devantewho-blog

[devantewho-blog]

[devantewho-blog]

Dr Faustus review part 2

[devantewho-blog]

Doctor Faustus Review part 1 : https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/apr/26/doctor-faustus-review-kit-harington-duke-of-yorks-theatre-game-of-thrones

[devantewho-blog]

Critical reading 2

This is On Political Theatre

By Michael Kirby

 This pieace of reading opens with a question “Is all theatre political” something we were asked on one of our first lectures with the majority of the audience saying no before being educated.

 This critical reading is very well written with a clear writing style which is more informative using understandable language. Not once did I find myself being confused in the writing or be lost in point of the reading, in fact I would go so far to say as I enjoyed this reading as it was interesting.

 The choice of language was simple in a sense that this was written more to inform the general mass as opposed to a select group of academics.

 It follows a timeline of theatre referencing hamlet and journeys end as well as popular films such as a street car called desire. the reading touches upon our times and how the threat of terrorism and fear have affected theatre in a way that opposes war.

It also taught me how everything is an act from activism to politician’s speeches.

 This pieace of reading is informative, well written and extremely useful.

 https://unilearn.southwales.ac.uk/bbcswebdav/pid-2073504-dt-content-rid-2341018_1/courses/RA1D13_2016_v1/kirby%20political%20theatre.pdf

[devantewho-blog]

[devantewho-blog]

The terrible things I’ve done

The terrible thing I’ve done was written by Alan Harris and Directed by Sita Calvert-Ennals . The play comes from Invisible Ink theatre who created this pieace with an extremely unique method: They did this by setting up anonymous confession booths and then finding the most unique and interesting ones to create several almost sketch like scenes with one arc thought the pieace. The confessions range from white lies to heart-breaking tales ranging from an affair to a simple sickie.

 I personally will always find the mere idea of this play in genius and inspired with the payoff being just as great. The mix of confessions really did add an element of surprise with the play with the range being hysterical which generally was anything said by actress Lynn Hunter (Who really was the stand out for me) but the ones that stood out to me were the shocking and heart-breaking ones. The first that comes to mind is the story of a boy who breaks his mother’s heart which come right after a rather humorous confession. The simplistic staging of boxes which can be moved to become anything the actors needed was also something fun to watch . Finally, the confessions themselves were so human, so real and with some so relatable that it was a very ell structured and put together pieace. The staging with boxes that light up and holding props in to help build story’s up and keeping the stage free for the audience’s imagination needed to create the scene.

 Though amazing for me this play did have a few faults which were very minor which was with the main story arc – though it was good to have a long story to follow though the sketches it did feel drawn out and more boring for me personally. Very well acted but a boring narrative. This was the only major flaw I found as the lighting was not the finished product and it was very bland with it being used to change scenes or make dark scenes darker

 Overall I thought the play was something new and fun and would highly recommend to everyone. My one regret is not seeing the finished product . 

[devantewho-blog]

Critical reading 1

Critical reading 1

 The critical reading of GENDER & SOCIETY, Vol. 30 No. 1, February 201Women in power:Undoing the Gendered organization

 This critical reading is located in the university of south wales blackboard system .

The reading itself is about how women are in our society and how society sees women in places of power for example bosses, corporate directors etc. It claims that women generally women work in lower standard than men.

 Whilst informative and hold a strong and balanced argument to make sense of why women may not in fact want to rise up the rank it is extremely drawn out and I have to say rather boring and at point preachy. It is informative work with a huge amount of effort and sources and it does get its point across but it is hidden behind many long words which makes it sound slightly pretentious and less written for students and more for academics

On the other hand, I do wish I had used this when working on my dutchess of Malfi review as it has many things supporting womens rights but also later on delves into womens history something that tied in very close with my essay.

 https://unilearn.southwales.ac.uk/bbcswebdav/pid-2070299-dt-content-rid-2333124_1/courses/RA1D13_2016_v1/women%20in%20power%20-%20send%20to%20geraint.pdf

[devantewho-blog]

Far side of the moon - sources with review

[devantewho-blog]

Far side of the moon review

Far side of the moon

 The far side of the side of the moon was directed by Philip zarilli, it was a mind-bending theatre pieace on two brothers and their revival. It is a one-man show accompanied by puppets.

 The two brothers each have their own characters with one of them (The oldest) being a lecturer and set up as almost a nobody with no wife a small apartment and has arguably failed in his life and his brother who is a successful weatherman with a wife and a goatee.

 The play itself is a very mundane story but what sets it apart is the stage work .

1972 a future of sex maybe the best play I’ve ever seen but this is extremely close . the director made the stage his play ground right from the start with the stage looking like it turns almost blinding the auidience temporaily o make this . It felt like watching a film with projections of the director, main actor, puppeteers etc. and it was very different as most theatre shows try to distance themselves from film and television but this embraced it for example there was a scene in which crawled inside a washing machine and we could see that on a projected screen.

 The set was very basic in its design but it was always effective with the stage looking layered with one of the main settings being the oldest brother’s apartment it had sliding doors filled with clothes and various props but the sliding doors that were a wardrobe also with a simple projection became

An elevator in which the younger brother got stuck in.Every scene was different to the next in how it had its own feeling and even without the story itself it felt like a new day and this was helped with the lighting design which changed with each passing day and almost with the characters as the younger brother felt like it was lighter and the younger darker an obvious look into their lives.

 Props were used effectively used with a telephone giving us one side of a conversation but was really the only connection between the two brothers off course with them never being able to meet for obvious reasons so the phone was a bridge between the two.

We as an audience were also taught over 10 ways to use an ironing board which in gym sequence is used as every pieace of equipment which was humorous but very clever.

 The puppets played part in the play with the first puppet technically being a Russian general opening of a space expedition but the main spaceman that we saw thought it used once as a younger version of the older brother whilst dancing and being loved by his mother but I think the spaceman represents the older brother due to the connection he has with space and how it was his childhood dream to be a cosmonaut it also moves with strange innocence

 The scene that was arguably the most basic but clever technique and scene I have ever in theatre is the final scene. There is an angled mirror and a seat on the floor in the upright position *show picture*

Then the actor begins to fly…In the mirror he literally becomes a cosmonaut, off course if you look down it’s a man rolling on the floor but in the mirror, he is floating no wires nothing looks fake and even moves a water cooler which just brings you into it more. overall I think the far side of the moon is a technological wander and anybody who is interested in stagecraft must go and see it.

 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4f/Back_side_of_the_Moon_AS16-3021.jpg/300px-Back_side_of_the_Moon_AS16-3021.jpg

 http://lacaserne.net/media/moon_clip1FR.jpg

[devantewho-blog]

[devantewho-blog]

Endgame review

Endgame by Samuel Becket

 Endgame or in its orginal French title ‘Fin De Partie’ was first performed at the royal court theatre in 1957 . It follows two main characters entrapped together called Hamm and Clov , they are supported by Clovs parents . The play is setafter some sort of world ending apocalypse in one room with an extremely minimal set with Hamm being confined to a chair in the centre of the room and two bins at the back of the stage in which dwells Clovs parents .

Following its opening in 1958 The Cherry Lane theatre located in New York to positive review . In a review by Brooks Atkinson he writes about the parrells with Waiting for Godot ( something I also found to be an interesting similarity ) . He also notes how “h the dialogue is often baffling, there is no doubt about the total impression. We are through, he says. Nature has forgotten us. The jig is up.” Which I believe to be an amazing summary of the plays text in itself .

The plays style falls under the theatre of the absurd which in short is Theatre in which shows human struggle and how pointless life is examples of theatre of the absurd includes : Beckets – Waiting for Godot , rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco and Chamber Music by Arthur Kopi . To my surprise the play is still being performed today with quick google search confirming only two performances of it in London currently  .

It is hard to put Endgame into a real box of genre as the real reason it could be funny is just the sheer desperation and occasionally Hamms responces are humours but this is up to the audience . I would personally call it a Drama with hints of Dark Comedy.

The Endgame itself follows a few themes of isolation, survival and deals with what is to be human . These are themes Beckett does often tackle and I found this bared lots of similarity to Waiting for Godot in the respect that it dealt with four characters predominantly two that lead the play . There is also no antagonist to rival Clov as the protagonist although the closest we get is Hamm who makes unreasonable demands and barks at Clov . To fully grasp the text in a comprehendable way I watched the ‘Becket On film’ production starring Micheal Gambon and David Thewlis who both had incredible performances though one critisim would be the inconsistency with Gambons Irish accent and would highly recommend anybody who struggles with the text of Endgame to watch this word by word recreation of the text.

 Talking with my peers about this play has had one of three responses : The first loving it and the way it tackles its themes , the second think it is ok no real response to the text just another play and had good moments and the final hated it . I personally am in the first camp with the text extremely interesting

Endgame :

Samuel Becket ,published  1958 , ENDGAME , , London , Great Britain

 http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/08/03/reviews/beckett-endgame.html

 http://ifi.ie/film/act-without-words-ii-endgame/