Saturday, April 13, 2013
Show and Tell Post #2
For my second show and tell post I am focusing on the play Grace written by Craig Wright. It was
written in 2003 and has been produced a couple of times. In October 2004 the
play premiered in Washington D.C. by the Wolly Mammoth Theatre Company at the
Warehouse Theater. In 2006 The Furious Theatre Company produced Grace at the Pasadena Playhouse Carrie
Hamilton Theatre. Most recently, Grace premiered on Broadway at the Cort
Theatre in October 2012. The Broadway show closed only a couple moths later,
but it starred Paul Rudd and Michael Shannon! You can buy a copy of this play
on Amazon if you click on the following link: http://www.amazon.com/Grace-Play-Craig-Wright/dp/0810128993/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1365884602&sr=1-1&keywords=grace+craig+wright
Grace is a play revolving around a
married couple in their 30's, Steve and Sara, who have just recently moved from
Minnesota to Florida to start building and opening Steve's line of hotels.
Steve and Sara are extremely religious, looking to God and believing in God for
everything. Mr. Himmelman is an investor from Zurich, who promised to sponsor
Steve's project. Steve and Sara
have a next-door neighbor named Sam. He is a wealthy man who lost his fiancé
six months prior in a horrible car accident. Being neighbors, Sam, Steve and
Sara get to know each other very well, and Sam and Sara begin to have an
affair. As the affair goes on, so does the building of the hotels. Steve is now
just waiting on Mr. Himmelman to wire the large sum of money to the bank so
Steve can launch his business. After many months of waiting, Steve is informed
the bank is selling the hotels because no money has or will be wired. Steve,
overcome with emotion and confusion, wants to move back with Sara to Minnesota
and start their life over. However, Sara expresses to him that he wants a
divorce. Steve, catching on to what is going on between his wife and Sam, goes
over to Sam's apartment, and shoots and kills Sara and Steve.
One
extreme dramaturgical choice in Grace revolves
around sequence. Wright puts the very last moment of the story and makes it the
first scene of the play. So the play opens with a gunshot and two dead bodies
lying on the floor. From there, time moves backwards. The dead bodies, Sara and
Sam, get up and the conversation had right before Steve shot Sam and Sara
continues, still moving backwards in time. After this first scene, the sequence
begins chronologically all the way till the end of the play. The last scene of
the play ends with the same conversation that was going backwards in the first
scene, and the last moment is Steve just about to shoot Sam and Sara. I think
Wright chose to play with sequencing so foreshadowing and dramatic irony is
created. Wright wants to give a taste of what happens to the characters in the
play before the story begins because it lets the audience know what to look out
for and what is of upmost importance. Another dramaturgical choice in Grace is that both Sara and Steve's apartment and Sam's apartment
are seen on stage at all times. So, when a scene takes place in Sam's
apartment, you see Sara and Steve working, interacting, and responding in their
own apartment. I think Wright chose to do this to show two completely opposite
worlds interacting. Also, he does
this to emphasize the transition of Sara and Steve together and Sam alone, to
Sara and Sam together and Steve alone. This creates a lot of visual and
emotional tension, which also represents the tension all of the characters are
going through. Grace has now become
on of my favorite plays, based on the brilliant dramaturgical choices and fascinating
subject matter.
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Detroit Response
So, I think I am going to go for the more challenging
question and tackle why D'Amour's play is called Detroit? My first assumption before reading it, which was soon
proven wrong, was that the play was set in Detroit, Michigan. Though as you
mentioned, it is especially odd because D'amour describes in the setting that
the play is set "not necessarily [in] Detroit." D'amour follows that
statement with: "However, we are in a 'first ring' suburb outside of a
mid-sized American city." So, the city of Detroit could definitely qualify
as being the setting. Having said all of that, I believe the play is called Detroit because Detroit is a city that
suggests such concern over the economy like no other city. Detroit went from
being a huge money- maker to one of the poorest cities in the country. It went
from being extremely populated to extremely deserted. Money is a huge topic of
conversation in D'amour's play. For example, the way Mary tries to present her
home to her guests by showing off expensive foods. Also, the way Kenny and
Sharon are beyond poor with not but two pieces of furniture in their house.
When I think about the city of Detroit, I think about the economy and money. I
think about the people who left Detroit because there was no money to be made,
and the people who stayed in Detroit, who grew dirt poor. It also makes me
think about how the people who stayed in Detroit after the economy crashed,
probably stayed because it was their home. It was not about the money, but
about neighbors and family. The title, Detroit,
pertains to not only the financial state of the city itself, but also the community
that once made up the city, and the community that makes up the city today.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Water By the Spoonful Response
The second half
of Scene eight is one part of Water By
The Spoonful in which realities interact. In this part of the scene,
Orangutan is online and Elliot accidently types into the thread, speaking as
his mom, also known as Haikumom. Elliot starts writing personal questions,
asking about what it is like be on crack. Orangutan immediately catches on that
it is not Odessa writing, but someone else. Elliot, Odessa's son, admits that
it is him. Orangutan then asks and comfort Elliot on his past overdoses and mentions
that there are other online forums for pain medication users. As Orangutan
continues, Elliot discovers that his mother shared all of his confidential
information to her online friends, most of which Yaz did not even have
knowledge of. Hudes has these particular realities intersecting at this
particular moment in the plot in this particular way because this online
website has been Elliot's mom's life for so long, and though Elliot knew of it,
he did not know the extent of what was talked about. This moment reveals the
point in which Elliot is fully exposed to the secret life his mom has been
living, and the point in which Orangutan is exposed to the effects outside of
the thread that she spends the majority of her day on. Hudes chooses to have
the worlds intersect at this particular moment because in the moment before,
Elliot fought face to face with his mom about how she was not there for him. So
Hudes creates a climactic moment when, after a heated argument with his mother,
he finds that she has been making him a story on a website. Suddenly, the place
that Odessa, Orangutan, and many others considered their support system, is now
what is hurting others and being ripped apart.
Monday, March 18, 2013
Buried Child Response
Sam Shepard's Buried
Child represents theatrical realism on the surface, but there are
definitely elements that counter the presentational conventions of
illusionistic realism. The major
incident that comes to mind is the idea that none of Vince's family recognizes
him. For example, Vince enters the house and Dodge claims to have no idea who
he is. It is even more unrealistic when Shelly asks Vince's father, Tilden,
" Is he your son? Do you recognize him!" and Tilden responds, "I
had a son once but we buried him." The way Shepard creates Vince's father,
grandfather, and family to claim he is a stranger is surrealistic and counters
the illusionistic realism the majority of the play portrays. A bit of
complexity arises in the play when talking about the crops in the backyard.
Sheldon claims that there is bundles of fresh corn out back, but Dodge and
Halie say that there has not been corn out there since 1935. In the end of the
play, Halie contradicts herself by saying, " I've never seen such corn.
Tall as a man already. It's like a paradise out there." Shepard portrays
multiple truths, causing complexity and creating a non-illusionistic view. Also,
the attitudes and characteristics of the characters do not fully represent "a
slice-of-life". What I mean by this is that every character has an extreme
personality, creating a world that you do not see everyday. For example,
Bradley has a wooden leg and sticks his hand in people’s mouths, Shelly screams
at people she does not know, and Dodge drowned a baby. Those are just three examples
out of the seven characters, but that already makes for quite an insane and
surreal world. As much as Buried Child represents
illusionistic realism, there are many elements that counter the presentational
conventions.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Noises Off Response
When thinking about a motif for Noises Off, the first idea that comes to mind is,
"confusing". Though that is right along the lines of the motif,
"miscommunications" which you could apply to every farce. So thinking
deeper for a motif that others would miss on their first read-through would be,
"baggage". What I mean by
this is the characters do not stop talking of experiences they have had with
one another, and in result, it influences every interaction they have with each
other. The fascinating thing about Noises
Off is that you see the relationships between the actors just as much as
the relationship between the characters. It is obvious how much baggage each
actor has, and how greatly it influences his or he performance in Nothing On. For example, Dotty, being in
an unhappy relationship Gary, cannot stop crying on and off stage in the second
act. Her experience with her cast mate greatly changes the way she plays Mrs.
Clackett because there is so much more going on between her and Roger. Also, literally
there is a lot of baggage because there are dozens of props that the actors
constantly forget and get yelled at about. The motif "baggage" arises
a lot because the characters cannot help but bring themselves and the
relationships they have had with one another into their character in Nothing On. A good "tag line"
for Noises Off would be, "And on
we blindly stumble!" Lloyd says this line and I think it is the driving
force of not only Noises Off, but
also the play within the play, Nothing
On. The major dramatic question asks whether the cast will get through the
play. The actors accomplish this only by blindly stumbling through it!
The Glass of Water Response
In The Glass of Water,
it is hard to pick out the protagonist because there are many important
stories going on at the same time revolving around different characters. Though
if I had to choose, I would say Masham and Abigail are the protagonists
together. I say this because The Glass of
Water is, in part, a story revolving around love. What I mean by that is the
major dramatic question is: Will Masham and Abigail be together? One might say
that Bolingbrook is the protagonist because he gets the most stage time. But
the majority of Bolingbrook’s problems revolve around the war which is not the
prominent conflict in the story! So even though Masham and Abigail do not get
the majority of stage time, I still deem them as the protagonist. Also Scribe
makes it so the audience roots and feels for the couple. One way he does that
is by portraying Abigail as just a poor, sweet jewelers assistant. We
automatically feel sympathy for Abigail and want her to finally be happy with
Masham. Determining the protagonist of every play you are analyzing is very
important, but I get the feeling that it is not the most important order of
business in a well-made play. The plot is a lot stronger than the character in
most well-made plays, and in this particular play there is not one, but
multiple secrets revolving around every character. Therefore I do not believe
the play would have appeared differently if you looked at Anne, the Queen of
England, as the protagonist. The majority of secrets are equally important, and
I believe the majority of characters are too.
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