All scripts are individual; not only in the story itself, but how the author decides to organize it. Mostly all scripts have a minor character description, including their relation to the plot, and their relation to the other characters. If the plays are older classics they generally include more information about the history of the play, a summary, character sketches, etc. For example, “The Beaux Stratagem” had pages of information before the script even started. Because the play had been practiced, studied, and performed millions of times in the past, background information has become a natural aspect to these types of plays. Depending on the author, they can also choose between the amount of scene breaks and acts they wish to have; all of the plays we covered had different formations. Before taking this course I really did not know anything about how scripts were formed, but know I understand the difference between artist’s styles; everyone has their own idea of how to organize their story.
In a playgoer’s guide we always put background on the playwright, and in most cases it has become helpful to read before watching the play. With “Problem Child” it was good to know about what kind of plays the author writes, and how that certain play tied into the rest that he had written. For “Frost/Nixon” it was interesting to know about the author and his ties to the story itself. As a class, we had all questioned why he would have wrote the story of Nixon, but we settled on the idea that Peter Morgan has a strong British background, causing the interest on Frost and his Nixon interviews. It is always appreciated to have background on the author before the play, because it gives you an idea of what the author may be trying to portray in the storyline, and interesting to know what their relation was to the story also.
I personally have zero background in theatre, so before this course I would never have learned about theatrical tradition before reading or watching a play. But after completing playgoer guides, I have realised the relevance of knowing this before seeing the actual productions. For plays like any of William Shakespeare’s, and “the Beaux Stratagem” knowing the traditions are almost a must because often if you do not have an idea of what you are getting into before the actual production; because of the language and older styled theatre, you may not understand the story if you go in blind. For other plays, if you learn their tradition before the play’s production, you can often be disappointed because of your expectations. If you heard of past traditions that you really enjoyed, and your production does not include them it could potentially ruin your live experience; unless you had pushed your ideas aside while watching. There can also be the opposite effect; when you think something is going to happened that you do not like from reading about the traditions, and expect it to be horrible, but it turns out to be great; the production will exceed your expectations.
As I mentioned before reading a script before watching a play can change your experience with the actual production. In some cases, mostly in older plays, it is convenient to read the play before so you know what is going on before you see the production; it makes sure you understand what is happening before seeing it live. My main issue with this during the year with this was my expectations. If you keep in mind that all productions are different, and put your expectations aside before watching a play, it shouldn’t affect the production in a negative way. If you read the play before, and have your expectations in account before watching it live, you may have a positive, neutral or negative experience. If the play exceeds your expectations, you’ll think it was great, if it is around the same, you’ll be neutral, and if it is nothing what you wanted it to be, you may come out of the play thinking it was horrible, when it was only your expectations being let down.
Depending on how the director wants to portray his characters, he can make his actors use their bodies in different ways to demonstrate certain personality qualities or emotion. When I had read the play “Life Without Instruction” I had envisioned Artemisia to be a mature young woman, but the director changed her portrayal completely with her physical expressions. Artemisia was shown as an immature little girl by her antsy positions all of the time, and her whiny line deliveries. In “Problem Child” Denise was portrayed more of a desperate woman than a forceful one because of her physical presence. Her attitude was different then what I had thought it would be because of her slouching and slurred speech. Same this for Helen, I thought she was a bit uptight, but her stage presence multiplied that amount by millions. If they were not to use this technique clearly, you would never be able to tell what each actor was trying to put across, and which emotions.
After seeing so many plays is such little time, I have no begin to understand the amount of creativity it must take to complete productions. There is such a range of difference between all plays; all directors are quite individual. The director or stage management can choose how they want to portray their characters: voice, emotion, physical action, expression, etc. They can also choose what the lighting will be like: when to cue certain styles to portray different emotion, when to turn the lights up or down, etc. They also chose the style of the stage and the costumes; different styles of stages and sets are important to the production, and different styles of costumes demonstrate different ideas to the audience. For example, at “The Beaux Stratagem”, the director or management had decided to make two stages, with seating on the stage as well. This was a completely different experience because of the audience sort of being a part of the act; it was really interesting.
I have already discussed pre-existing ideas and how they change your experience, but it is very important, for it is something that bothered me all year. Because your expectations can become a problem for your opinion on the production, I have decided the only way to fully enjoy the play is to put your ideas aside. If you forget about your idea of what happened in the production from your brain, you can actually see the production for its own qualities rather than what your mind wished to portray. This method helped me for the last couple of plays I watched because keeping an open mind helps you understand the message a director is trying to get across, and what is most important overall. Another challenge with going from page to stage that I came across was language. When I was reading “The Beaux Stratagem” I had little idea where the humour was, so I had no idea what I was getting into when I got to the production. But as it turns out, I understood the production much more clearly than reading the script. The play turned out to be my favourite of the year.
Directors choose all the major decisions to change a production completely; as I have discussed before. Stage direction, character portrayal, stage appearance, costume appearance, music, lighting; anything involved with the production takes major affect on the plotline, and all this lies on the directors shoulder. Actors can change character portrayal on how they and the director decide to make the character. Together, both of them, actor and director, they have to work together to create the perfect person for the production. It has to take a lot of patience between the both of them, and much creative ability. All of these aspects change how the audience will see the production.
Researching a play was its own experience because of the variance in difficulty. Some plays were extremely easy to find information on, while others had little to work with. With this course, you begin to find out interesting things about theatre you would have never known. After researching a few plays, I had learned interesting facts about the author, productions, and plot. Before, I had never took notice to the relevance of researching a production before watching, but it has become very important to me, and will most likely be something I will always do in the future to better my experience. After researching a play, it is difficult to say what is most important and what is not. After this class, you really begin to realize how different everyone’s opinions are on certain subjects. One thing we all agreed on was that all plays are different, and so is there relevance of knowing certain info before watching. For example, it is important to know a synopsis in older plays, such as “The Beaux Stratagem” because of its language in script, and it is important to know historical background for “Life Without Instruction”, “Frost/Nixon”, and “The Cripple of Inishmann” because without it, there would be many situations within the plot the audience would not understand. Another issue discussed in class was a really interesting point; what if were to see the actual production before deciding what goes in a companion? All productions are different, and your group could put in information in a guide that would not be relevant to the production you are passing out pamphlets in. Another issue was the photo; if we could take a picture of the cast before, we could place that one the guide rather than trying to find the perfect photo for the companion. Presenting my wiki for “Frost/Nixon” was nerve-wrecking for me because I don’t enjoy making presentations. I had presented the section on a background of the production and the film, which was interesting to research, but was hard to recap in front of the class. Many people in the class did not know it was a well-received movie though, which made me excited to talk about in discussion.
A student in class brought up an idea in class that really stuck with me, and I think it is something interesting to discuss with the students in future classes. She has mentioned that she believed our Playgoer’s guides were our class’ own production; this was a valid point because much like directors, actors and crew, our class worked together to create the perfect result of our creativity and knowledge. You could say the same thing for a play production; the crew works together to express the ideas the wish to put across to their audience. Russ also mentioned an interesting idea that I had never thought about recently. I had originally thought of the picture on the front of the companion of “Gut Girls” to be a grungy depiction of what the girls were actually like, but Russ explained it was just more of a modern version of what the girls would be today. When I thought about it, he was right; the picture represented the attitude of the characters but in a modern light.
When reading a script, I take multiple things into account; characters, plots, and how the production will be displayed. I don’t try to gain too many expectations, but I try to understand the main idea so I know what I am getting into before watching. When I write the refection for reading I always make sure I include the characters; I am a firm believer that how the characters are expressed makes the play. When watching the play, I take notice to the same things; characters, lighting, set up, and costumes. When writing about it, I make sure I compare what I had read to what I watched, and always, again include the character portrayals. Most of the other posts are similar to mine, or completely different. I usually agree with what people are saying, or completely disagree. I really enjoy reading a reflection that has issues about the play that I never thought of before, and I usually use these forum posts to respond to. I like to make sure the student knows that they brought up a valid point, and they were smart in doing so.
When reading a prompt, there are a few things I make sure I understand; the main idea of the class for the day and the ideas that will get us there. I read, and re-read to make sure I know what is going on, and what is exactly that I am learning that week. Taking these precautions always help me when it comes to doing my learning journal entries, because if I remember what we learned, I will take note to what we discussed, what was validated as important, and overall, what I should include in that weekly journal. For the final synthesis I was worried that I would not have enough to say about the class, but after re-reading all of the forums, and journals we have learned more about theatre, ourselves, and creativity then in any class I have ever taken. This was a great experience, and I have found a new love for theatre.
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