. Not only is my character wandering around drunk, but
he also sings dumb songs. He does not understand his sons or his wife. He even offends them at times. There is
one positive point about Old Merrythought. Old Merrythought exposes the problems between his wife and kids.
He makes the obvious unfair parenting of his wife very obvious to the audience.
 

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The Cast


Name: Asher Kaufman
Name: Alex Medina

 
 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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