Firstly I would set this play in the 21st century so that a modern audience could relate to it. Algernon, one of the main characters in the play, would live in a luxury apartment in the centre of London, over looking the River Thames. His apartment would have a minimalist theme to it and would be influenced by aesthetic; for example he would have a piece of abstract art on the wall for no reason other than that he thinks it looks nice. Everything Algernon has in the living room is there simply because it looks good and makes Algernon look good too. The fact that he has an expensive grand piano even though he cannot play it properly shows he is rich, as he has a lot of money to spend on unnecessary luxuries, but also it reflects Oscar Wilde's belief in aesthetics, as Algernon has the piano purely because it looks nice and makes him seem like an intellectual. I would have also place a mini bar on the stage to show he likes drinking and therefore is an easy-going, happy and laid-back person, but also that he is rich as he can afford to have one. As I have set the play in the 21st century, I would dress Cecily, another one of the four main characters, in a flowery pink dress. I have chosen the colour pink as it is a calm, pastel colour and shows Cecily's girly, childish innocence; also as we know Cecily is meant to be very pretty, the whole notion of being `pretty in pink' emphasizes on her beauty. The flowers on the dress represent the fact that she lives in the country but it is also another feminine factor. The style of the dress would be quite fashionable and casual yet at the same time elegant. I would give her a pink designer handbag in order to show that she is rich and posh. She would wear pink dolly shoes again symbolize her youth and innocence. If I were choosing an actress to play the part of Cecily, I would choose someone fair skinned with blonde hair and quite flat chested to show the innocence and purity of Cecily. Another character I have chosen to discuss is Gwendolen. I would want Gwendolen to be the complete opposite to Cecily and so I would dress her in bold colours.
The ways women are presented in Northanger Abbey are through the characters of Catherine Morland, Isabella Thorpe, Eleanor Tilney, Mrs Allen, and the mothers of the Morland and Thorpe family, who are the main female characters within this novel. I will be seeing how they are presented through their personalities, character analysis, and the development of the character though out the novel. I will be finding and deciphering scenes, conversations and character description and backing up with quotes to show how Austen has presented women in her novel Northanger Abbey.
created the play as a comedy, showing how the world might be in the times of the
... of the floral shop at the beginning of the play, I would have the stage set with very minimal set pieces to emphasize the absence of wealth. I would have a very apparent clock in the opening scene to emphasize the time slowly ticking by. I think that the emphasis should be on the plant and on the characters, not on an elaborate store or set pieces on the stage. The main set piece should be the elaboration of the plant as it grows and thrives. Nothing should take away from this. I think that the absence of unnecessary props will allow the audience members to interpret the underdevelopment of Skid Row and also concentrate on the development of the plot and the character changes, especially in the case of Seymour and Audrey as they begin their relationship, which will cause the ending scene to be all the more dramatic when they both die at the hands of Audrey II.
The play is set in the early 1912 before the First World War in a time
Setting in all types of literature is a basic element that at a foundational level provides the reader with an atmosphere and physical place to position the characters. The setting in any dramatic work is an especially vital element since gives the players somewhere to bring to life the playwrights work. Furthermore, “The settings [the playwrights] describe are symbols that give the plays their meaning” (Barnet, Cain 210). Even a bare stage will contribute to the symbolism and theme presented on the stage. Every play ever written has been assigned a setting and each and every one has made an impact on the writing style, topics, and theme encompassed in the play.
Everyone has a poker face. Everyone has a bunbury. Everyone keeps secrets, and everyone lies. The question is, how does one tell if another is truthful about their intentions? There are many different cases in which one will lie about who they really are, but there is no telling when it is okay and if they can be forgiven. In many different stories that were read in Late British Literature this semester, we have characters that keep secrets from friends and loved ones. The simple truth is, people’s words are often different from the truth.
The setting that was used in this version of the play was able to show the formality of the era and setting. The setting established the importance of the king and the queen by placing them at the highest point in the room. The setting also gives the character a visual performance of where the characters would be in the scene. This interpretation by the acting company is a clear resemblance of the era that the play has established and how the setting would've been like in the
Imagine reading one of Shakespeare’s plays and then getting the chance of a lifetime to live in that time period the play was set in, seeing the whole city for all its glory and fascination. Then realizing many of Shakespeare’s descriptions all match up with the buildings, the people, and society. Even the smallest details are all around making the city come to life in that society, time and place. Shakespeare wrote his plays in the 1500’s and depicted many of these features in his writing. He made his readers go back to that time and love how the people of that time period lived and how their society worked. One of the most interesting things about two of Shakespeare’s most famous writings, A Midsummer’s Night Dream and Romeo & Juliet, is that they are historically accurate.
"Hey guys this dress is perfect for my Betty Boop costume!" Cali exclaimed as she ran up to a short, bright red dress that hung inside Charlotte Russe. "Yeah, it's really cute" I said running my hand over a few of the dresses that hung on the rack next to it. "And this one would be perfect for my costume" I said, picking up a red skater dress and looking over at Brook as she clicked at the keys on her phone, a huge smile spread across her
Jack invents his brother “Ernest” so that he can excuse himself from the country, where he serves as Cecily’s guardian. Under such pretense he can escape to town, where he can court Gwendolen and entertain himself with extravagant dinners. Similarly, Algernon invents his invalid friend “Bunbury,” so that he has an excuse to escape from the city when he does not care to dine with his relations. Fact and fiction collide when Algernon arrives at Jack’s country estate, pretending to the elusive “Ernest”. His arrival upsets Jack’s plan to kill off his fictional brother and nearly derails Jack’s real engagement to Gwendolen. That Algernon coins the terms “Bunburying” and “Bunburyist” after his imaginary invalid to describe such impersonations highlights
We need to look at the way Austen portrays Fanny Price after the wit and vivacity of her earlier heroines, it is often wondered how Austen could have created such a character as Fanny Price.
From what I believe, this play only takes place in one main setting where there is a tree that has a lack of leaves and then is full of trees. Basically, I would design my scenery by creating a dirt/country type of road that is on the older side, have the tree, a high mound/stone where Estragon can sit, and so on. Then with the overall costume design, I picture the characters to have clothes that are on the dirtier side as they have been sitting and waiting for days. Also, the clothes would be formal and most likely with a top hat since that was common back in the day. Finally, for the lighting I would have it change similar to that of daylight. Of course the characters would each have some extra light shown on them, but overall I want it to be slightly darker to portray the theme of confusion of the play. Now, for the two characters I would focus on specifically, I will choose Lucky and Pozzo. For Lucky, since he is a slave and in horrible condition, I would have his clothes all ripped up, his neck on the bloody side from the rope, his hair all messed up, his body language distraught and hunched over, and constantly holding a bag. On the other hand, Pozzo would have a hat on, dirty/formal clothes with a coat and maybe a tie that’s pulled down a little around the neck, his hands full of calluses from holding the rope, and
The production attempt of displaying things in familiar way that is accurate to life. Costumes give a visual appealing sense of how people were likely to wear. Each character’s costume needs to match their class standing in the society that the people could have worn. Actions that done by the characters as a response because of something that has happened or due to the fact that they have a motive, is important to the play but have to be done in an understandable or reasonable way. Dialogue has to close to what someone say as if they are having a real life conversation. In the production that was so important to showcasing any play is portraying it something with as much accuracy to where it becomes hard to distinguish what could happen versus what is not really likely to happen. The more a production pays attention to details such as costumes, actions, and dialogue and the more the actors can succeed in performing a truthful
The Importance of Being Earnest appears to be a conventional 19th century farce. False identities, prohibited engagements, domineering mothers, lost children are typical of almost every farce. However, this is only on the surface in Wilde's play. His parody works at two levels- on the one hand he ridicules the manners of the high society and on the other he satirises the human condition in general. The characters in The Importance of Being Earnest assume false identities in order to achieve their goals but do not interfere with the others' lives. The double life led by Algernon, Jack, and Cecily (through her diary) is simply another means by which they liberate themselves from the repressive norms of society. They have the freedom to create themselves and use their double identities to give themselves the opportunity to show opposite sides of their characters. They mock every custom of the society and challenge its values. This creates not only the comic effect of the play but also makes the audience think of the serious things of life.
The main characters do use their double lives to escape social regulation, although in differing ways and on each character different social pressures are acting. The women live alternative mental lives through fantastical journals whereas the men, due to their comparatively greater social freedom, are able to create alternative physical lives. Jack pursues a double life due to the pressures of rural, family responsibility. Algy does the same due to the authoritarian influences of his relatives and his financial troubles. 'The Importance of Being Earnest' was written in the tradition of the 'well-made play', fast paced and almost farcical plays peopled by stock characters, as described by Peter Raby; "two pairs of young 'romantic' lovers, a pair of older 'grotesques', separated orphan brothers and a 'blocking' parent." The heroes were conventionally brave and possessed `earnestness', valued very highly in Victorian society, encompassing all the aspects of an ideal man who had family piety, was in control of his expenses and had no debts, kept pace with society yet had solemn responsibility. The female characters have a parallel set of values; subservience, family piety, innocence and the limited role of women in the male dominated Victorian society. Jack and Algy, who are nearly polar opposites to the conventional Victorian hero wish to escape the demanding social expectations. Cecily wishes to escape her stock role as an innocent, protected ingénue and attempts this through the far more eventful whirlwind romance of her diary. Gwendolen, who lives a life of social convention supervised by a repressive mother, wishes to jettison this influence and in her diary lives a `sensational' life otherwise disallowed.