Dram Theory
Aristotle, the father of all dramatists, has held a timeless influence
over all forms of drama and dramaturgy. For example, let us look at
Lodovico Castelvetro, who studied and composed a response to
Aristotle's poetics. Within this treatise Castelvetro said, "Now,
since drama was invented, as I say, to delight and provide recreation
for the common people, it must have subject matter which the common
people can understand and which when they understand it may make the
people happy." Unfortunately, it is my opinion that Translations by
Brian Friel, does not meet or adhere to these basic tenets. Although
Friel does depict situations which are understandable by the common
plebian, his mode of presentation as a playwright lacks clarity. I
believe that had Mr. Friel observed Castelvetro's beliefs on a well
written play, his product may have been easier to understand, and
therefore more enjoyable to the public.
Within his treatise Castelvetro stress's the three unities. These
unities include time, place, and action. Brain Friel wrote a beautiful
commentary of the English annexing of Ireland. He gave voice to a
language long dead, and gave the Celtics a chance to For example,
Translations could be located both temporally and spatially to a fixed
point in Irish history. The characters are from Baile Beag, renamed
with the anglicized title of Ballybeg. The action of the play occurs
over a number of days towards the end of August 1833, and by doing
this Friel breaks with the unity of time. It was Castelvetro's belief
that a show should take place within the course of a day, meaning that
the time presented should not exceed 12 hrs. Without careful thought
given to the design this passage of time can become muddied.
At this point without the assistance of the design team or the program
explaining the passage of time, the show can become confusing and
distasteful for the audience. Fortunately Friel chooses to adhere to
the unity of place and the audience is able to anchor their reality
within one of the unities.
Comparative study of RIII and LFR reveal the contextual influences on the portrayal of power and the duplicity of humanity, as these values transcendent regardless of era. Shakespeare and Pacino highlight that to learn connections of texts is to dissect each texts and create appreciation of the other, which reshapes the perception of an individual, facilitating a deeper and more enriched understanding of the play and the docudrama.
“A dramatistic explaination appears in terms that performers can comfortably employ in their efforts to stage events” (Pelias and Shaffer 62). This means that the process for understanding text in an aethestic manor needs to be simple and understandable to the performer so it can be clearly related to the audience. So, for the process to be effective it has to be true to reality, otherwise the message of the text will be lost. Pelias and Shaffer describe the questions in Burke’s Pentad as “fundamental of all human action” (62). The simplicity and familiarity of the concepts are comfortable for even the most inexperienced performer.
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 ...
Inaccurate memories can happen to anyone even when they believe it truly happened. One might think that there is only one type of memory but that it not the case. When Jim thinks that he remembers something but actually does not, the memory he thinks he remembers would be categorized under flashbulb memories. Usually, it is a flashbulb memory of a childhood experience. These memories are actually very similar to regular memories.
a very good model for the time it was made and it is based on reliable
Have you ever wondered what allows us to be aware of the present? It is actually the past! Without knowledge of past information, we would be constantly confused during the present and incapable of almost everything. Hockenbury & Hockenbury (2012) describes memory to be, “…the mental processes that enable us to acquire, retain, and retrieve information”. Without the presence of either of these three processes, the other two would be obsolete. Many experiments have been conducted to better understand these processes and break them down into their basic components.
I endeavor to piece together areas of my life that relate to the struggles or victories characters go through and reflect how relevant the play is to me. There are certain works that have relevance to almost everyone; this is the case for the play Othello. Play-goers across the centuries may discover relevance in the successes or hardships that Shakespeare's characters go
When many people decided to sit down and read a book or a play it is because the title or summary entices them. As the story comes to an end it is decided whether or not the person related to or understood the point of the literature. Great authors and playwrights know this and set in place concepts. Many different concepts, to catch different audiences attention and to deepen the understanding of the literature. In order to understand Shakespeare’s play Othello, it is necessary to examine the emotions of jealousy, manipulation, being consumed by something, and gender.
Every intersection, every corner, every doorway has a story, for the stories we tell, the stories we pass on, bear witness to our lives. In 1987, my mother was in her senior year of high school when she entered her school auditorium to listen to a guest speaker. Selene Bruk was a survivor who shared her story about the Holocaust. My mother sat in the front row, engaged in every word this captivating woman spoke with such passion, emotion and conviction. Mrs. Bruk stated that when the Holocaust was over, she wanted to wrap up her experiences, not think, talk or remember it, but she couldn’t, she felt compelled to share her story. Twenty seven years later that very name, Selene Bruk, and her story crossed my path while researching Holocaust survivors. This intersection of sorts was not merely a meaningless accident or coincidence, but rather, a tapestry of events that culminated in a bigger plan, a plan for me to hear and learn the experiences of Mrs. Bruk.
According to Sternberg (1999), memory is the extraction of past experiences for information to be used in the present. The retrieval of memory is essential in every aspect of daily life, whether it is for academics, work or social purposes. However, many often take memory for granted and assume that it can be relied on because of how realistic it appears in the mind. This form of memory is also known as flashbulb memory. (Brown and Kulik, 1977). The question of whether our memory is reliably accurate has been shown to have implications in providing precise details of past events. (The British Psychological Association, 2011). In this essay, I would put forth arguments that human memory, in fact, is not completely reliable in providing accurate depictions of our past experiences. Evidence can be seen in the following two studies that support these arguments by examining episodic memory in humans. The first study is by Loftus and Pickrell (1995) who found that memory can be modified by suggestions. The second study is by Naveh-Benjamin and Craik (1995) who found that there is a predisposition for memory to decline with increasing age.
The first principle that Aristotle outlines in Poetics is that of the plot, and according to him, the most important feature in a play. He defines the plot as “the arrangement of incidents”, meaning the structure of the play. Aristotle believes that the plot must be “a whole”, “complex”, “of certain magnitude”, and must be “complete” having “unity of action” (McManus). Molière’s Tartuffe fits this criterion perfectly. The play is considered to be whole in that i...
As a Shakespearean tragedy represents a conflict which terminates in a catastrophe, any such tragedy may roughly be divided into three parts. The first of these sets forth or expounds the situation, or state of affairs, out of which the conflict arises; and it may, therefore, be called the Exposition. The second deals with the definite beginning, the growth and the vicissitudes of the conflict. It forms accordingly the bulk of the play, comprising the Second, Third and Fourth Acts, and usually a part of the First and a part of the Fifth. The final section of the tragedy shows the issue of the conflict in a catastrophe. (52)
Twenty-two hundred years before the emergence of the Theater of the Absurd, the Greek philosopher Artistotle stumbled upon one of the themes developed in Samuel Beckett's play Waiting for Godot; that is, that Thought (Dianoia) is expressed through Diction and that Thought (Theoria) is in itself a form of Action (Energeia). Intellectual action is thus measured equally in comparison to physical action. Over the centuries, theories regarding thought, action and language have evolved considerably, but certain underlying themes in Beckett's unconventional work can trace their origins back to Aristotle's original concepts concerning drama, namely the relationships between language, thought and the action involved in contemplation.
Aristotle. Poetics. Trans. Gerald F. Else. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 1967. Dorsch, T. R., trans. and ed. Aristotle Horace Longinus: Classical Literary Criticism. New York: Penguin, 1965. Ley, Graham. The Ancient Greek Theater. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1991. Reinhold, Meyer. Classical Drama, Greek and Roman. New York: Barrons, 1959.
William Shakespeare's Hamlet and Sophocles Oedipus the King have long been included on academic lists for scholarly study as literary texts. As someone who has studied both texts in just the manner Hornby mentions, I would suggest that what is lost when a scholar treats a play text as literature is precisely that `central part of the play's meaning' which is illuminated by consideration of how a play was `designed to work on stage'. I intend to look at the crucial opening moments of each play, heeding Hornby's words, and keeping the text's status as `pretext' to an eventual performance very much at the forefront of my analysis.