TO Kill A Mockingbird: Analysis

I attended the play On  October 12, 2012

To kill a Mockingbird is an intense novel. It is set in a small town, arguably in the south, yet the novel is simply the observations of the narrator, Scout. In reality the background of  the author is much like the scenery she depicts from the novel. She grew up in the small town of Monroeville, Alabama. In the end the book is significant and memorable, but nothing is better than experiencing a performance of theatre about an amazing work of art. Since the novel does not have exact scenic instructions, it allows space of mind to create a distinction in the play. I witnessed a play put on by the San Jose State Theatre production, about two weeks ago. The experience was unforgettable, I enjoyed being part of such wonderful play. I was familiar with the book but i had never seen a reenactment of the book. I have to give recognition to the theatre program here at San Jose State for putting such a great show together, I cannot give a name to thank, because everyone in the production did great, and i went to the second to last show, which means most of them were all exhausted, and even then the performance was splendid.

The school play

The play was set up stupendously. The time of the play was at 7, which already sets up a dark theme for the play. The novel, is well known to have a dark setting throughout the entire plot, except the days in the courthouse. In the play, I saw the lighting and the setup complemented the scene. It was a dark feel, but not necessarily dark on the stage. I also found the music to be quite helpful to the conjunction of the play. Just look at the lighting in the scene to the Left as a mob tries to attack Tom Robinson

John Megna as Dill in the !962 Film

I found one thing to  be quite interesting was the character of Dill. In the novel, I'm sure that the character was a guy, yet in the play, the character was played by a girl. I believe that was significant because in context it is thought that Dill is based on one of Harper Lee's closest childhood friend Truman Capote, yet in the novel there is a question mark about his sexuality. He does tell Scout he will marry her, but yet Scout is and could easily be confused as a guy. That seems a bit irrational, but it who can really judge that. This is where the ability for a distinction comes to play, allowing the director to differ from the novel. There might be a reason for putting a girl to play Dill. The size might be the reason, or the voice, or it is as simple as thats what the director wanted to portray.

Liz Marsden in The school play

Phantom of the Opera: 1st Project

Being new to campus, and not really having a passion for theatre, I found it difficult to communicate with others in class. Yet, I needed to get in a group to begin my 1st creative project. I decided to meet people and I would simply hope on to one, but I didn’t and the day came to talk about the project and I had no group. I honestly did not like the ideas presented in class and I thought with a new group we can have a new idea. Albert, first time I've ever seen him, offered the making of a new group, and I took on his idea. We joined Nick and began to work from there. Amazingly everything fell in its place, and we had new members, within minutes our group size doubled. We said we were going to work on the play "Phantom of the Opera," although skeptical about it, I did not have a better idea so I did not argue. 

Phantom and Christine

I was given the role to get the background and history on the play. I was fascinated at the many things I found. My contribution to the play consisted of about 9 hours worth of research. It was hard to find background on the theatre or "Eric" because it’s biased, and most are based on opinions and assumptions. But after this amount of time I became aware of the things that Eric had to go through. in the play not much is known about Eric, but in the context of the history, it is said that Eric, was born with a hideous face and that his mother gave him a mask, and with so many put downs, he decided to run away, and he ended up being raised by circus performers. Eventually he resided under the theatre he helped design, Palais Garnier, and it’s said he died there, haunting the theatre, up to this day. In reality it’s not certain, it’s again a lot of bias and there’s still a doubt where the fiction meets the truth.

Palais Garnier:Inside

Before the project I felt that theatre is a waste of time, a dead form of art. But now I realize its not, maybe people think like me and don’t really give theatre a chance, and they only judge without knowing. But I had to give it a chance I had to open up. With this same mentality I went to see the schools play "To Kill a Mockingbird" and honestly I enjoyed myself a lot. I believe this project not only taught me the background to the play, but I do think it opened my eyes to see the real beauty of theatre. 

Midsummer Night's Dream: Script Vs Motion

The forest scene in the written play is a certain love story. I got the feel of the forrest scene simply showing the intense love the love  triangle shared. The truth is that they all have love for the wrong people, and the gathering in the forest scene would clear up everything. ALTHOUGH, it didn't quite clear up a thing, to me, it wasn't suppose to be a scary scene.

Helena, Lysander, And Hermia

The Forest scene in the movie is very detailed it shows lots of ghost, and it involves a lot of people. The scene its self looks like that of a scary movie, its dark, with nothing but the moonlight, and it  includes a lot of creepy sounds. the music leads up to the feel of suspense. I personally did not like the movie, because the scene was too obscure, and i believe in the script it was not that dark.

Forrest Scene (Movie)

The Fact that the movie made the forest scene as a dark scene, it was to me, not good. i felt it actually dragged away from the actual play, but that might be my perseption of the play. I just felt the movie tried to make the scene scary and it was suppose to be more dramatic and failed romantic encounters.  

English, Italy and France: 17th Century

In England, Puritans worked  a lot to rid out "sinful" theatre. A law was passed that lasted almost 5 years, and it ended up closing down a lot of theaters. After the restoration period, more theatre companies rose up to give more shows and performances. Scenic innovations were also key, in fact in the early 18th century Jacques de Loutherbourg created a new kind of background involving moveable floor decor allowing a "floor break" and a feel of depth in the background. Also, many plays consisted of having the speaking actor in front of the others and under the spotlight.

English theatre

In Italy, theatre was full of contrast. It also maintained a double aspect throughout the entire century. On one end it kept an open dramatic criteria to the public, but on the other hand it illuminated Europe with comedy in ways no one could restrict. A lot of the theatre is mostly improvisational and and hardly any writings became famous dramatists. In the 17th Century was wen Italy created the musical theatre known as Opera, so most of its theatre was like Opera.

Italian Theatre

In France, Women were allowed to be part of plays. Sill in the eyes of religious, lives of actors was seen as morally wrong. The French got a lot of their ideas to their theatre from Italy, including the idea of Opera came to France in the late 17th century.

French Theatre

Medea: Innocent or Evil?

Medea

The Character of Medea can be seen as many things. I believe Medea is a crazy woman that cares a lot and and solemnly about Jason's betrayal. She is hurt of what he wants even when it comes to him asking her to be his mistress, and when he tries to explain what happened, she is still bothered. She goes on trying to hurt Jason, and i feel she is just made of pure evil, that there is no question about her evilness.

Medea killing her kids

Medea has a problem, maybe a mental problem, an obsession with Jason may be the correct wording for it. She kills her kids not for any other reason, but to hurt Jason. She also tries to poison Jason's wife. She shows makes Jason see all of his loss and then she leaves, as if the victim of what happened. Yet indifferent of what happened she is the only one to blame, because as much as a betrayal could hurt, she went to an extreme. To kill another being, not just one, but several, or even to kill those who have your own blood, who she gave birth to, its all simply inhumane.

Medieval vs. Japanese

Medieval theater was very well known, and it was very well recognized, yet it was easily confused by other acts, and others were lost because they lack literary sources. At that time most plays hardly consist of  written scripts because few can write, and about the same could read. At that time a lot of the plays related to religion, or it portrayed morality, and the importance of morals. One of the most notable types of theatre was the pageant wagons. The actors were on a moving stage and they moved around the quad.

Pageant Wagons

Japanese theater has several variations, but the most famous is the "kabuki". As stated in Wikipedia, "Kabuki is a type of theatre that combines music, drama, and dance." It was a great success with the use of real swords and such a "real-life" experience. Another type of art is the "bunraku" which consist of puppet-like shows. the audience sees the characters being controlled by actors/performers who are underneath a black cloak. At times, the cloaked actors would control humans, as puppets as well.

Bunraku

Nowadays we can see more work from Japanese theatre than Medieval theatre not necessarily because its better, but because in japan, more people were literate, and in medieval times literacy was a big issue. 

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Silent Movie, more than text

In the play, Silent Movie by Jessica Hagedorn, Emma and Lucy are united in a relationship of pleasure and authority. It is evident they please each other in companionship and sexually, but its not certain if they are both there in free will. Emma has the authority over Lucy by title, but towards the end it seems the other way around almost as if Lucy could have manipulated Emma into doing what she had done.

Class differences

Both characters shape the class differences in that Lucy is Emma's maid,  and when things come down to it, Emma loses her head, and Lucy controls the situation. This shows that even though things tend to be easier for Emma, she cant control her emotions under pressure, which makes it almost evident that Lucy has been in situations similar to this, or that she has something to do with it all.

Racial differences

The racial differences depicted by these characters in the play is and can be very questionable. A noticeable racial difference is how they refer to the older Chinese man as the "chink". Also, they refer to him as a harmless old man, as if he couldn't even consider touching them. He was close to nothing in the women's eyes, therefore marking the difference and setting up a "White Racial Frame" in which the whites are above all the "non-whites"

External Links:
http://www.jessicahagedorn.net/about-2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Hagedorn

Shapes of the Theater

Theater does not only consist of the actors and the drama. Every type of theater has its own need of a stage, indifferent of what it might be, it set distinctions between types of plays. There three main types of architectural forms of stage: the proscenium, the thrust, and the arena. All have its pros and its cons.

Teatro Municipal do Rio DE Jaineiro, Brazil

Proscenium types of theater allow the audiences to observe the play from any part of the theater. This is very common for theatrical performances especially in the Americas. Unfortunately it restricts the ability to fully feel as part of the performances.

Maclab Theater, Canada

The thrust style leaves a little space between the actor and the audience, making the audience feel part of the play, or entertainment. At instances there has been complaints of the front row audience getting sweat on them. On the other hand it is hard to actually have more than 5 people in the play without having obstructions. Typically these theaters are used by smaller theater companies, to accommodate themselves.

Riverside Community Theater, California

The arena style works mostly for bigger crowds, but it is very limited in how things will make it work out. In this case the theater can only hold 183 people allowing interaction with the actors, yet limiting the audience significantly. On another note the actors might have to turn their backs to the audience at some point.

All three types of theater are significant to the performance because of their pros and cons.