Furthermore, the moody sound cues and the hard lighting of the background was a perfect combination to most of its electrifying scenes, such as the cross-examination scene of the main antagonist, in order to reflect a mostly conflict ridden and angry scenes. For me, this is because the entire play is staged as when it is written, where its historical significance is key to the plot. Thus, as a spectator, I was swayed by the timely vibe of Australia in the eighties, complemented by the timeworn
Composers can reimagine iconic texts as a way to reinforce their core themes and significantly challenge contextual norms. ‘Hag-seed’ written in 2016 by Margaret Atwood is a prose fiction novel that reimagines Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’ through a modern-day lens, allowing audiences to connect and deepen their understanding of the original text in a more digestible way. As a modern female author, Atwood utilises redefined plotlines in her novel to embed relevant social commentaries, expressing the differing values and contexts between herself and Shakespeare. Atwood’s representation of the character Miranda better helps the audience understand the actions and motives of Miranda in the base text. The intentional similarities and differences
The extravagant juxtaposition between the Shakespearean play and the Josie Rourke version ‘time travels’ David Tennant fans back to the age of Doctor Who. Rourke’s inspiration to place the characters in early 1980s Gibraltar, which is known for constant drinking, partying and members of the navy who seem to have far too much time on their hands; alongside the themes apparent in the play are very much familiar to a contemporary viewer: infidelity and the denial of love presented by Beatrice and Benedick, making it an obvious choice to set the remake of the famous Shakespearean comedy in a modern and well established society. Although this drastic change in location and time period may seem overwhelming and unexpected, Rourke still keeps the performance grounded to its Shakespearean roots, the consistent use of iambic pentameter and meter demonstrates this. It can be argued that the Tennant and Tate version is clearly mocking the Elizabethan societies traditional views, however, I feel Rourke only enhanced
Paul Celis Dharan Jaisankar CHI 010 A01 Enrique’s Journey Paper Rough Draft Sonia Nazario’s groundbreaking nonfiction book Enrique’s Journey brings to the forefront the reality of undocumented immigration, giving the reader insight into the true stories behind immigration through the story of Enrique, a sixteen-year-old Honduran boy who sets off on a perilous journey to reunite with his estranged mother, Lourdes, who left him eleven years earlier seeking work and a better future for her and her family in the United States.
Throughout the centuries, a commonality of time enduring plays is that they often include themes that are consistently relevant to audiences as time goes on. Henrik Ibsen 's A Doll 's House and Susan Glaspell 's Trifle are two plays that were written in 1879 and 1916, and both are still well read and enjoyed plays because of this reason. One relevant theme for contemporary viewers that can be found throughout both of these works is the character 's conflict against conformity to social norms. This struggle is relevant to present-day readers because of the increased value of the individualistic mentality that has been prevalent in our culture. By analyzing these characters during their struggle against conformity to social norms, we can discover how this theme makes these two works relevant to present-day readers.
The movie ties in more brutality and violence to appeal to a modern audience that demands intense appeal to the senses. The play uses the simplicity of setting elements such as the balcony and common acting techniques to communicate Shakespear’s original message. Given the time period of the text, Shakepear’s use of these strategies are as modern as those unique techniques used in the movie. The movie and the play attract their audiences based on what appeals to them. Most importantly, both deliver the message to the audience that “For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her
Hamlet, written by famous playwright and poet, William Shakespeare, is frequently referred to as the “Mona Lisa” of literature. The true purpose and complete understanding of the play is, up to this day, not remotely knowledgeable by scholars and the audience alike. The play has led to much conversation about what Shakespeare was ultimately trying to accomplish with it. One vexed and widely referred critique was that made by T.S. Eliot, in which he described, “The ‘madness’ of Hamlet lay to Shakespeare’s hand…a deliberate dissimulation, but a form of emotional relief” (Eliot 93). In creating Hamlet, Shakespeare achieved perplexity in the scheme that created for misinterpretation of an unexplained Hamlet.
Hamlet is a world renowned play created by William Shakespeare. In this paper, I will be discussing the theatrical film adaptation of the 1996 production of Hamlet directed by Kenneth Branagh and examine the correlation between its reception and box office intake. The movie features Branagh himself as Hamlet, Derek Jacobi, Julie Christie, and Kate Winslet to name a few of the actors and actresses. It was nominated for four Academy Awards: Adapted Screenplay, Art Direction, Costume Design, and Original Dramatic Score. The movie was glorified as one of the best during the time and some claim to this day it is still the best cinematic adaptation of Hamlet.
In Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, the audience encounters a dreadful array of violent acts, increasing in brutality and volume, which conclude in Tamora eating her own children ‘baked in a pie | Whereof their mother has daintily fed’ (5.3.59-60). The vivid representation and portrayal of violence, which begins with state-mandated execution, extends to rape and mutilation, and culminates in cannibalism, has earned Titus Andronicus the reputation of the most violent play written by Shakespeare. Through a close examination of the nature of the violence in the play, one could deduce that the chain of aggressions from a loss of control over legally authorized violence. The legal violence delineated in the earlier parts of the play is a dispute
“The Empty Space”, a book written by the director Peter Brook outlines his four theories of theatre each that evokes a different meaning, Deadly, Holy, Rough and Immediate. In his opinion, Deadly Theatre is the most common type of theatre, which fails to modernize, instruct or even entertain. This style concentrates on the act of imitation by mimicking successes from the past and relying on old schemes instead of exploring the deeper meaning from the text (Brook, Peter). However, Shylock, a character from the Merchant of Venice a play written by Shakespeare, has had various interpretations from actors through out time, causing tendentious reactions from its audience. This thought fueled my inquisitiveness to investigate the importance on how
Question 1-Shakespeare in Love Shakespeare in love as a comedy Shakespeare in love is comedy that provides a clear juxtaposition of Shakespeare’s live in Elizabethan time and creates allusions to his works and modern times with allusion to famous Hollywood films. Aspects of the Elizabethan times are evidently displayed throughout the play. The clothing worn by the actors and actresses was characterised by doublets, breeches, gowns, corsets, collars, ruffs and hats. It was evident that there was a clear class division.
“William Shakespeare’s Impact on Theater” says that “Theater, in particular, has experienced many changes due to his influence,” and without any major influence like Shakespeare to guide the changes of theater, it would be extremely different (Octane 1). Shakespeare introduced many new elements to theater because of how his writing was unique in his time period. Despite this, his writing appealed to many different audiences. For instance, Octane says that “The way in which Shakespeare’s plots move forward has helped define modern play-writing. Similarly, Shakespeare’s complex characterizations have brought forth a new type of storytelling in which characters’ choices drive plots forward” and “His plays were often imbued with universal truths of human existence, rather than acting as mirrors of the privileged life.
In the Shakespearean comedy The Tempest, we are presented with the psychological violence associated with the abuse of power and continuous theme of colonialism explored throughout the play. In early works of Shakespeare it is evident that the violence interrogated in his plays consists of bloodshed and physical torture as opposed to his later works such as The Tempest where the play focuses on the ideology of psychological violence. The Tempest was one of the last plays written by Shakespeare and is recognised as one of his most popular works
In the twenty-first century, the plays of William Shakespeare may at first appear dated and irrelevant: they use archaic language, are set in the age of Kings and Queens, and the Kingdom of England. However, it would be plainly mistaken to construe that Shakespeare’s works do not still remain integral to a twenty-first century society. Shakespeare’s plays gave the words and expressions one uses every day, revolutionized the art of theater as it was known, and forewarned about issues that would unknowingly still apply centuries later. Therefore, Shakespeare has had a profound effect on our lives by enriching our language and culture, as well as providing ideas that would still apply five centuries later, and it would thus behoove us to learn from his works and life.
“Godotmania” Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot completely changed our perception of theatre as a whole, thanks in part to the unique and unusual path it took on the wide map of theater. It is perhaps those two words, unique and unusual, that best describe everything we associate with the drama, from its obscure plot and characters, all the way to the stories told of its curious production history. It is safe to assume that when Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot was first released, nobody had expected that a nonsensical ‘adventures’ of two senile old men and their ludicrous inactivity would go on to have such an impact on theater. Ever since its release, the play had been treated as somewhat of an outlier, giving headaches to producers and actors alike. However, the few that had successfully tackled the production of such an absurd drama, can vouch for its importance.
