There are many theological connections in theater. Sometimes these connections are hidden. Other times these connections are very obvious and more evident. St. Augustine’s, “The Desire of Your Heart Constitutes Human Prayer”, he speaks about the humans’ concealed anguish and constant moaning of desire. Both the humans’ concealed anguish and moaning of desire can be illustrated in the two plays, “Andre’s Mother” and in “’Night, Mother.”
“Andre’s Mother” is a play about a young man of a different sexual orientation who dies. This young man, Andre, died of AIDS. The play takes place in a park, Central Park most preferably, in New York. The people present at this location are Cal, Andre’s significant other, Penny, who is Cal’s younger sister, Arthur, who is Cal’s Dad, and last but not least, Andre’s mother, who remains nameless throughout the entire play. In the park, these most likely beloved members of Andre are holding what seems to be like a funeral ceremony for Andre. It is not being held in a church nor is it on the same grounds as one. They are all holding white helium filled balloons on a string. These balloons symbolized Andre’s soul. They were to each release the balloons as a symbol of them letting go and letting his soul ascend to heaven, “[b]reaking his last earthly ties” (McNally, p. 50). Toward the end of the scene, Arthur and Penny have released their balloons. The only balloons left to be released are Cal’s and Andre’s Mother. Arthur and Penny leave Andre alone with Andre’s Mother. He says that he’s not ready to let go yet. There in the park Cal speaks with, or to, Andre’s Mother, expressing how he feels toward he and he does so speaking on Andre’s behalf. It seems like it is more on his behalf though because in ac...
... middle of paper ...
...know what is right for them. When she did this, she made an attempt to strip her daughter of adult hood through her outcry.
“My groaning is not concealed from you. It may be concealed from human beings, but it is not concealed from You.” (Augustine, paragraph 6)
Thelma’s groans were not concealed from Jess, and Thelma received the answer to why Jess was going to kill herself. She just didn’t like the answer.
These two plays can very well be compared to the excerpt by St. Augustine. Both of the plays have a character that can symbolize God. They also have a character with groaning pains and anguish.
Works Cited
Augustine, St. "The Desire of Your Heart Constitutes Your Prayer." The Experience of Being Human. n.d.
Mcnally, Terence. Andre's Mother. n.d.
'Night Mother. By Marsha Norman. The American Repertory Theatre, Cambridge, Massachusetts. December 1982.
... Diana both authors illustrate that one cannot control his or her fate. In both plays the authors use these characters as a medium for their own beliefs, to express their tone and overall message to the audience.
It is imperative to understand the significance of the profound effects these elements have on the audience’s response to the play. Without effective and accurate embodiments of the central themes, seeing a play becomes an aimless experience and the meaning of the message is lost. Forgiveness and redemption stand as the central themes of the message in The Spitfire Grill. Actors communicate character development through both nonverbal and verbal cues; their costumes serve as a visual representation of this development by reflecting the personal transformation of each character. In the case of The Spitfire Grill, set design is cut back to allow for the audience’s primary focus to be on the actors and their story. Different from set design, the use of sound and lights in The Spitfire Grill, establishes the mood for the play. In other words, every theatrical element in a play has a purpose; when befittingly manipulated, these elements become the director’s strongest means of expressing central themes, and therefore a means of achieving set objectives. Here again, The Spitfire Grill is no exception. With the support of these theatrical elements, the play’s themes of forgiveness and redemption shine as bright as the moon on
When Mary Zimmerman adapts a play from an ancient text her directing process and the way she engages with text are woven together, both dependent on the other. She writes these adaptations from nondramatic text, writing each evening while working through the pre-production rehearsals and improvisations during the day with the cast. The rehearsal process influences the text, and the text enriches the rehearsal process, so that one cannot exist without the other. Every rehearsal is structured the same but each production is unique because as Zimmerman states in “The Archaeology of Performance”, she is always “open to the possibilities”. The piece is open to everything happening in the world and to the people involved, so the possibilities are honest and endless.
Butler, Judith. "Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory." Theatre Journal 40.4 (1988): 519-31. The Johns Hopkins University Press. Web. 11 May 2011.
The similar constituent elements of literature that can be found in both of these plays are peripeteia, aside and fate. These three attributes are three that lead to the overlying
Throughout both works there is a hopeful in each of the writers voices. They explain how with Christ we have affliction in our lives and this makes us into better people. A line out of "No Man is an Island" says, "The struggle makes us new." We learn to accept suffering and
Saint Augustine writes about his journey to finding God through his autobiography Confessions. It is filled with Augustine’s personal experiences from infancy to adulthood. Many of the experience Augustine’s reviews are common amongst people today. These relevant situations make it easy for readers to apply to their current life. Augustine also adds his current understanding to these past situations that he may have been unaware to at the time. Augustine’s Confessions are bursting with theological, and Psychological text and ideas that he uses to guide him through certain events he goes through. There is a reoccurring theme throughout Augustine’s autobiography about his desire to find God to fill the void or separation he feels. Augustine
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.
Theatre Journal 37.4 (1985): 426-439. Print. Wheeler, Kip. " Literary Terms and Definitions M." Literary Terms and Definitions "M" Carson-Newman University, n.d. Web. 12 May 2014.
...same time transferring the focus of his text to the glory and wonder of God, causing his readers to shift their focus as well. We don’t finish the Confessions and marvel at the depravity of the young St. Augustine, or even at the incredible mercy of God for taking in such a self-proclaimed sinner. The impression the text leaves us with is that of the immense benefits the Lord can bestow on man, and the great extent to which St. Augustine was able to profit from this. Therefore, what St. Augustine had sought in God, he has found. The inner void is filled, he has a loyal nonjudgmental companion and protector for this life and the next, and he has found a potential scapegoat for all of his possible future mistakes and flaws—as well as someone to pray to and unconditionally praise.
In Book Thirteen of Confessions, Saint Augustine’s subject matter is the Holy Spirit, who is love. We are enlightened to the main point of his entire work. He believed that everything and everyone is connected to love. He said, when we share this love, which comes from the Holy Spirit, we are closest to God. In this essay, I will summarize Augustine’s final work and I will compare it to the teachings of Plotinus, Stoics and Skepticism. I will evaluate its value through different philosophical viewpoints shared through various texts.
Augustine, Saint. “Of the Foreknowledge of God and the Free Will of Man, Against the
Worthen, William B. Modern Drama and the Rhetoric of Theater. Berkeley: U of California P, 1992.
Augustine. On the Free Choice of the Will, On Grace and Free Choice, and Other Writings. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2010. Print.
The content of the morality plays is what played a hand in the persuasion of its audience. They taught their audiences because their main object was both religious and ethical and easy to grasp for the uneducated population whom largely went to its productions. (Warren 1). The plays also often examined the Christian character so that the flaws and strengths can be pointed out. (1). The plays were centered mainly on faith, dogma, and the application of the Christian doctrine to common folk life. (1). The characters of the morality plays were usually abstract qualities such as greed, friendship, love, death, etc. (1). There were many other cases when the characters of the morality plays were not abstract qualities. These alternative roles were ones of angels, devils, priests, doctors, fools (found usua...