“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. ”(Roosevelt). The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a historical fiction about how hysteria and groupthink can have drastic consequences. It follows the Salem witch trials and the events that led to 19 people being convicted of witchcraft and subsequently killed. The most important subject in The Crucible is how fear can affect decisions.
The scenes consist of the many techniques mentioned above, there are two main characters are shown and the play is set in contrasting between the past and the present. There are two real locations that are the TV studio and Melbourne hotel, however the interplay of the techniques in the scenes works together to create a wartime setting. The audience awareness is developed through the historical information from each scene. Theatrical devices a re combined to create various features and have a great dramatic impact. The structure promotes the audience to watch the play because the structure of this storyboard is contrasted between the past and present that will attract audience attention, as it is an historical play set between different times.
With each scene being completely disconnected from the previous one the set had to change around every time a new scene was starting. Including two turntables and backdrop where projection could be made, helped the scene to feel more realistic to the location the act was supposed to take place. The scene “What?!?” had the turntable set to where there was a door and a park bench. The backdrop had a house projected on it. These elements made the audience understand that the scene was taking place outside of a house.
The stage design gives the impression of the characters being in two separate rooms, the positioning of blocks and pillars helps again to demonstrate this. This intricate attention to detail enables the performance to be compared so similarly to the movie adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic, although the ‘big screen’ enables more room for a fast change in setting and shots, Rourke does a phenomenal job trying to create this illusion which works so brilliantly. The night before the wedding or you could refer to it as the ‘stag and hen do’ was an unexpected twist that the audience definitely did not see coming. Again, the revolving stage was used to represent the divide between the women and the men and to compensate for the lack of space that the stage could carry.
The productions of this play were successful through stage design, lighting crewing, and acting. Those three aspects made the quality of the play stand out to me, as an audience member. The production of the set design of the play was a good effort. The set design for the play staging aims for the sweet spot between feeding adult nostalgia and satisfying a new generation of children.
When stage directions are included in plays, they play a vital role in presenting how the character develops throughout the story. In the “prince and the Pauper” by Mark Twain, stage directions are essential when developing characters such as Prince Edward. For example, Twain uses stage directions to illustrate that price is thoughtful and caring. Prince meets tom outside the palace and asks about tom’s life.
The set of the play is a home built of wire. This is very intelligent and effective. This allows all actors to be seen at all times by all spectators. This avoids blocking, and allows characters to be in the same scene, even while they are not in the same room.
They provide a human connection, which is more convincing than an abstract theme or a concept like time. The first of these characters is Stage Manager, who represents a God figure in the play–controlling the action of the play, deciding when to jump forward or backward in time–and he seems to be wiser than the average human being. Wilder made this character seem that way on purpose so that he could hint at some of the key points of his message through someone the audience could understand. Stage Manager made several statements that touched on the speed at which life goes by and how people should enjoy it, giving the audience a gentle reminder of Wilder’s argument. The character also remained composed and professional at all times, turning him into someone the audience could trust, and allowing them to see the true message.
While both stage and screen portrayals were highly acclaimed there are some similarities as well as some marked differences in each interpretation. On the surface, the first difference noted between the stage and screen versions are the sets. The stage version describes the setting of the play, the Younger family living room, as a
By doing so, Thornton Wilder simplifies his play and further develops the Stage Manager’s definition of eternity. The props symbolize the small details of life since their absence does not affect the play, and characters recognize the small details of life after they transition into eternity; therefore, this absence conforms to the Stage Manager’s belief that eternity serves as a bridge between ungrateful and modesty. Audience members observe the missing props in the beginning of the play: “...he stops, setting down his-- imaginary-- black bag, takes off his hat, and rubs his face with fatigue…” (Wilder 24) along with Emily’s realization of smaller details, such as how young her mother is, in Act III, after she passes into eternity. Evidently, the events in the play concur with the Stage Manager’s definition of eternity and the purpose it
In James Baldwin’s essay, Stranger in the Village, he depicts a distant village that has become isolated from outsiders, however, strangers are welcome into the village. Having little distractions, Baldwin finds an ease at mind for focusing on his writing. However, being isolated does have fallbacks. For instance, upon visiting the village, the residents were so unfamiliar with African Americans, which caused many people to stop and view him. Some would put their “hand on my hand, astonished that the color did not rub off” (65).
The setting the production choose added value to the play because it helped create the mood for a story. The way the story is set up it influences the reader how they should feel. The setting helps the story develop in a way that the author wants you to see it. If the author wants the setting to portray happiness then they will have a story in a meadow, a candy shop, a beach; places where people go to when thinking happy thoughts. If the author wanted you to feel terror, they would most likely have a haunted place as the setting.
Have you ever realized that a place you have treasured all your life is actually not as perfect as you imagined? That’s what happened to Jacqueline Woodson. As we grow up, our outlook on life changes and sometimes that can be very scary. In When A Southern Town Broke A Heart by Jacqueline Woodson, the author introduces growing up and experiencing change as a central idea in the story. When Woodson was a child, she wanted to think that segregation was a thing of the past.
The tony award winning play The Humans, by Stephen Karam opened at Theatre Calgary March 6th 2018. Directed by Calgary based Vanessa Porteous, The Humans follows the Blake family as they gather together in the newly acquired New York duplex of their youngest daughter, and her older boyfriend for their first thanksgiving in the new home. The night is filled with the sharing of memories and secrets, as we follow the family into a night of love and conflict. Beginning this essay with a description of what the audience sees before the play begins will help the reader to visualize the full lay out before digging into how Cameron Porteous’s use of a bi-level set characterized by subdued spaces helped highlight the emotional relationship between the mother and her family. Through the two storey Frame of the house, the spiral staircase and the lack of set dressing in the upper stage right corner,
