Fundamental to our understanding of El Médico de su Honra, and of any other play is the notion that it was for performance and not intended for reading. Therefore, the action, text and spectacle all work together in producing an overall effect upon the audience. Calderón is described as a `craftsman' of drama and is famous for the dramatic devices which appeal to the various senses in order to convey the play's message with greater profundity. However, the seventeenth century playwright was limited by the facilities available to him. The rudimentary nature of their theatres affected the way in which a play was staged and therefore its interpretation. Public theatres were situated in courtyards, or `corrales', surrounded on three sides by private dwellings. A basic, but nevertheless important point is that theatres were generally exposed to the elements. By necessity, plays were performed during daylight hours and inevitably this would affect the presentation of the play. Atmosphere and mood were of paramount importance in a play, and this is of particular significance in El Médico de su Honra, where darkness is crucial both to the plot and the underlying themes.
That is not to say, however, that simple staging prevented an effective presentation of a play. Basic staging could be made productive, and in some cases actually more striking and powerful. Essentially, the lack of an elaborate stage merely shifts the focus elsewhere, the focus being on the actors - their actions, dialogue and how the dialogue is delivered, how they perform, costume. In El Médico de su Honra, Calderón, therefore had to structure the `actions, text and spectacle' very carefully since there are many different settings ...
... middle of paper ...
...ition to costume, language and dialogue is what fixes the atmosphere and the action. In a manner very similar to Shakespeare, Calderón weaves description of the scene and of what is occurring into the main thrust of the play. In this sense, he is more than a poet, he is a dramatic craftsman who predominantly through his verse alone, creates a drama in its own right. All the clues to the plot and its themes lie in the text; the use of staging, costume, music and props can be used to enhance what lies in the script. What they give to the play is a fuller and more entertaining dramatic production. Thus, if used sensitively and intelligently by a director, these factors can increase the dramatic power of the work. The primary focus, however, remains the language, which relies on a high standard of acting in order to do justice to the subtleties of the play.
Hamlet makes extensive use of the idea of theatrical performance; from revealing characters to not be what they seem - as they act to be - to Hamlet’s play The Mousetrap and his instruction of acting to the players. The extensive use of the stage in the stage directions, as well as numerous monologues and asides, have Hamlet itself acting as a literary device for the motif of theatrical performance.
The first main area of art and reality colliding in the play is the existence of characters who are referred to as Characters. Pirandello stretches the bounds of meta-theater by having actors portray Characters who swear they are not actors, when faced with other actors playing actual actors and a Director. The layers of unraveling of reality are astounding. The Characters must try and convince not only the Actors and the Producer of their true nature, but also the audience. Pirandello must convey his beliefs about the essence of art through the mouths of Characters seemingly unattached to the actuality of the theater around them. In the play, the Producer acts on stage in place of the author, questioning the sincerity and the true nature of the Characters, who become his r...
The playwright provides many aspects to create a play and to make it interesting. The actions and dialogue the characters make must be fluid and have a purpose. The playwright entices the audience with the different aspects to captivate their attention and keep it throughout the play. In The Illusion, Tony Kushner provides vivid details of the characters’ actions through dialogue. The actions characters perform absorbs the audience’s attention and leaves them wanting to see more of what will happen next to the characters. Although all aspects provided by the playwright are essential, action is the most riveting.
The multilayered unities create a rich and meaningful viewing experience. One cannot say that Mendes made frivolous decisions in creating his production, since he was disciplined in the neoclassical ideals when taking creative liberties. His unique interpretations on the unities of time, place, and action resulted in a play that truly unified the audience and the production. While to many Shakespeare may appear cryptic, the meta-theatrical take on neoclassical traditions helped guide the audience through the symbolic and representational mire with relative ease.
First impression of the play when I first walked in was one of confusion. The stage design was not distinguishable. I could not tell what was going on or what it was supposed to be. One thing I could
In Euripides’ tragic play, Medea, the playwright creates an undercurrent of chaos in the play upon asserting that, “the world’s great order [is being] reversed.” (Lawall, 651, line 408). The manipulation of the spectators’ emotions, which instills in them a sentiment of drama, is relative to this undertone of disorder, as opposed to being absolute. The central thesis suggests drama in the play as relative to the method of theatrical production. The three concepts of set, costumes, and acting, are tools which accentuate the drama of the play. Respectively, these three notions represent the appearance of drama on political, social, and moral levels. This essay will compare three different productions of Euripides’ melodrama, namely, the play as presented by the Jazzart Dance Theatre¹; the Culver City (California) Public Theatre²; and finally, the original ancient Greek production of the play, as it was scripted by Euripides.
in his play, which include:dialogue and word choice, the way he portrays the characters and the way he
Before watching the play, “Vanya, Sonia, Masha, and Spike”, I have never watched an American play. Whenever I would revealed this information to people, they would give me a strange look which makes me feel so uncomfortable. I always wondered what exactly the plays would look like or what messages are they delivering to general audience? The curiosity about plays lead me to take the drama class. On the day of the show, I was very nervous since I wasn’t sure about my responsibility as a part of general audience or what should I have expected from actors of the show? In this paper, dramatic and production elements such as characterization, theme, rising action, costume design, light design, and scenic design will be analyzed.
Novels and plays are essentially the same in the sense that they assemble the means necessary to showcase a variety of stories ranging in diversity. The quintessential underlying difference between the two is the format in which the stories are displayed. Plays, like Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun use literary techniques such as dialogue, acts and scenes, and stage directions contrary to novels to guide the audience’s response and interpretation of the characters and actions in the
The spectacle of this play is limited which is why there is such weight put on the actors themselves. Their scene and ensembles never show signs of change yet they develop and grow. There is a huge stress on the statue, which whom the Learned Ladies bow
It is worth noting that Metatheatre has always served as a way for theater to reflect upon itself, but in modern drama, this self-reflection has developed a critical edge. Many modern dramatists turned to Plato as a source of inspiration. According to Lionel Abel, ‘metatheatre’ is an accurate term describing the form possible to the contemporary playwright who wishes to treat a subject seriously with the multiple layers of illusion. In Plato’s idiom, one might say that modern theater makers are keenly aware that they operate within a cave. Thus, they turn around the theater itself, reorienting it so that it might serve as a vehicle for truth. Abel also believes that Greek tragedy which described grief and delight is impracticable today. He confirms that tragedy was impossible in the late Renaissance and the playwrights like Calderon and Shakespeare who knew nothing about metatheatricality or dramatic self-reflexivity, wrote ‘serious’ plays which were self-reflexive
At the beginning of the show, I was really excited with the archaic decorated stuffs on the stage, such as, closet, candles, and beautiful trunk. These things attracted my attention of watching the show. I don’t denied that the majority of the design elements were recognized one of the great production of theatre. I was surprised with fancy costumes of each actor to identify the class and present the period of classic Italian time. However, the weak point of design elements might reduce audience’s satisfaction of the entire show. Based on the trust theatre, people would sit around three side of the stage. Even though I got seat in front, my seat was at the edge of it. This condition is main factor to block my stage’s view because there are four posts standing four corners of the stage, one is also in front of me. Not every scene I could see what the actors were doing. I sometimes saw people were laughing, but I had no idea why they did. No matter how good the actor performed or how beautiful the scene would be. I had a hard time to watch such the play. In addition, the music for dancing and singing is really melodious. With using the guitar
Actors were expected to memorize hundreds of lines at a time. While one play could be performing, actors would be practicing lines for their next show. Play writers also began to make roles for the actors in the theatrical pieces. The theaters that actors performed in were roofless so that the sun could be used as lighting. Theatrical shows were held in the afternoon because it provided the best amount of light for the show. When the people gathered into the theater, the different classes of people were separated by where they could afford to sit and watch the show. The lower classmen were situated on the bare earth where it was dirty and smelly because it was never cleaned. The owners’ of the theaters found it less expensive if they did not keep high maintenance of their establishments. Higher classmen sat under a roof and for a penny more, they could buy cushions for their seats.
That theater has undergone many changes since its early incarnation in ancient Greece is a fact obvious even to the casual observer. And it is likewise clear that, as the cultural and social structure of the world shifts and changes over time, it is appropriate that its art forms change as well, in order to address appropriately the new reality in which they exist. However, perhaps not too unexpectedly, there are those who reject our modern manifestation of theater as insincere or false -- indeed, as there are in every time those who contest the latest evolutions of all types of art.
Absurdism, a very well known term in the era of modern theatre has played a very significant role in the field of dramas. It’s significance and its presence in the modern theatre has created all together a different and a specific area in the world of theatre widely known as “the theater of the absurd”. Theatre of absurd was given its place in 1960’s by the American critic Martin Esslin. In a thought to make the audiences aware that there is no such true order or meaning in the world of their existence. It’s an attempt to bring the audiences closer to the reality and help them understand their own meaning in life.