http://garrettstheater.blogspot.com/2013/05/fires-in-mirror.html?showComment=1367703509625#c8474831319401016949
http://shelly2130.blogspot.com/2013/04/fires-in-mirror.html?showComment=1367703899262#c3552439580965868198
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Fires in the Mirror
It has been brought to my attention that you wish to produce a version of Fires in the Mirror by Anna Deavere Smith with several scenes removed, as they may not directly pertain to the Crown Heights incident. As there can be an argument made for the implication of this version, I feel that there is a stronger argument against it. Though the scenes that you wish to remove may seem like they serve little purpose, these scenes prove, both independently and in congruency with the rest of the script, that they have value of their own. Taking these scenes individually, they provide the audience with important back ground information, such as in Static. This scene has no direct link to the incident at hand, but it tells the story of the interaction between a Jewish woman and a black boy within this community. This and the other scenes provide us with important context and background to how these groups interacted with each other. It gives us a chance to look at each side’s view of the other and not see blatant hatred, but rather misunderstanding and fear. These scenes are also important in relation to the rest of the script. Smith gradually moves back and forth between varying degrees of heaviness in her scenes. She goes from a scene where Al Sharpton is speaking angrily to one where a woman is talking casually about wigs. Smith uses these scenes to start a pattern of tension and release that then continues into the rest of the play. Removing these scenes would also remove many instances in which Smith’s motif of mirrors is introduced. Though the later scenes do hold most of the meat, those first few provide a lens with us to view the incident and establish principles that are later confirmed.
Saturday, April 13, 2013
My comments
http://gracietheatre2130.blogspot.com/2013/04/show-and-tell-post-2.html?showComment=1365875979937#c1729437498493111171
http://garrettstheater.blogspot.com/2013/04/detroit.html?showComment=1365877451892#c6438308499136716473
http://gracietheatre2130.blogspot.com/2013/04/water-by-spoonful.html?showComment=1365876534301#c6860887030356968036
http://emilielegethtr2130blog.blogspot.com/2013/04/buried-child.html#comment-form
http://gracietheatre2130.blogspot.com/2013/04/wow-noises-off-isso-crazy.html#comment-form
http://dontstopmemeow2130.blogspot.com/2013/03/glass-of-water.html#comment-form
http://garrettstheater.blogspot.com/2013/04/detroit.html?showComment=1365877451892#c6438308499136716473
http://gracietheatre2130.blogspot.com/2013/04/water-by-spoonful.html?showComment=1365876534301#c6860887030356968036
http://emilielegethtr2130blog.blogspot.com/2013/04/buried-child.html#comment-form
http://gracietheatre2130.blogspot.com/2013/04/wow-noises-off-isso-crazy.html#comment-form
http://dontstopmemeow2130.blogspot.com/2013/03/glass-of-water.html#comment-form
Buried Child
The
world of Shepard’s Buried Child at
first glance seems to fit into the same reality as we live in ourselves. When
you begin to read the script you are greeted by a page long paragraph about the
set dressing and costumes. This we expect to see at the beginning of every
conventional illusionistic play, but Buried
Child isn't a conventional illusionistic play. Though the characters don’t burst
out into song randomly, it is clear after you finish the script is that the
story line and the extreme illusionism of the stage don’t quite fit. It almost
seems as if the play is an illusion of illusionism. The script tries to present
a reality in which “the American dream” is turned on its head. If I would pin
point a specific element that distinguishes planet Buried Child’s sense of reality from our own it would have to be ambiguity,
complexity, and irony. First off, there is a huge lack of the use of irony of
any kind in this play. In most plays that we have read, we the readers were
given information that the other characters weren't privy to. This script provides us with little to know
information extra from what we see with our own eyes, and in doing so creates a
strong element of ambiguity. This ambiguity around things like who the baby’s
father is makes us uncomfortable because if we were to have lived their lives
we would know for sure. This sense of not knowing thing that you should is what
provides that determent from reality as we know it. The characters in this play
seem to not provide us with answers to these questions as if they are afraid of
them themselves. This to me seems to be commenting on “the American dream” by
showing us the power of ignoring ugly truths.
Friday, April 12, 2013
Noises Off
In past analyses we were required to identify Hornby’s
element of progression in our respective scripts of choice. In his terms
progression refers to motifs found throughout the text. In Michael Frayn’s Noises Off I found that I found was
progression itself. Many of the characters in the play seem to progress the story
and themselves through the act of repetition. The entirety of the play is
scattered with the repetition and rewording of lines. This happens not only with
the second degree characters, like we might have expected, but it also occurs
with their first degree characters. The characters would often say something
that they were unsure about, go back, restart, and try it again and again until
they got it right. For instance, in the first scene we would expect the Actress
to second guess her words and actions, but the director also stumbles. “I mean, OK, so he’s the, you know. Fine. But, Dotty, love, you've been playing this
part for well, Jesus, Dotty, you know what I mean.( 7)” This repetition and
retrying is something we see in their relationships a well. With all this in
mind, the tag line that I would us if I were to perform this show would be “once
more with feeling.” I think this speaks to the playfulness of the show but also
ties back into the idea of progression. The constant reediting and retrying of
situation are the characters way of growing. The characters not giving up when
at first they don’t succeed is seen throughout the dialogue and story line
itself. If I were to name a unifying principle for this show it would definitely
have something to do with progression because it is a theme seen in many of the
elements of the script, not just the motifs.
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Glass of Water
I don’t
believe that any of the characters can really serve as solid protagonist by the
definitions that we use today. In term of a central character, none of the
characters really demands a significant amount more of the script time than all
of the others. The five main character; The Queen, Bolingbroke, The Duchess,
Masham, and Abigail all seem to not only hold an equal amount of stage time,
but there individual story lines seemed to get equal attention as well. The
characters with the most stage time didn't seem to have the highest risk stake
situations. Another quality that all the characters share somewhat equally is
their pathos. As a reader I seemed to identify with all their plights equally,
whether their goals were politically or romantically driven. The other aspect
of the parameters of a protagonist is the idea of an antagonist. Throughout the
play the goals of; the Queen and the Duchess, and the Whigs and the Tories are at
odds. Identifying one character might then turn another character into and
antagonist even if they to have the potential to be a protagonist. The fact
that a protagonist seems to be almost impossible to pin point is more helpful
to the telling of this story than if you try to find one. It seems that writing
this after having written my analysis, what became clear to me was that this
play was more about people in general than distinct persons. My unifying principle
was “to invest in the trivial,” and my paper issued the authors message of the equal
influence of fate in everyone’s lives no matter their station. I believe that
Scribe purposefully left an ambiguity about a protagonist in order to emphasize
his message in the script.
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Vogel
I feel that many people may have the same interpretation as I
do as to the reason for the Greek Chorus. In my mind I feel like having all
other characters in the show as non-descript entities, creates the illusion
that they are the only two that see each other for who they are. Limiting the
point of view to that of the two main characters allows us to remove a bit from
what society has ingrained into us. The Greek chorus also prevents us from
being able to make a connection with any other character, and allows us to
focus on the growth and motives of Li’l Bit and Uncle Peck. Though she limited
the point of view she didn't force it. The author could have omitted the parts
where other characters were involved instead she included them to provide
contrast to the ideas of the main characters. I also think that she chose the
chorus in order to remind us of social order at times.
The most interesting convention that I took from the play
was the casting of the main character as a singular forty something year old
woman. The author could have cast the role as many different girls in various
stages of their life in order to play the one role, but she didn't. For me I took
that all the things that happened to her in her life made her the woman that
she is today. In the end when she talks about where she is in her life, we can
really see what kind of damage that Peck and the rest of her family did when
they betrayed her trust. I think it also allows for a distancing effect. Not staging
a real live ten year old going through the motions of being molested by an old
man allows us to look at the situation instead of turning away in agony.
Trifles
I fell like doing a production of Trifles as minimalist
would take away so much more than it would add. The hyper realism was a choice
by the playwright to complement and enhance the characters and their actions.
For example, when the men have already made up their mind that Mrs. Wright is guilty
they then decide only to search for evidence of motive. When presented with the
notion that they might want to check the kitchen for anything of importance,
the sheriff says “nothing here but kitchen things.” This comment, by a man, on the importance of
the “women’s things” makes a much more powerful statement than the motives or
growth of his particular character. The author is using the character to make a
statement about the things, but she also uses the things to comment on the
characters. In addition to the direct comments about the objects in question,
they also serve as important vehicles for the motifs that the author placed in
the script carefully. The images of the women using their things such as sewing,
tie back into the putting together of the pieces in order to make a whole. The actions
that were written into the play depend on the items and are just as important,
if not more so at times, than the dialogue. The objects and the play are so intertwined
that removing or diminishing one would also diminish the whole. I think that if
the director wishes to produce a play where the characters are the ones who are
focused on without help from the naturalistic details then they need to pick a
different play.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Overtones
The
only rule that appears to be adhered to throughout the entire play is that the outer
selves can’t see the inner selves. All other rules that may exist at certain
points in the play, such as the inner selves being able to see or hear each
other, are broken at one point or another. It is impossible to assign a
convention for the awareness of the inner selves when at one moment they seem
to not even know the other exists while in another moment they speak to each
other as clearly as Margaret and Harriet do. Their moments of interaction do
have some correlation to the intensity of their feelings. The moment’s where
they interact with each other the most are the moments when the inner selves feel
the most strongly and are lying the most egregiously, like when they are discussing
how happy they are in their marriages. These
are also moments that they would be most likely to drop their chiffon veils. Though
this is a trend this isn't a rule, and would be difficult for an audience that doesn't have the stage notes to grasp. Thinking about Overtones in terms of Fuchs little world it’s almost as is if
Harriet and Margaret have their own personal poltergeists. Hattie and Maggie
exist on the same plane, but they can interact with the world and each other as
they choose. They may choose to merely be observers of the events occurring,
haunt only one person or fully corporealize on their plane in order to interact
with other poltergeists. However their
level of control over how hidden they are tied to their emotions, because they
are body less and their conscious selves are all they have.
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