Bulrusher is the first production that I personally have been involved with at the University of Southern Mississippi. For this reason, I was really excited about the production from the very beginning. However, when I first read the script, I was a bit disappointed. The script moves rather slowly, lacks action, and explores its themes mainly through dialogue. Initially, I found the script difficult to understand, particularly due to the sporadic use of a virtually unknown colloquial language, and I was somewhat concerned about whether or not the audience was going to understand the themes behind the play. However, after the final curtain fell, I can truly say that I enjoyed the production and that the production team was fairly successful …show more content…
The black box theater is a very intimate setting to begin with, and as I took my seat in the theater, I felt that intimacy. The theater was dark, and the audience was virtually silent before the production began. As I sat waiting for the performance to begin, I took in the lighting, the props, and the set as a whole, and I began to feel as if I were sitting just at the edge of a different time period. The design element that stood out most to me was the lighting of the river because the gobos and the selection of down lights made the river come to life, almost as if it was another character in this production. I was definitely drawn into the world of this play due to the intimacy of the black box theater and the lighting design of the …show more content…
Bulrusher longs to know who her mother is and why her mother abandoned her. In addition, she is exploring her own sexuality. Madame is facing her own identity crisis because she must decide whether to choose to be with Schoolch or with Logger or to leave this place completely and start a new life. She questions who she is and who she wants to become. Schoolch, Logger, and Vera are also facing questions about their own identities. Throughout this process, the director talked about the idea of identity, but in my opinion, the focus became blurred toward the end of the production process. Perhaps this was due to the fact that the main method for communicating the concept of identity was through dialogue. Although they were executed very well, the sound design and the set design actually did very little to help communicate the main concept of identity in this production. The songs selected for the production during the pre-show, intermission, and during the play did not contribute to the overall message and might even be considered distracting. Because the dialogue was so important, perhaps a better choice would have been to utilize subtle instrumental music in addition to the water sound effects. The set design could have added to the concept of identity better if the original plan had been executed. The panels hanging at the back of the set
A scene that struck me was an ever so simple one yet, it continuously set an effective tone throughout the rest of the play. A set that was once occupied by Wendy’s bedroom soon became a dark and eerie setting that included an obscure pirate ship. As this set continued to remain impervious, figures appeared from stage left. A green light then illuminated the entire set, continuing the peculiar theme in this scene. Emerging from the shadows came a tall, erect figure.
The scenes consist of the many techniques mentioned above, there are two main characters are shown and the play is set in contrasting between the past and the present. There are two real locations that are the TV studio and Melbourne hotel, however the interplay of the techniques in the scenes works together to create a wartime setting. The audience awareness is developed through the historical information from each scene. Theatrical devices a re combined to create various features and have a great dramatic impact. The structure promotes the audience to watch the play because the structure of this storyboard is contrasted between the past and present that will attract audience attention, as it is an historical play set between different times.
This play does just that. It looks deeper than just an entertaining night at the theatre it encourages conversation and debate. It forces people to discuss the uncomfortable topics and increases understanding of unfamiliar situations. I watched the audience cringe and become uncomfortable, I saw the characters bring us together and tear us apart, but most of all I felt a connection, an understanding with my fellow audience members when we all walked out together still saddens by the events that had taken place. If your are looking for an intriguing night filled with a roller coaster of emotion that leads to a deeper understand of your fellow humans than this is the show for
The 1920’s mobster theme creates a sort of eerie a mysterious mood for the play. Taking place mostly at night under street lamps at the end of a suspicious alley, the tone is rather ominous. The mobsters add to
As I was acting as Jason, I analysed Jason’s characterisation and worked on the delivery of my lines so that I could best portray him as awkward but well-meaning teenage boy. I asked my uncle, who had watched the play before, how to act as Jason. “Just act normal,” he answered vaguely. While I was unsure about the meaning of his advice, I read the rest of the play and I realised that one of the major themes of Rabbit Hole is blame.
The dramatic acting from the performers, during both comedic and tragic scenes, along with the set lighting that changes during the mood of different scenes further reinforce the effectiveness of the director’s ability to successfully adapt the play to the
The whole play was based on music. The story was told by songs which made it funny by learning from songs. Furthermore, the music was emotional when something sorrowful
Nevertheless, I was impressed when To conclude, I was very pleased with this year’s Sears Ontario Drama Festival entries. It was my second time viewing the festival and I must say I enjoyed it much more this time
In the play Appropriate that was put on at Colorado State University, is a play about the Lafayette's, an dysfunctional family that gets mixed up in racial situation. The purpose of putting on this play was to show how with all the racial tension going on around the world, everyone has their only views on what happens. This also showed how being put in to situation, like the Lafayette’s were put in, make it a lot harder to deal with. During the play they show how different people look and react are racism. The director was showing how different nationalities and religions, try to deal with situation even if it all blows up.
This year I went to see The Rocketman with on Thursday, February 18th, while It was being performed at Teatro Zuccone. The play, originally written by Phillip Klapperich, was directed by Katy Helbacka and Andy Bennett and performed by the Renegade Theater Company. The play tells the story of a young man and a young martian woman who fall in love with each other in their dreams, and their journey to travel across space to find each other. The play opens with a group of men and women floating through space and into the sun after a critical malfunction has occurred in their spaceship.
The productions of this play were successful through stage design, lighting crewing, and acting. Those three aspects made the quality of the play stand out to me, as an audience member. The production of the set design of the play was a good effort. The set design for the play staging aims for the sweet spot between feeding adult nostalgia and satisfying a new generation of children.
I liked that Paula Vogel did not hold back and let all of the emotions of the play loose. I am anticipating that I will enjoy the play. I personally think I would like it more if the characters were portrayed by only people rather that people holding puppets, but they have too much symbolic meaning to be left out. I think the puppets are meant to resemble the fact that we really have no control over our own lives as children. The release of the real people from the puppets into adults symbolizes the freedom from their
This was very evident during the text when the park was described to be like a theatre. The extended metaphor of the park was shown “it was like a play. It was exactly like a play”. Miss Brill has a very strong imagination and believes that what she is witnessing in the park is like a play or theatre. To her it seemed like everything had a purpose and everything was scripted.
Class Enemy is a play written by Nigel Williams, and it was published in 1978. Its first performance was on 9th March 1978 at the Theatre Upstairs, and it was directed by Bill Alexander. The first time that it was performed at the Royal Court Theatre was on 4th April 1978. Nigel Williams, born in 1948, is a novelist, playwright, broadcaster and also a screenwriter. He worked at the BBC, being director and producer of Arts Department.
How did they know when to stop devising? And how many ideas and proposals did they have to go through before getting to the finish line? Another question I have is what this performance has done to inspire other works, or has it? While I do still have lingering questions, I'm not disappointed that they're not answered. In many ways, I feel like these questions can only be answered through experience.