THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH Introduction/Exposition: Imagine two wealthy Kings that banished their two prudent sisters from the land and by doing so, land themselves into deep masses of darkness and confusion. In the middle of this major dilemma, a boy, Milo, and his new found companion, Tock, the watchdog, take on this much-needed excursion to rescue the sisters and liberate the light and peace in the land. This is the predicament that was used in the play, The Phantom Tollbooth, put on by the Bert Bowes Middle School in Fort St. John. In this enactment, they were critiqued on their sets, acting, and their experience. In this magical experience, the volunteers that put on the enactment were extremely resourceful. The sets were a little intricate to acquire, especially when the donations, and fundraising, were few. The cast and volunteers were impressive on their improvisation for sets they couldn’t buy, like using a projector to set the atmosphere. However, some sets weren’t so great. They could have improved on some sets and the complications like the microphones being sometimes on and off. Overall, the sets were improvised skillfully, and the show was exceptionally concluded. …show more content…
Milo, the primary character, represents the average bored boy spiritless without his imagination. Milo sits in his ordinary and undiverse bedroom as he thinks over and over, “what should I do?” The other part of this assessment deals with a hilarious character, Tock the watchdog. This character had amazing improv, even if the experience level was minimal and was without proper training. Azaz and the Mathemagician were brilliant characters in my opinion except for maybe the
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
The phantom tollbooth is a wonderful book written by Norton Juster. The phantom tollbooth is about a kid who does not know how to use his time and does not care about anything. This boy was named Milo. And he got a suspicious box and when he opened it there was a tollbooth. And when he went through the tollbooth he was teleported to magical land and had to complete a quest. And throughout this quest he changes . I will cite three instances where he changes.
―Fences.‖ Drama for Students. Ed. David M. Galens. Vol. 3. Detroit: Gale, 1998. 180-197. Gale
The first character that intrigued me, probably because I could relate to him the most was Andrew, the "jock." A jock is the group of people that are athletically inclined and are usually part of a sports team. When all the students were confessing what they had done he seemed the most regretful of his actions. Andrew being a great wrestler at school saw an unsuspecting teammate that was much smaller than he was and decided to jump on him and start beating up on him. What made his case so extreme was that not only did beat up on his teammate but he taped his butt cheeks together. The perception that I, as well as the members of the breakfast club, had of Andrew was that he couldn't think for himself. He also thought the same thing because he said that he felt pressured by his dad to do something mischievous because he (his dad) used to get into mischievous acts often while he was in high school. So while he was looking at his smaller teammate he said that all he could here was his father telling him about being a winner and doing so many unnecessary things just because he was an exceptional athlete. When Andrew told his story it seemed that all the other people were going to cry because they could see that he regretted doing what he did.
He quickly went inside the Castle-in-the-Air. Although, in the play Milo wanted to go quickly since the demons were after them. There are also major differences in the structure. The play version of The Phantom Tollbooth has a live audience. The audience is included in the play.
The set used vivid colors and the different levels of height which made the set more impactful. For the most part, the set seemed sturdy, but some parts were a little shaky. When the bridge was moved into the center stage during the auction scene, as Sister Julia, Child of God, played by Matt Stone, went down the stairs the set piece shook back and forth. Also, on both of the nights I saw the show, there was a reoccurring problem with the birdcage. Repeatedly, this prop fell at moments it wasn't supposed to and this was evident in the actors’ reactions.
Milo: A boy of 12 who always seems bored. He finds everything in life completely uninteresting and has a special disdain for homework, since he thinks it is useless. Even though he might seem lazy, he actually has a good heart and always uses his creative ideas to help people in need without hesitation.
The production had many elements which for the most part formed a coalition to further the plot. The characters, the three part scenery and costumes represented well the period of time these people were going through. As far as the performers entering and exiting the stage, it could have been more organized. There were a few times when the performers exited at the wrong times or it seemed so due to the echo of the music. At certain moments the music was slightly loud and drowned the performers. Many of the songs dragged on, so the pacing could have been more effectively executed. Though the music was off at times, the director's decision to have most of the songs performed center sage was a wise one. Also the implementation of actual white characters that were competent in their roles came as a great surprise to the audience and heightened the realism.
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.
The director did a fantastic job at creating a stage a beautiful storytelling stage. The audience had a change to be part of the play because of the proximity of the seats to the stage. Some people sat on chairs while other sat on decorated seating pillows. For such wonderful story, I thought this was an effective way to keep the audience engage. On the stage, they had circular shaped boxes colored with blue patterns and the actors used them thought the play.
It the novel The Phantom Tollbooth the author, Norton Juster, tells the story of a city that has split into two parts: Reality and Illusions. The city of Illusions looked very beautiful but was imaginary and the city of Reality was invisible but existed. According to the story the city of Illusions was a mirage but the city of Reality had become invisible because people stopped looking at it because they were in a hurry to get where they were going. At first when people hurried by things without looking at them the things got uglier and dirtier but then over time things started to fade away because no one noticed or cared. Now the Cities can’t be fixed because “they can never see what they are too busy to look for.” Alex stated that the
Melodrama, as seen throughout America during the 19th century, is characterized by its central structural aspects: an action-packed and thrilling plot, strong central conflict between the virtuous hero; the vindictive villain; and of course, the damsel in distress (W.B. Worthen, 991). In The Octoroon, Boucicault captures these stock characters of melodrama as represented in the play’s love triangle: George (the hero), M’Closky (the villain) and Zoe (the damsel). Boucicault, rather masterfully, deploys the convention of character stereotypes, so frequently seen in 19th century melodrama— some stereotypes being more offensive than others, like those white actors portraying black characters wearing blackface makeup. For instance, in the opening scene and stage directions of The Octoroon, white audiences of the time are offered a slice of southern plantation life— or as the play is alternately known as, Life in Louisiana.
Right from the very start there was no energetic vibe given from the set or the actors. The set was very different to how I pictured it to be with the amount of props and different backdrops. But I guess there isnt alot of things you can have on the set of a wedding set to make it look impressive. If I was to change anything for this production I would have shortened the amount of singing in the play because it got very boring after a while. I thought the set was extremely plain and very lifeless.
Barton, Anne. Introduction to Twelfth Night. The Riverside Shakespeare. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1974. 403-407.
Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, a humorous piece of self-reflexive theater that draws upon Shakespeare's Hamlet as the source of the story. The actual device of self-reflexive theater is used so well in Stoppard's play that it reads like the love child of a play and a compelling critical essay. The play is academic yet conversationally phrased and it deepens our understanding of the original play but also criticizes it. The aspect of self-reflexive theater is used to comment on theater itself but also as a presentation of ideas and analysis that had previously had no place on the plot-centric set-up of stage and audience.