DRAM30120: Beckett in Performance
Director’s Notebook
Student Name: Rachel McHugh
Student Number: 14494322
Play: Catastrophe
Introduction
‘Catastrophe’ is a play about a director seeing his play staged for the first time and giving his opinions on it to his assistant. There are four characters in total onstage, the director and the assistant as well as a lighting man that we never see and the protaganoist of the play being put on who never speaks. The director is a dictator character who controls the entire scene and exploits the protaganoist in his vulnerable and weak state and also that of the assistant usuing his male dominancy over her. The directors changes all of the way that the assistant has staged the protaganist on the stage to
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Before the rehearsals begin I will meet with each of the actors individually and talk with them about what they believe their character is truly about and what their objective in the play is. I will then tell them my ideas and conept and we will bounce off different ideas of how we can make the two ideas work or clash with each other and as a result we will have different viewpoints of the play but which will all add to what the concept of each individual is, and that is what the audience will do also. In my opinion it is my role as a director to help bring the best out of the actors but not tell then exactly what to do as then it would not be effective. They need to understand what they are trying to convey through the character themselves and not just what I tell them to do. After this meeting we will have several rehearsals to concentrate on how to convery this meaning. As there are not many lines, the actors will come in and do a full run through of the play so I can see what their take is on it. I will make notes and give them feedback on how I would interpret this play if I seen it and if that was what we were setting out to achieve. After this I will rent out an empty hall or some other big space and have some rehearsals there as I do not want to have miscrophones or sound system needed as the echo in the Winchester Rifle factory would provide enough sound, but because of this the actors would need to be able to get use to the different levels needed in their voices. I would have the director practice in makig his voice loud and boisterous, showing his authority over all of those in the play. The assistant would have an even voice but still loud enough to be heard clearly by the audience. There would also be a few rehearsals dedicated to movement because I want their characters traits to come out in this, for the protagonist to
...e cheated a script from all Shrek, Macbeth and improvisation (brain storming.) We then ran through the performance seeing if there were any glitches, mistakes or things that just don't make sense, timed the performance. We then decided that we should have music from the original film Shrek and put that into our play to add tension, (in a way.) We also figured out what costumes we were going to wear, since most of as were playing more then one character we needed easy costume changes, simple but effective!
This short story is about a couple arguing about abortion. The girl, Jig, does not want to, but the American man says that it is the only thing between them. The girl wants to continue on with her life of exploring the world with the addition of the baby, but the man says that it would take the world away from them. The man has experience in this, but the woman seems not to. She is reluctant, and does not want to talk about it any more after a point. There are many elements in the story, such as disconnection, manipulation, dominance, innocence, and irresponsibility.
he says, "To strike Romeo dead I hold it not a sin". We can also see
The Stage Manager is a man of many roles. Usually a stage manager is part of the non-acting staff and in complete charge of the bodily aspects of the production. In Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, the Stage Manager goes well beyond his usual function in a play and undertakes a large role as a performer. In Our Town the Stage Manager is a narrator, moderator, philosopher, and an actor. Through these roles the Stage Manager is able to communicate the theme of universality in the play. The main role of the Stage Manager is that of narrator and moderator. He keeps the play moving by capsule summations and subtle hints about the future. "I’ve married over two-hundred couples in my day. Do I believe in it? I don’t know? M….marries N….millions of them. The cottage, the go-cart, the Sunday-afternoon drives in the Ford, the first rheumatism, the grandchildren, the second rheumatism, the deathbed, the reading of the will-once in a thousand times it’s interesting"(699). Here the Stage Manager is giving insight about George and Emily’s future. He is hinting about their life and fate to come. "Goin’ to be a great engineer, Joe was. But the war broke out and he died in France. All that education for nothing" (673). The incidents discussed about are great events in George, Emily, and Joe’s lives. The Stage Manage emphasizes that the short things in these people’s lives are overlooked. There isn’t realization that it is the small parts of their lives that make a difference. His role as narrator differs from most narration. The Stage Manager’s narration shows casualness. The casualness connects the Stage Manager to the audience. "Presently the STAGE MANAGER, hat on and pipe in mouth…he has finished setting the stage and leaning against the right proscenium pillar watches the late arrivals in the audience."(671) The informality is evident since he smokes a pipe, wears a hat, and leans formally against the proscenium pillar. He also greets and dismisses the audience at the beginning and end of each act. The stage manager interrupts daily conversation on the street. The Stage Manager enters and leaves the dialog at will. He is also giving the foresight of death in the play. His informality in dress, manners, and speech, connects the theme, universality, of the production to the audience.
To realize the vision of the play, the script, set-up, costumes, stagecraft, sound design, and acting have to communicate a unified message with which the audience will relate. The script will be tailored to ensure that the audience can understand the play as it proceeds. This is in terms of the language and terms used. Though the language will not be modern, it will be English that can be understood by the audience. This will be English of antique England as it will give the play a feeling of ancient times. The scriptwriter will carry out research on the level of understanding the local people will have of ancient English so as to ascertain that the script matches this level. Although many plays of that era were sung and accompanied by dance, this play will be acted out with spoken word rather than songs. This is because speaking will ensure the audience hears the conversations as they go on and that they understand. This is ...
Stuart Brown’s book Play describes noteworthy of play in the lives of animals and humans and how free play develops the social skills in children that are necessary for creative thinking later in life. He used his observations of animals in play to explain the role of play in brain development and social integration.
Through December 5th through the 7th, I performed in Thornton Wilder’s play of Our Town. The only sets or props that the actors or actresses used where folding chairs for us to sit in, umbrellas to hide Emily (Julie Dumbler), and flats on both sides of the stage to hide the people behind them. The reason for the lack of set is so the audience can use there imagination of what the town of Grover’s Corner, New Hampshire looks like. All the rest of the props that the actors had to use were pan mimed and acted out to the fullest to make it look real. The only other experience with no set was with Miss Henery in Neodesha and it was a disaster so I didn’t know how well this was going to work out. But with the help of our director Peter Ellenstein and the rest of the cast, the pan miming was very successful. Our performance space was a modified thrust stage. The shape of the stage served us well for this play, but the back stage was horrible. All of the chairs that we had to use were folding chairs that made a lot of noise even if you hardly touched one. One neat thing about the play is that all of the sound affects were made by our backstage manager (Lisa Mitchell) or other members of the cast. In exception for the clock chiming at the end of the play. People who have seen the play tell me that it is a very heart moving play. I did not get that feeling because I was always backstage or onstage. Ether way I didn’t get to watch the play so I couldn’t see what was so moving about it. The only humor I got was from lines and the funniest person I heard was Professor Willard (Gary Mitchell). The audience is led through the entire play by the Stage Manager (Cory Venable). He literally talks to the audience between every scene explaining what is going on in the story. I thought Mr. Wilder did a good job in having a Stage Manager do this. The Stage Manager tells and shows us a story a young girl growing up and facing death, even after death. He show us how Emily Webb (Julie Dumbler) first gets to know her future husband George Gibbs (Eric Cole).
All Shakespearean tragedies contain five acts that follow a certain format. The opening act is known as the exposition. The exposition “exposes” background information about the play. Following the exposition is the complication. The complication is the second act, and contains rising action. This act is also supposed to mess things up and “complicate” them. Following the complication is the third act. The third act is the highpoint with no return. This act is also known as the climax. After the climax is the resolution. The resolution is act fourth act. This act is an attempt to resolve previous problems created in the third act. The resolution also begins to bring about the conclusion. Lastly is the fifth and final act called the catastrophe. The catastrophe is a great tragedy that ends the story. Most plays do not end with a catastrophe; but that is how William Shakespeare chose to end Julius Caesar, along with all of his other tragic plays.
I will first contact the director so that we can collaborate on ideas. Then I will start thinking of choreography, spacing, and places for the big dance number. I will create an outline for how to run rehearsal and what I need to teach. I will warm up the cast before every time we dance. I will break down the choreography to the cast in order to teach it to them, while gradually bringing the choreography up to tempo. I will run dance rehearsals. I will attend rehearsal to learn blocking for other scenes and dance numbers. I will help with polishing the choreography for the
When you read this play, take special care to remember the difference between the work of a playwright and that of a novelist. Novelists may imagine their audience as an individual with book in band, but a playwright writes with a theater full of people in mind. Playwrights know that the script is just the blueprint from which actors, producers, stagehands, musicians, scenic designers, make-up artists, and costumers begin. You will need to use an extra measure of imagination to evaluate this play before you see the Goodman production.
disaster of Eva Smith. As well the time in which the play is set will
A modern tragedy of today and a tragedy of ancient Greece are two very different concepts, but ironically, both are linked by many similarities. In “Poetics”, Aristotle defines and outlines tragedy for theatre in a way that displays his genius, but raises questions and creates controversy. Aristotle’s famous definition of tragedy states:
When it comes to rehearsals, no one has a bigger commitment than stage actors. For stage actors, rehearsals can last for several months to a year, in extreme cases. This gives an actor more time to develop his character, study his or her lines, and build great chemistry with their cast. As an actor, I realize the importance of building chemistry with your fellow actors within the production because once it’s time to perform; the audience can see the genuineness and the
Set manager should also focus on entrance and exits the stage so the actors can be quick. Collaboration is an important key in any production. After reading the script, set manager should then collaborate with the director because he might have something to add or say about the theme of the play. This first meeting is very important because if set manager has any question he can clear out here. Do some research like find some photos that can help the director to clear his visions. If he thinks that you need help then he will provide designer, an architect, and
The Divine Comedy is an exhibit that is being revisited and created by a “group of forty of the best known emerging artist from 8 different African nations,” based off the 4th century poem “the divine comedy” written by Dante Alighieri. At the National African Art History museum in Washington, DC and this year happens to be the 50th anniversary of the museum of the opening of the original Capitol Hill museum founded by Warren Robbins and Johnetta Cole June 3, 1964. It tells a story about life by dividing it into three layers in life that identify and portray the mind of human life in a religious frame of mind. The exhibit o has a creative way of showing how that we live life in layers, Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. You enter the museum on the