Julie Taymor Director’s Notebook Reflection

My Project

For my Director’s Notebook on Julie Taymor, I chose to watch and analyze her production of Igor Stravinsky’s version of “Oedipus Rex”. I really enjoyed doing this project. As a naturally analytical person, I found it fun to look out for small details in the production that could potentially tie into larger themes or symbolism. My first time watching through the production, I jotted down any thoughts relating to the project that came to mind as it played, resulting in a lengthy list of observations at the end. I then looked over my list of notes and tried to organize them into the topics that we had to cover for the project. This allowed me to see which areas I had to pay more attention to on subsequent viewings of the video. 

Before I started work on the presentation itself, I read what Julie Taymor had to say about her production of “Oedipus Rex” in her book “Playing With Fire” as a guide for what things I should focus on the most. The book also helped illuminate certain things about her production for me, such as the inspiration behind the specific style of masks she used and the significance of the recurring red thread. 

When I began putting the presentation together in Google Slides, I started by making slides for the stuff I had the most information about, and continued from there. It was only when the presentation was almost done that I did most of the reorganizing of slides to have a natural flow between topics. I did not end up using as many images as I would have liked to (for example, I probably could have added a picture of the Sphinx Puppet), but I think that the ones I did include got across my points well enough on their own. The plot summary slide was actually the last one I added, and it was mainly there so that if either of my classmates had not read the original play, they would not be too confused during my presentation.

I did not really get the chance to properly present my project, but even when I was doing it for just Mrs. Guarino, I did notice near the end that I had picked up my habit of talking slightly too fast, making it more difficult for people to keep up with me. That is something I still have to work on in general when it comes to presenting things. 

Looking at my presentation in comparison to my classmates’, I figure that mine probably could have gone into more detail at points, but I am also glad that I didn’t make mine as long as theirs. I did not even think of pulling up the video during my presentation for extra proof of my points, and I think it could have helped if I had had the time. However, in general, I am satisfied with how this project turned out.

Oedipus Rex Director’s Notebook Rough Draft

These are the rough notes I took while watching through the movie for the first time. I didn’t have enough time to really organize or refine them any further unfortunately.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Cam9GjGs_aBrthBOmc7MBv_rETKeIiEof0-HxkngH6s

Bread and Puppet Theater

Bread and Puppet Theater was founded by Peter Schumann in 1963 on New York City’s Lower East Side. In 1974 the theater relocated to a farm in Glover in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont with an old barn on the property being renovated into a museum for retired puppets. They do two kinds of shows - smaller inside shows and larger outside shows - but both kinds are used to discuss social issues of the day and meant to promote good.
A quote from Peter Schumann: “Bread and Puppet is based on bread baking and the not-for-sale distribution of bread at moments created by art, and these moments are created in opposition to capitalist culture and habit. Therefore the puppet show is not only a puppet show, but an eating-bread-together event.” (July 10, 2012, Grover, VT)
In another quote from Schumann, he explains that the aims of the theater should be to be seen as something necessary and nourishing like bread, rather than a commodity.
Source: http://breadandpuppet.org/about-bread-and-puppet
Photos: http://breadandpuppet.org/about-bread-and-puppet/photo-gallery/museum-images

Research on Julie Taymor (Homework)

    It was very interesting learning about Julie Taymor and her work in the performing arts. Despite having never heard her name before starting this class, I have heard of some of her projects. The main one is of course the Broadway adaptation of “The Lion King”, but I also remember learning about her film adaption of “Tempest” near the end of our reading of “Othello” for World Literature class last year, and I’ve actually heard of the Spider-Man musical through the Internet as well. It almost makes me feel bad that I have never heard of Taymor before... though in researching her I also found out that she was apparently fired from the Spider-Man musical for making too many last minute changes, then sued the show’s producers only to eventually settle out of court.
    When watching Taymor’s Ted Talk, there were two parts that caught my attention. The first was around the seven minute mark when she said, “I love the apparent truth of theater.” In context, she’s talking about how theater audiences are willing to extend their suspension of disbelief and imagine something grander and more real out of what is presented to them. This idea definitely seems to fit with more of the Stanislavskian approach to theater, which aims to immerse the audience and get them to relate to the characters, rather than the Brechtian approach, which aims to make people focus more on the social message of the play than the actual story and the world it’s set in. Since Stanislavski’s ideology is far more commonly popular in contemporary theater, this is not that surprising.
    The other part that peaked my interest was the anecdote Taymor told around the fifteen minute mark about when she climbed up an active volcano and then had to find her own way down. Aside from being an unusual story in itself, the reason it caught my attention was because I had read the New York Times article from 1992 about Taymor just Becker watching the video, and in it, I had made note of the following passage:
    “Each of her last three works has, in fact, ended in scenes of immolation: a funeral pyre in "The Transposed Heads," a burning that turns the title character in "Juan Darien" back into a jaguar (his original semblance) and a conflagration that destroys the king and court in "Fool's Fire." "Grendel," the forthcoming opera by Goldenthal and Taymor, will begin with a cremation. In each of these instances, fire leads to transformation.”
    With this in mind, I cannot help but wonder if that experience at the volcano had something to do with what seems to be this trademark of Taymor’s work, and whether it is a conscious or subconscious influence.
    There was another small thing that stood out to me in the article: it mentioned that, as a child, Taymor had seen and been heavily inspired by the work of Peter Schumann and the Bread and Puppet Theater, a group that I discovered when doing in-class research on the use of masks in modern-day theater.

Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/22/magazine/the-looking-glass-world-of-julie-taylor.html?pagewanted=all
https://www.biography.com/people/julie-taymor-320722

Semester 1 Reflection (August - Thanksgiving)

I am very glad to have chosen Theater as my IB Group 6 class. I can already notice looking back on our filmed performances from the last three months that I have become more willing to put myself out there on stage without feeling awkward, though I can continue to work on that going forward. Learning all of the different methods to put yourself into the character from our Stanislavski unit has definitely helped me with that, as it allows me to ignore my own hangups and simply act as the character would.

The Brecht unit, though it went in a very different direction from the Stanislavski one, taught me a lesson that is equally as important: the ability of theater to change the world. Realizing that the art you are performing could seriously impact people who could then go out and affect the world certainly puts more pressure on the performers, but it also gives theater an air of distinguished importance, and has motivated me to push myself and take my acting more seriously. While Brecht stressed making characters unsympathetic and keeping the audience from becoming fully immesered in the world of the play so that they would be more likely to pay attention to and later act on the social messages being taught, I feel that having sympathetic characters can help with sending the message in another way; when bad things happen to characters you like because of the unjust system, it makes the viewer emotionally invested in fighting against that system for the sake of the characters. Humans are generally more likely to respond to a crisis if they are shown its direct impact on a human life, after all.

Outside of specific units, having to plan out scenes, adapted or original, with my classmates has increased my appreciation for both directing and cooperation. When you are in charge of setting up the scene, you have to have very significant detail planned out for the actors to make the most out of. You are the one with the most direct control over what message the performance is trying to send, and how the audience should feel. In particular, the scene we adapted from The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Brecht showed both the advantages and disadvantages of props. Having props can not only make a scene more realistic, but also, as they did in our performance, add extra subtle layers to the scene with how the actors interact with them. The downside of props is that you have to keep track of them, making sure that people bring them out when they’re supposed to and that they use the rights ones and, perhaps most importantly, that the props never get in the way of the acting. I will be considering all of these points going into future scenes we do for this class with props.

Lastly, as the main video editor for our class, I’ve been slowly learning about both how to best balance audio so that both the actors and any background music can be heard at the apportioned volumes (plus what kind of music is most fitting for the scene), as well as how important camera positioning is. I hope to continue improving on these skills and the others mentioned above going into the rest of this year and beyond.

How to Do a Brecht Play Right: Review of Cheshire Academy’s “The Caucasian Chalk Circle”

    I was cautiously optimistic going into Cheshire Academy’s production of Bertolt Brecht’s “The Caucasian Chalk Circle” directed by Marc Aronson. On one hand, I am well acquainted with many of the people who were involved in the production and already knew of their talents. On the other hand, Brecht’s style of play doesn’t lend itself well to a high school performance; wordy with an emphasis on social themes. While I was unable to attend Mr. Aronson’s last Brecht production, “Life of Galileo”, the snippets I heard about it afterwards were not positive, with the major complaint being that it was boring.
    Fortunately, of the many words I could use to describe this performance of “The Caucasian Chalk Circle”, ‘boring’ is not one of them. This is mainly due to the actors, all of whom seemed perfectly cast. This play has only a few developed characters but a revolving door of ensemble members, yet the actors were able to make each role stand on its own. David Mathison in particular succeeded in this with his wide range of voices and mannerisms, going from a paranoid cloaked figure speaking in fragmented sentences to a squeaky voiced nobleman to a regal lawyer back to back. Peter Deng was the most emotive member of the cast, especially evident in the first scene where he was always reacting to the others’ actions rather than just sitting there.
    In terms of single roles, Sam Weed was the natural choice to play the motherly Grusha, and I feel that she managed to play up Grusha’s practical nature in the earlier scenes rather than simply portraying her as a naïve, good-hearted girl; she even got a lovely little singing moment when crossing the bridge. However, the performance that surprised me the most was Amalia Gutierrez as the non-singing Singer. Not only did she have moments of sass, like at the very end of the opening scene, and genuine emotion when reciting the inner thoughts of the characters, but she felt much more present in the scenes than you would expect from a Narrator. She would sometimes stand right up next to the actors, occasionally directly interacting with them as with the Governor when he was being led off to his execution, and other times she would be hanging back on the edges of the stage watching the action unfold before her.
    The constant presence of the Singer reminds the audience that, in both the full context of the play itself and our reality, the story being told is just that - a story. This is one of many ways in which the show followed Brechtian principles. The sets were no more complicated than they need to be, and there were practically no attempts to hide the stage crew when they came to move things around. For moments where there were supposed to be a large number of characters on stage, they simply played recordings of teachers reading the lines. Having these disembodied voices of people whom the audience are likely to recognize ends up subtracting from the illusion rather than adding to it, which seems to have been intentional. The opening of the play set this precedent by having a folksy song play while the actors come in stage, and then forcing both them and the audience to wait, silently and patiently, until the song ended.
    Having read the entire play in advance for class, I took note of what changes were made. Due to the size of the cast, some scenes which used to feature four or five random characters were slightly reworked to have the number of characters reduced to two or three, such as when Grusha is initially watching baby Michael at the palace while the others convince her to leave, and the scene with the merchants at the bridge where three characters were condensed to two. Other bits were cut entirely, such as when Grusha tries to stay at the inn, when young Michael is allying with the older children, and the selection of Azdack’s past cases as judge. These cuts were understandable due to the limited cast size, and seeing as the play in this form ended up being two hours long anyway, I can only imagine how long it would have been if they had done everything. Even with these cuts, the story’s major themes, such as justice (Azdack’s corrupt sense of justice, the idea that items go to those who can make the most good out of it).
    The last thing I’d like to note is the placement of the intermission. Rather than being halfway through the play, it occurs later on, right before Azdack’s backstory. By doing this, the play becomes re-framed as two different stories: first, the story of the maid Grusha becoming the mother of the noble child; and second, the story of the illegitimate judge who, through granting Grusha custody over Michael, delivers the moral of the play, that goods should go to those who can make the most out of them. Not only are both these stories made compelling by the excellent performances, but making Azdack essentially a secondary protagonist places an even greater emphasis on the social message, making this performance of “The Caucasian Chalk Circle” a perfect blend of the Brecht and more contemptorary styles of acting. I would drop everything to see this show again if I had the chance.

Scene with Signs Reflection (Excerpt from Brecht’s “The Caucasian Chalk Circle”

    Overall, our excerpt of a scene from “The Caucasian Chalk Circle” worked out even better than I had initially hoped. First of all, though it took us extra time to learn our lines and become comfortable performing the scene, the performances ended up being spot-on. Unfortunately there are moments in the video where, even after drastically raising the volume of the raw video footage and lowering the volume of the background music, it could be difficult to tell what we were saying. In the future, I think that we can all work on speaking louder and more clearly. However, speaking of the music, I personally feel that it added to the atmosphere and tension of the scene, especially the short song used at the end, without making its presence too obvious. Then again, it would likely have felt more Brechtian without the music, even if it ended up feeling slightly more awkward as a consequence.
    The minimalistic set also worked in our favor, as it forces the audience to focus on the content of the scene rather than becoming fully immersed, the mind of effect that Brecht was going for in his plays. In retrospect, the idea of using a bottle for the baby did not work out as well as we had originally envisioned it. While it succeeded in being less sympathetic than an actual baby doll would have been, I can see how any random person watching the scene could take a while to realize what the bottle is meant to represent. If we had planned ahead more, we could have made its purpose more clear. Even the mini label added to the bottle clarifying its role is impossible to read in the video.
    When we started work on this scene, the aspect we put the most thought into was the use of signs. We made most of them double sided both to save posterboard and to add an extra layer of meaning to each one. Watching the video, I see that I personally could have paid more attention to making my sign visible to the audience while performing, but Helen and Youngchen did well in this regard. Helen also pausing the scene to show off the last two signs as she picked them up was a good call in that it both gave the audience time to read them and further contributed to the staged feeling this play is meant to give off.
    The signs all served different purposes: the opening sign sets the tone for the scene and the “Cottage” sign sets the location; the “Losing the Baby” sign states the threat the Corporal presents and what Grusha is primarily concerned about; the sign reading “What is the woman afraid of?” provides the audience with a question to think about, forcing them to lay attention as Brecht would want, and the “Truth or Lie?” sign does the same while also giving the audience a glimpse into Grusha’s thoughts; the sign Grusha hits the Corporal with is covered in phrases that serve as her motivation for her saving the baby; and the “Mother” sign represents Grusha’s accepting of Michael as her own while also answering a question presented by the first sign. Who are the good people? Mothers, for one.

Masks in Contemporary Theater Quick Research

Big modern shows that feature masks:

• The Phantom of the Opera
• The Lion King on Broadway
• Cats on Broadway

Masks were rarely used in the 18th and 19th centuries, but was brought back in the 20th century due to some theater practitioners moving away from Naturalism

Inspirations from commedia dell’arte, oriental theater

“A Note on Masks” (1910) by Edward Gordan Craig repopularized use of masks in theater, inspiring people such as Brecht

Groups that famously used masks:

• San Francisco Mime Troupe (1959)

• Peter Schumann and his Bread and Puppet Theatre (New York early 1960s)

Sources:

http://allmask.blogspot.com/2008/01/masks-in-contemporary-theatre.html

https://www.britannica.com/art/mask-face-covering/Theatrical-uses

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mask#Contemporary_theatre

http://museum.msu.edu/exhibitions/virtual/mask/dialog/Masks_on_stage.html

Notes on “The Caucasian Chalk Circle”: Scene 6 - The Chalk Circle

Characters

Principals:
• The Singer as narrator (plus other musicians)
• Grusha, our protagonist
• Michael
• Judge Azdack
• Simon Chachava
• Natella Abashvilli and the Adjutant
• Shotta, the Corporal

Other:
• Former Governor’s cook
• Ironshirts
• Two lawyers
• Three farmers
• The rider
• Old unhappy couple

Plot synopsis:

In the final scene of the play, the trial is held to decide whether Grusha or Natella Abashvilli is Michael’s true mother. The Judge, Azdack, is nearly executed before the trial can even begin, but the rider delivers a message from the Grand Duke that makes Azdack official Judge in the region, likely as repayment for Azdack helping the Grand Duke to escape.
At the start of the trial, Simon and the former governor’s cook agree to help Grusha create a lie to explain how Michael is her child. However, Grusha ends up abandoning their plans when she becomes fed up with the unfairness of the situation. Natella’s side is paying off Azdack, and he throws extra charges at Grusha for menial offenses. She explodes in anger at him, and Azdack decides to take a momentary break to see who wishes to see him next; an old couple that wishes to get divorced.
The way Azdack decides to settle the matter is to have Michael stand in the middle of a Chalk Circle with Grusha on one side of him and Natella on the other. The idea proposed was that whichever woman managed to pull Michael out of the circle first would get to keep him. However, both times the test is payed out, Grusha refuses to pull on Michael, and so ends up letting go of him. Natella easily wins the challenge, but Azdack reveals that was not the point; rather, by showing a reluctance to hurt Michael, even temporarily, Grusha has proved herself to be more of a mother. As Natella and her lawyers leave, Azdack signs the divorce papers - but instead of doing it for the old couple., he does it for Grusha and her husband in the mountains, allowing her to marry Simon. The scene ends with Azdack holding a dance for everyone, and Grusha and Simon discussing plans to start a new life together with Michael as a real family.
Also, the Abashvilli’s estate is going to be torn down and turned into a garden.

Notes on “The Caucasian Chalk Circle”: Scene 5 - The Story of the Judge

Characters

Principals:
• The Singer as narrator (plus his musicians)
• Judge Azdack
• Natella Abashvilli and the Adjutant

People from Azdack’s story (pre-judge):
• Fugitive (Grand Duke)
• Policeman Shauva (who Azdack later makes Public Prosecutor)
• Three Ironshirts
• Fat Prince Arsen Kazbeki and his nephew Biergarten Kazbeki

People from Azdack’s court cases:
• The limping man and the invalid, who are both suing a doctor
• The blackmailer
• An old bearded innkeeper, his daughter-in-law Ludovica, and a stableman
• An old woman, some farmers, and the axe-wielding bandit Irkali

Plot synopsis:

This scene takes a break from Grusha’s story, instead telling the backstory of the Judge who will be presiding her trial. The Judge, Azdack, used to have a rivalry with Shauva, a policeman at the time, back when he was just a village clerk who occasionally got in trouble with the law. Azdack takes in a fugitive and, despite initially treating him in a derogatory manner, ends up protecting him from Shauva, more so because he doesn’t want to do anything for “that brute of a policeman”. The fugitive stays with Azdack for some time before Azdack realizes that he has been harboring the overthrown Grand Duke. Ashamed of having done so much for this murderer, Azdack goes to himself over to the courts, only to learn from three Ironshirts and Shauva that the Judge of that time  has been hanged. Through a song taught to him by his grandfather from Poland, Azdack warns them about the dangers of these lawless times.
It is at this point that the fat Prince appears with his nephew. The fat Prince offers to put his nephew up for the position of new Judge, and though he says it is their choice, he is very confident that his nephew will get the job. Azdack suggests that the nephew undergo a test trial, with Azdack playing the role of the Grand Duke as defendant. Azdack manages to undo all of the nephew’s arguments while cracking up the Ironshirts and nearly driving the Prince crazy. In the end, the Ironshirts appoint Azdack as their new Judge.
The rest of the scene shows some of the cases Azdack dealt with as judge, with Shauva now working for him. The main purpose of this is to show that Azdack is a Robin Hood-like figure; rather than making the truly just decision, he always does what he can to help whichever side is worse off in the eyes of society. The only case that is relevant in and of itself is the appearance of the governor’s wife, Natella Abashvilli, at the end of the scene. Azdack promises to find the woman who stole her son Michael and behead her, but the Governor’s wife seems to distrust him.

Notes on “The Caucasian Chalk Circle”: Scene 4 - In The Northern Mountains

Characters

Principals:
• The Singer as narrator (plus other musicians)
• Grusha, our protagonist
• Michael
• Simon Chachava

Grusha’s family:
• Her well-meaning brother Lavrenti
• His wife Ankio, who is very concerned with reputation
• Their stableman
• Mother-in-law and her “dying” son Yussup

People at the wedding:
• Monk who officiated the wedding
• Mourners/wedding guests/Grusha’s new neighbors
◦ two women
◦ a very old peasant
◦ drunk singing peasant
◦ another man
• Three musicians

Other:
• Children Michael plays with
◦ Tallest boy, the leader of the group
◦ Fat boy who plays the Prince
◦ Girl who plays the Governor’s wife
• Two Ironshirts

Plot synopsis:

This scene covers a period of several years, starting with when Grusha arrives with baby Michael at the farm belonging to her brother Lavrenti and his wife Aniko. She stays with them for several months, recovering from illness and weariness she contacted on her long journey. Lavrenti helps Grusha come up with a lie about where Michael came from and where her final destination is to prevent additional conflict with Ankio, whose supposedly pious nature and deep concern for her own reputation would cause her to immediately through Grusha out if she learned that Michael was not truly Grusha’s child. When Lavrenti fears that Ankio is nearing the end of her patience, he gets Grusha’s permission to set up a marriage between her and a man close to death who lives just over the mountain. The plan was that Grusha would have the land to herself once he died, and she would be free to re-marry with Simon if/when he returned from the war.
At the wedding, Grusha and Lavrenti do their best to hide the child until after the ceremony is complete. After an awkward moment with a drunken peasant, the guests begin gossiping about how the war is now over and the surviving soldiers are beginning to return home, which catches Grusha completely off guard. The dying man, Yussup, also hears some of the conversation, which leads him to get up and start bad-mouthing those around him as if he were perfectly healthy the whole time (he was probably faking illness to avoid being conscripted into fighting in the war). In the following days, Grusha and Yussup are shown to not get along at all, with Yussup calling her a cheater, treating her as less than a person, and referring to Michael as an unnatural bastard. He is aware at this point that Grusha has her heart set on a soldier, and tries to convince her that he’s never coming back.
Months pass, and Michael is now just old enough to play with other kids. They reenact the death of the Governor, with Michael attempting to play the executioner with a wooden sword. He falls over after swinging the sword and runs away in embarrassment, with the three kids chasing after him. Grusha has been casually watching them, but then she spots her old lover Simon Chachava the soldier. Their reunion starts off on a good note, but then Grusha has to tell him that she has been married. When Simon asks her about Michael, seeing his cap in the grass, she tells him that he isn’t her and Yussup’s son, but he is unable to believe her due to the sting of her betrayal. He turns to leave, bitterly, just as the other kids return to announce the arrival of two Ironshirts. The soldiers take custody of Michael but Grusha chases after them, proclaiming that he is her own child, and this leads to the trial in the following scenes.

Notes on “The Caucasian Chalk Circle”: Scene 3 - The Flight Into the Northern Mountains

Characters

Principals:
• The Singer as narrator (plus other musicians)
• Grusha, our protagonist
• Baby Michael

Fat Prince’s Entourage:
• Corporal
• Two Ironshirts

Other:
• Old man with milk
• Innkeeper
• Two elegant ladies
• Servant at the inn
• Peasant woman and her husband, who Grusha tries to leave Michael with
• Three merchants (two men, one woman)

Plot synopsis:

Grusha is on a long journey to reach her brother in the northern mountains, but Michael proves himself to be a burden. Being exposed to the outside world in such a vulnerable state allows Grusha to come to recognize the evils in the hearts of men. Nearly all the people she encounters put their own needs over hers, from the elegant ladies who sell her out for being a servant to the cowardly peasant woman who fails to protect Michael from the Ironshirts after showing such affection for the baby only minutes before. The fat Prince has sent a Corporal with two Ironshirts to track down the noble child, but despite some close calls, Grusha manages to escape them, proving her own strength and courage. By the end of the scene, she has come to see herself as a true mother to Michael, and that bond not only convinces herself of her own goodness compared to those she’s met, but also seems to be the source of her strength.

Notes for “The Caucasian Chalk Circle”: Scene 2 - The Noble Child

Characters

Abashvilli family and named associates:
• Georgi Abashvilli, the Governor, who is executed
• Natella, his wife, who is very materialistic and self-centered
• Michael, their young son, who is left behind
• Shalva, the adjutant to the Abashvillis
• The two doctors

Principals:
• The Singer as narrator
• The fat Prince Arsen Kazbeki
• Grusha, a kitchen maid and our protagonist
• Simon Chachava, a soldier who seems to have an interest in Grusha but is separated from her

Others:
• Beggars and petitioners
• Soldiers
• Rider from the capital
• Ironshirts (special kind of guards)
• Architects
• Servants
• Young female attendant
• Cook and chef
• Stableman, nurse, and fat woman

Plot synopsis:

The Abashvilli family goes to Easter mass in the morning, with many beggars and petitioners calling out their woes. This is the first time they have taken their son Michael out in public, which draws a large crowd. The baby coughs, hinting that he may be sick.
Grusha has an encounter with a soldier she knows, Simon Chachava. He throws around various innuendos that Grusha either does not understand or intentionally ignores.
The visiting fat Prince is shown through stage directions to be up to suspicious activity with the Ironshirts. It is mentioned that a war is occurring in Persia.
Later in the palace, a revolt breaks out, and the palace guards are in on it. They arrest the governor and take him away to be executed. In the chaos, Simon tells Grusha that he has been order to accompany the governor’s wife in her escape, and gives her his cross necklace as as a keepsake. Grusha sings a short song, promising to wait for his return.
The governor’s wife insists on taking her most precious material goods with her, even as the palace begins to burn down. In their rush to escape, Michael is left behind. The nurse finds him sleeping and leaves him with Grusha, saying that she’ll return. When Grusha tells this to the others, they say that the nurse is not coming back, and advise her to leave the baby behind; after all, everyone will want to get their hands on the sole heir to the throne. Despite her good heart, Grusha is convinced at first; however, when she is the only one left, she caves in to her conscience and goes back to stay with the child. After waiting some time for someone else to come for him, she decides to take Michael away with her.

Notes for “The Caucasian Chalk Circle”: Scene 1 - The Struggle for the Valley

Characters

Delegates of Galinsk goat-breeding kolchos (right side of the circle):
• Old man (G)
• Peasant woman (G)
• Young peasant
• Young workman

Delegates of Rosa-Luxembourg fruit-growing kolchos (left side of circle):
• Peasant woman (R-L)
• Girl tractor driver
• Wounded soldier
• Old peasant man (R-L)
• Agronomist

Neutral:
• Expert of the State Reconstruction Commission
• Arkadi Cheidze the singer (presumed narrator)

Plot synopsis:

The Galinsk goat-breeding kolchos were displaced from their original valley by Hitler’s armies and are now considering settling in the valley of the Rosa-Luxembourg fruit-growing kolchos permanently. The R-L kolchos would rather that their new neighbors return to their old valley and simply replant the orchards and vineyards. An expert has been called from the capital to help settle the dispute. The R-L agronomist proposes that the valley where the Galinks kolchos are currently settled be used for an irrigation project. The majority of the Galinsk kolchos seem to be in favor of it, though the old man in their group is hesitant. The R-L kolchos reveal that they have invited the famous singer Arkadi Cheidze to celebrate the occasion, who will be putting on a play with the other R-L kolchos acting in it. This will be the main story of the play.

Five Truths Videos Comparison

Stanislavski video

1. Focus on the whole face and lots of quiet moments to see the emotions and let them sink in
2. Birds chirping in the background to add a sense of place and time
3. Different tones of voice to show different emotions

Brecht video

1. Droning from the lights and self narration (she said) to remind you that this is staged
2. Less interested in the items for their sentemental value and more so for their potential use (watch too small, takes the money from the wallet) which is kinda how Bretch views characters (not as real people to get attached to but vehicles for a political/social message.
3. Only focuses on parts of the face (or keeps it in shadow) to avoid being able to fully connect to the character

Stanislavski Wrap-Up (In-class writing)

Stanislavski was a Russian actor who was bored by the overdramatic way actors performed, embellishing made up emotions as in the days of the Romans and Greeks. He wanted to see performances with actors who made their characters seem real, with complex motivations and emotions. This led him to create the now famous Stanislavski method, a way to help actors create and become the characters they were portraying. This kind of acting is called truthful acting.

Part of Stanislavski’s Method is using discovering every character’s super objective (ultimate goal in the pay) and germ (the core of the character). Bulding from there, the actor decides what the character’s objective will be for each scene, and what actions they will take to achieve it. The useful thing about this method is that it allows the actor to picture their character separate from themself, as a real person, rather than just a stereotypical role to perform. Audience members are more likely to relate to, understand, and sympathize with a character who acts like a complete person than a stock or token character. The one major con I see with this method is if a person were to go overboard in developing the character, and then try to shove more unnecessary details into the play than are needed. It is important to remember that, while each character has their own story, they must all fulfill their role in the production, first and foremost.

There is also the practice of emotional memory, in which an actor draws on their own past experiences to bring out real emotion appropriate to the scene. While this technique can be very successful for displaying real emotion on stage, it can be stressful for the actor if they have to draw on a dark time in their past to do it. More problamatic for Stanislavski, it creates a disconnect between the actor and the character, since the way the actor responded to that pas experience is likely at least somewhat different from how the character would respond in their current situation. This is the reason why Stanislavski ended up abandoning this method, though some of his pupils continued to teach it.

Stanislavski’s method was the foundation for what are now the standard acting practices in the modern world. Some actors will go as far as to remain in character even when not performing, a technique called “method acting” after Stanislavski’s method (Stanislavski himself would sometimes go out in public and pretend to be a certain- character). Thus, it is essential to cover his practices when learning about theater.

As a writer, I have always been interested in taking characters from media and expanding on them. Stanislavski’s method is essentially a more guided version of that, with th specific goal of improving the believability of the actor’s performance as a separate character. I will be sure to consider my character’s germ and super objective when stepping into a new role from now on, as a way to decide what kind of performance would be the most truthful.

TIP Notes: Chapter 2 (Bretch)

Bertolt Brecht (1889 - 1956)
Brecht grew up in Germany and lived through both world wars
Wrote “The Caucasian Chalk Circle” in 1955

Brecht’s ideal performance was one that inspired the audience to take action in the real world for just causes, by having the characters deliver a political and social message, with actors building off of the Stanislavski methods.

Vocabulary

• Political = concerning the government of public affairs and the running of the state
• Social = concerning the relationships between people and communities within a country
• Economic = relating to the buying and selling, production and manufacturing of goods, and how wealth is achieved
• Narrating = the telling of a story
• Class = the position a person holds in society based on their wealth, upbringing, and level of education
• Left wing = socialist views; right wing = communist views
• Gestus = a gesture that defines your character’s place in society
• Gestic props = props used by the actor or director to send a specific message to the audience
• Externalization = to outwardly show thoughts and feelings using gestures, movement, and facial expressions
• V-effect = when the actor and director attempt to distance the audience from losing themselves within the context of the play, instead allowing actors to narrate proceedings and communicate the message of the play to the audience
• Epic theater = theater that uses Brecht’s methods and techniques to create teacher with a political, social, and/or economic message
• Historicization = setting the events of the play in a different time period as a way to help distance the audience from the given circumstances
• De-familiarize = a technique for making the audience stop and think about the social implications of the events on stage
• Epization = a rehearsal technique for creating a narrative style for delivering text
• Ensemble = a group of actors performing together
• Choral work = a piece of theater rehearsed with the ensemble performing in time and to the same rhythm

Exercises 

Exercise 20: Use body language and facial expressions to help sell the message rather than relying solely on words

Exercise 22: Political, social, and class issues are still relevant to present today; they may simply be less obvious

Exercise 23: Use characters as a way to discuss those issues without directly stating them

Exercise 24: Use gestures that match the character and externalize their emotions 

Exercise 25: Don’t be afraid to get comedic

Exercise 26: Shift the focus of the audience from the emotions of the character to the societal factors that put them in this position

Exercise 27: A lot can be conveyed about a character with a simple gesture

Exercise 28: When doing a first read through of the play, it is more important that you focus on what happens, who the characters are, and how it makes you feel, rather than immediately attempting to inject characterization in as you go

Exercise 29: Keep in mind what surprised you about the play, so that you can maximize that surprise for the audience when performing

Exercise 31: Doubling parts prevents the audience from associating one actor with just one role; don’t be afraid to use cross-casting to further de-familiarize the audience

Exercise 32: Brecht plays tend to be organized in an episodic structure so that each moment can carry its own message

Exercise 33: Decide on the overall message of the play, as well as a specific gestus that can be interwoven to represent that message, as a group

Exercise 34: Decide on the emotion in which you will read each line

Exercise 36: Consider each character’s perspective on the events of the scene 

Exercise 39: The lighting of a scene can add to both the atmosphere and what it’s trying to get across

Exercise 40: Consider the effect adding sound and music has on the scene

Exercise 41: Have actors try other people’s roles as a way to see different interpretations; consider the physical positioning of the actors

TIP Notes: Chapter 1, p. 35-45

Working with the Text

Event = something that happens which affects your thoughts and actions
Through action = what the character does to achieve their super objective
Relationships = what you/your character think about others
Acting tip: relationships are subconscious; you have to be able to communicate them to the audience without just saying it

Exercise 12: Reach a consensus with your fellow actors on what you think the play is about

Exercise 13: Imagine what happened in your character’s past to make them the way they are now

Exercise 14: Decide what the character’s through action will be, basing it on their super objective (what they what to accomplish) and their germ (what kind of ways would be in character for them to go about it)

A play is divided into bits. A new bit starts when
• An event occurs
• A character enters or exits
• The character’s objectives otherwise change
Exercise 15: give each bit a name and a number so that you can easily remember what order they come in and what generally happens in each one

inner monologue = the thoughts going through a character’s mind

Exercise 16: Have an objective and action for each bit, which can be organized via chart

Exercise 17: Active analysis - look at and briefly analyze the scene in advance, then attempt to act it out without using your script
Experience = when you leave your acting self behind to become the character, with everything you do being a product of them rather than you yourself
Acting tip: focus less on remembering exact lines and more so on saying what the character would say in that scenario

Exercise 18: whereas the actors are focused on their own characters, the teacher/director can see the big picture and help the actors see things  that they would otherwise miss

Stanislavski’s Review of the Bushnell’s “Les Misérables” (Quick In-Class Post)

If Stanislavski had seen this performance, I think that he would have enjoyed the actors, though he may have thought the pit drowned them out at points. He definitely would not have liked sitting as far away from the stage as we did, since it was very difficult to make out the expressions of the actors, and Stanislavski would want to see the actors fully living out their roles. I’m not sure if he would have been a particular fan of the green screen effects and the tehcincally impressive sets; he may have seen them as distractions.

The Glory of the Miserables: Review of Bushnell Theater's "Les Misérables" (2014 Revival)

Note: the names of actors listed here are based off of the program. I did not take note if there were any subs performing at the show we went to (other than Javert), so I apologize in advance if I am crediting the wrong people for their performances.

I spent yesterday afternoon at the Bushnell Theater in Hartford, Connecticut watching a performance of one of the most famous musicals of all time, Les Misérables, a fully sung-through show originally written by Claude-Michel Schönberg. The specific version we saw is the touring revival from 2014, directed by Laurence Connor and James Powell. My experience with this show prior to seeing this performance was minimal: I had read the plot summary on Wikipedia back when it was announced that we would be performing the musical this winter here at Cheshire Academy to learn what kid of story it was, but other than hearing from time to time about just how great the show is, that was basically it. Despite my plans, I had yet to even listen to a single song from the soundtrack before seeing this performance, and thus I went in with vague but high expectations.

As I learned shortly after watching the performance, the original novel Les Misérables written by Victor Hugo was based on a real event in French history, the June Rebellion in 1832. In the musical, the second half of Act One shows the build-up to this event, and the two-day rebellion and its immediate aftermath take up most of Act Two; however, the true focus of the story is on the characters that become involved in the tragedy. The large cast includes Jean Valjean (played by Nick Cartell), a former thief turned hardworking, kindhearted, respectable man; Javert (played by Andrew Love, who usually plays the Bishop of Digne), an officer of the law who has made it his life goal to put Jean Valjean to justice; Cosette (played by Jillian Butler), the sweet girl turned young woman Jean Valjean raises after the death of her mother Fantine; Marius (played by Joshua Grosso), an idealistic young man who falls in love with Cosette at first sight and eventually marries her; and quite a few more.

With such a large cast, it is important to make sure that no character feels unimportant, and Les Mis succeeds in this in three ways:
1. It ties its characters together through the story, as was demonstrated in the short descriptions above.
2. When characters disappear from the story, their parting serves as set-up for the next plot points. The Bishop of Digne is only in the prologue but is the one who sets Jean Valjean on the path to becoming a righteous man; Fantine's dying wish is for Jean Valjean to find and raise Cosette; etc.
3. The characters' personal stories all flesh out the world and relate back to the show's main themes, such as love, loss, struggle, freedom, and change.

The actors all gave phenomenal performances, as to be expected out of a professional company like this. In particular, Nick Cartell gave a fittingly passionate and moving performance as Jean Valjean, Andrew Love was very intense and surprisingly sympathetic as Javert, and I enjoyed the vocal variety that Phoenix Best provided as Eponine, even if she was a bit nasally at times. I felt somewhat iffy about the few child actors featured here, though the boy who played Gavroche grew on me in time for his unfortunate death. The pit was incredibly powerful and emotional, yet the singers still managed to rise above it most of the time, getting many of the tunes stuck in my head. The costumes were also very realistic.

This show is very different in scale from the first play I reviewed for this class, the Elm Shakespeare Company's performance of The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet.  Romeo and Juliet was outdoors and thus had both natural and artificial lighting, which required the show to make more creative use of its artificial lighting to add to the scenes. Les Mis was in a huge beautiful theater where they had full control of lighting, and in comparison, I found the lighting to be atmospheric and overall great but not as unique. The other downside of having a huge theater is that it's much harder to read the actors' facial expressions from a difference, which means certain subtleties can be missed from a distance. However, being in a proper theater did give Les Mis one huge advantage, and that as in the sets. With Romeo and Juliet, everything had to take place on the one large set, and while it was beautiful and worked for the show, Les Mis was visually stunning, with so many different pieces working together to make each location distinct, a necessity for a show with as complex a plot as this. They even made efficient use of a green screen in the background at certain points, such as when Jean Valjean drags Marius through the sewers or when Javert throws himself off a bridge, to make things clearer.

Other than my previously mentioned grievances, the one fault I had with this performance is that it seemed to go too fast at times, or failed to be clear about certain plot points. For example, early in Act Two, Javert goes undercover to sabotage the revolutionaries from the inside, but Mrs. Guarino had to mention to me that it was him before I got it. Similarly, when Jean Valjean shows up to help, it took me more time than it felt like it should have for me to recognize him, even if he was also undercover. These admittedly brief moments of confusion temporarily took me out of the moment, where otherwise the show's immersion was one of its strongest points.

In summary, the Bushnell's performance of Les Misérables was a great pleasure, and I am very glad that it was my first exposure to this wonderful show.

Research on Stanislavski's Method

All three of these videos focus on imagining yourself in the given circumstances, which is a major part of Stanislavski's method.

Video 1

For this exercise, you have to spend a minute or two examining a coffee mug from every possible angle - the shape of the cup, its weight, the heat coming from the coffee, etc. You then have to apply this same critical thinking while drinking the coffee, analyzing its taste, texture, etc. After this, you must attempt to pick up an identical imaginary cup and experience the same sensations drinking from it.

When looking at the comments for this video, I was surprised to see how negative many of them were. Many people seemed to see it as a waste of time, since at first glance it has nothing to do with developing a character; however, that is missing the point. The idea of this exercise is to develop your ability to imagine. Personally, my takeaway from this is that it gets much easier to imagine and truthfully portray abstract concepts like a character's germ when you are able to imagine more concrete, physical objects as accurately as if they were real. This also makes getting immersed in the scene easier, and if you end up having physical props, it will feel even more natural since you have practiced just as effectively without them.

Video 2

This video provides instructions for imagining yourself in a set environment - specifically, being outside in the snow. I noticed that this exercise specifically involved all five emotions, and although it served as a blueprint for the progression of the scene, it also provides multiple options (is it sunny, the sun reflecting brightly off the snow, or dark and cloudy?) and thus encouraged the participants to do their own thing. In everyday life, I feel there are certain senses that seem to overshadow others in terms of importance, so this was a good reminder that when acting out a scene, it helps to take all five basic emotions into account, covering all your bases.

Video 3

This video contains two exercises. In the first, the actors had to imagine themselves as being in a kitchen with imaginary props, very similar to an exercise from our textbook. In the second exercise, the actors had to hold a pen and some sting with their eyes closed and try to figure out what the objects where, then imagine that the pen is priceless and see how their relationship with the object changed.

These two exercises tie back to the two previous videos. The kitchen exercise is an expansion of the snowfall exercise, not just standing still and imagining the location in your mind but acting as though you are in that location. If you were to take the snowfall exercise to this level, I figure that you would have to start by walking as though you were trudging through snow or trying not to slip and fall on ice. The pen and string exercise is similar to the coffee mug in how it has the actor examine a physical object, and then use that to further their ability to relate to such objects in a scene.

TIP Notes: Chapter 1, p. 25-35

Exercise 6: The Six Ws
1. Who am I?
2. When am I?
3. Where am I?
4. Why am I here?
5. What do I want?
6. What will I do to achieve my want?

Subconscious = the part of the mind that influences our thoughts and actions without us being aware of it
There is a conscious objective (what you want to do in the moment) and a hidden objective (the inner motivation)

Exercise 7: be able to imagine the set and objects around you, even when they are present, and interact with them as if they are real

Be able to derive from a brief character description and the setup of a scene what the character’s objective will be

Exercise 8: Actions and desires can be broken down into short first-person phrases (“I want help” or “I leave”) to give your acting direction 

Balance of physical and psychological impulses when improving = psychophysical (thinking and doing working together in harmony)
Active analysis: Actors decide on the main event of the scene and an action for each character, then flesh out the scene with improvisation

The character’s ultimate goal in the piece is their super objective; in a greater sense, the super objective is the theme of the play, building off of all the characters’ individual super objectives

Germ = the essence/core of the character; single word or short phrase

Acting Tip: write your character’s germ and super objective at the top of your script 

Tempo-rhythm = the character’s psychophysical pace; or, the pace of the setting

Exercise 11: Knowing the character or object’s tempo-rhythm makes it easier to step into their body and think the way they do

Have the germ, super objective, current objective, and tempo-rhythm of the character in mind as you act; don’t focus on one aspect of the character so much that you forget the others, as they are all equally important

TIP Notes: Chapter 1, p. 11-25

Truthful acting is when you are fully in character

Stanislavski: “the actor must not only experience the role inwardly, he must embody that inner experience physically. Outer experience relies very strongly on inner experience”
“Every one of our movements onstage, every word must be the result of a truthful imagination.”

Imagination is immersing yourself in the moment with the given circumstances; active imagination requires the use of the five basic senses
Exercise 1: By imagining yourself in different locations, you can get across a lot even when just standing still

The magic if serves as the question that stirs your imagination

Objective = the character’s goal in the given circumstances; action is how they try to fulfill their objective

Exercise 2: To develop your character naturally, allow your imagination to run freely (without getting off topic); go into detail to discover the truth of the character
This will further develop your ability to imagine

Free body: you need to be fully relaxed and unoccupied with your own self before you can step into a character and give a truthful performance

Three kinds of communication:
1. Movement
2. Voice
3. Rays (a kind of psychic link between people)

Exercise 5: You work most efficiently as a group when you are open and committed to what you are doing, and fully trust your partners

Group Project 1 Reflection (“Frenemies Close, Friends Closest”)

I was honestly somewhat nervous going into our final performance of this project. Due to a lack of a fully detailed script, every performance that we have done of this scene has been slightly different. In particular, as I noted in the end of my last blog, it took me a while to decide which of my initially ad-libbed lines I wanted to stick with, and the wording was never exactly the same. Also, as the paper-ripping incident yesterday showed, you can never really be sure that everything will go exactly as you envisioned, and while some times this can result in something positive, it can also be for the worse. I like to have everything under control, to set everything up to be the absolute best it can be, but I obviously can’t direct my peers in the middle of a scene, and I have to accept that they know their characters far better than I do. Thus, each practice run has had good and bad moments that I had to keep in mind going into this final performance, which I wanted to be as close to perfect as possible.

Fortunately, by the time I was the only one left on stage, all of those fears had been alleviated. There were no major mistakes or tangents, only a few brief moments of awkwardness on my end, and I could see the improvements my peers had made, especially in projecting their voices while staying true to the emotions of the scene. We were all confident enough to edit and upload the clip immediately, even though we still had time at that point to do a second run through if we wanted. If I had total control, there are one or two things that I would have gone back and changed, but when I step back and look at the finished project, those little details become relatively unimportant.

I have a strong sense that by doing more collaborative works such as this, I will loose that fear of not being in control of what we’re working on. If I worry less about “doing well” on the projects  and focus more on having fun, not only will it be less stressful, but all of us will be more free to get into character and express ourselves through our acting. I hope that Helen and Youngchen had similarly positive feelings about this experience, and that we will continue to improve our collaborative skills in the future.

Group Project 1 Progress Report ("Frenemies Closer, Friends Closest")

    I am very proud of all of the work we’ve put into our group scene so far, and what it has resulted in. It took us a little while to settle on a basic premise we all agreed to, and even after we had a skeleton of a plot, there was stuff that we ended up adding in the process to flesh it out more, including the whole ending with Allie trying to get the others to sign her petition. At this point, I feel that we are near total completion of the scene, once we smooth out a few bugs.
    When looking back on how our scene evolved, a part of me feels that I may have done too much in shaping it compared to my classmates. I had come up with a very basic idea for the scene in advance after looking ahead on the portal: since all our characters happened to be children, I thought it would make sense to set our scene in a school cafeteria after the events of Helen and Yongche’s monologues. When it came time to discuss our ideas, though Helen and Yongche had some different ideas for settings, we ended up back at my original plan in a roundabout way. In earlier drafts of the script, I also feared that I was somewhat dominating the scene, and so attempted to write myself out of the middle entirely. However, in the end, I was very happy to see Helen and Yongche add to the scene through how they prorated their characters. Nicole is less open to people who she doesn't know but is more willing to go along with people she considers friends, while Austin shows eager honesty, a strong sense of justice, and fierce loyalty for his friend. I feel that the resulting scene is not only far more balanced than it was at the start of this development, but also more interesting in terms of themes presented, like loneliness and friendship.
    As we rapidly approach our final performance of the scene, I feel there are a few smaller things that we could still work on. For my part, I think that I should work on solidifying my lines more over the weekend. Most of my dialogue started off as bullet points that I filled out with ad libs and then continued to reuse if they stuck with me. However, I do not want to waste too much time with filler when performing, so I need to decide for certain which lines I will be using. In terms of my classmates, I personally feel that they could both work on increasing their volume while still staying true to the emotions of the scene. In addition, Helen could work on keeping a straight face, and I think Yongche could show more levels of anger when arguing with me at the end. Other than that, I am very confident that we are ready to give a great final performance of this scene.
 

Monologue 1 Reflection ("It's That Time Again")

When choosing which of the monologues offered to perform, I chose the monologue "It's That Time Again" because I felt confident playing a character who can be cute, snarky and threatening. I decided to play the character, named Allie in the script, as a girl around age ten due to the reference to Disney World in the script, and because of that I used a high-pitched, somewhat squeaky voice that dips more towards my regular voice when Allie enters her creepy mode. I quickly decided at what points it was important to have my mood shift from bubbly and innocent to frustrated and cruel. The more I practiced the monologue, the smoother these transitions became, pinpointing more moments that could serve as smaller transition moments. 

This monologue specifically is meant to be spoken to another unseen character, Mrs. Seibert. As I was developing the monologue, the main feedback I received from others was to leave more pauses for places where Mrs. Seibert would likely interrupt, as well as leaving room for the audience to breathe and fully absorb what just happened. So, I took notes on where it would make sense to have long and short pauses, and imagined what might fill those pauses if this were a two-person performance where someone else was playing Mrs. Seibert. From there, I practiced my reactions to these unspoken lines, so that I would not just be standing there with a blank face during the pauses when performing the monologue. I also got suggestions to add more of a physical aspect to my monologue, which I did my best to incorporate through small things like rapidly tapping my foot when impatiently waiting for Mrs. Seibert to answer the door.

From doing this monologue, I have learned to consider the context of the scene I am performing, such as with the unseen presence of Mrs. Seibert. I have also learned to try to keep the audience invested for every second of the performance, through facial reactions and physical movements, even when I am not saying a line. In addition, from seeing the progress of my peers, I was reminded of the importance of memorizing your monologue as early on in the progress as possible, as it is difficult to develop the emotions of the scene when you are struggling to remember your lines. Seeing my peers' monologues also showed me how having high contrast between beats in a scene makes it much more complex and interesting. For example, Helen initially performed her monologue in a sad tone for the whole thing, but in her final performance, she shifted into being angry in the middle, which showed just how frustrated her character was. 

Next time we do something like this, I hope to be able to use the space around me more, as the nature of the monologue I chose this time somewhat dictated that I had to be standing in an imaginary doorway for most of the time.

Monologue 1: "It's That Time Again"

Genre: Comedy
Character: Allie, a young girl
Link (click here)

All You Need is Love: Review of Elm Shakespeare Company's "The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet"

Friday night, I say a performance of Shakespeare’s classic romantic tragedy, “Romeo & Juliet”, at Edgerton Park in New Haven, performed by the Elm Shakespeare Company. The story of the two underage lovers from Verona’s feuding families who would rather die than live apart has been read, performed, and analyzed for centuries, as well as being constantly referenced and parodied in pop culture, to the point where it has become the quintessential tragic love story. One of the most important aspects of adapting this play in modern times is making the romance at its core believable for an audience who has been exposed to this story’s influences and may see Romeo and Juliet’s love as cliche and a lustful crush rather than true love. In this respect, as well as many others, I feel that Elm Shakespeare company’s adaption definitely succeeded.

The two leads have very strong performances. Steven Lee Johnson played up the goofier side of Romeo, while Courtney Jameson gave my favorite performance in the show as a less passive Juliet. Most importantly, the chemistry between the two of them was very strong, especially as their secret relationship developed over the course of the show. Despite knowing how their story was going to end, I found myself rooting for them due to the sincerity of their love for each other as the actors portrayed. The others actors, on the whole, also gave great performances, in particular Juliet’s nurse, played by Gracy Brown, and Romeo’s friend Mercutio, played by James Udom. However, there were two performances I disliked. Firstly, I disliked that the woman who played Juliet’s cousin Tybalt, who was a substitute and is thus unfortunately mot listed in the program, yelled nearly every one of her lines. While Tybalt was clearly a wrathful character, the constant screaming became monotone and felt out of place at points. Less significantly, I found that Andrew Borthwick-Leslie’s performance as Romeo’s father Lord Montague in his first scene was sub-par, with the way he said his lines coming off as awkward. Fortunately, he was better in the final scene.

Part of what may have made Lord Montague’s lines sound strange in the first scene was the dialogue itself. It took me a little while to get used to Shakespeare’s wordy dialogue being spoken. This was made easier by the younger actors reading the lines in a more modern tone, as it made me able to tell what the line was trying to get across without fully understanding the language being used. One example of this is when Juliet said her famous line, “Romeo, Romeo, where art thou Romeo?” Rather than saying it in a longing tone, Courtney Jameson performed it as a moment of frustration, which even got a chuckle from the audience. The play was also somewhat modernized by the modern clothing the younger characters wore, the best example being Romeo’s outfit. He made his entrance in a red T-shirt, camo pants, and sneakers; and for his wedding, Romeo only bothered to put on a slightly fancier plaid shirt. I liked how this created a divide between the older generation, who were stubborn in their hatred for each other, and the younger generation, who, at least in Romeo and Juliet’s case, were able to look beyond their surnames.

There was one modernization the play made which brought it down for me, however, and that is the use of pop songs as transitions. Other than the very first and last songs used, I found it distracting, especially when it was a song I recognized. For example, after Mercutio and Tybalt’s deaths, they played a song from the animated movie “Book of Life”, and immediately my thoughts turned to why they chose to use that song, rather than the scene itself. Fortunately, this is the last complaint that I have about this adaptation.

The set was beautiful, and the lighting was excellent, complementing the scenes perfectly. For example, whenever the scene was focused on Juliet’s family, the Capulets, the lighting was fully blue, to match the blue color scheme of the family’s outfits. The other families’ costumes were also color-coded, making it easy to tell who was related to. There was also a small detail I noticed and appreciated relating to this: when Romeo snuck in to the Capulet’s dinner party, he wore a blue bandanna around his neck to fit in. The fight choreography was amazing and always exciting, and the background characters managed to have something to do without distracting from the focus of the scene. 

In the program is a note from director Raphael Massie, where he explains that with this adaptation, he wanted to express how love is all all-powerful force that allows people to see “just how inconsequential the differences we use to discriminate are by comparison. We are one humanity.” From the outside looking in, it may seem that the suicides of the protagonists in the show’s finale would go against this, but their love is not the only such bond in the play, with there also being a large focus on friendships and family relationships, and in the end, the legacy of the tragic lovers ensures peace at last for those who survived. As Massie says, “Love is the answer.”

Introduction Blog

Hello, I'm Jenna Denomme! I'm a sixteen-year old junior at Cheshire Academy, and am enrolled in the full IB program. I'm a reader, writer, singer, and gamer, who likes fantasy and sci-fi, RPGs, and puny titles (if the title of my blog didn't tell you that). I have a lot of ideas that I haven't gotten too yet, because I'm more of a procrastinator than I should be and less of an optimist that I should be.

...Is this too informal for a school blog? Sorry.

Anyway, here are three facts about me that are relevant to this class.

1. I have performed in one play each year I've been at Cheshire Academy. I was Theodosia (the old wealthy woman) in "Bone-Chiller!", in the ensamble of "Once On This Island", and Theo (the leader of the band No Vacancy) and a teacher at Horace Green in "School of Rock". I will be auditioning for "Les Misérables" in the winter. In middle school, I was also a Munchkin and a citizen of the Emerald City in my school's performance of "The Wizard of Oz".

This is a picture of me from when I preformed in "Once On This Island" here at CA

2. I have seen multiple Broadway plays, starting with "Matilda". In the past five months, I have seen "Hamilton", "Dear Evan Hansen", and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", and my family plans on going to see the Broadway revival of "Once On This Island" opening later this year.

A picture my Nonna took of me at "Dear Evan Hansen"

3. I first got into "Hamilton" and "Dear Evan Hansen" thanks to the Internet, and thanks to their fandoms have also fallen in love with two off-Broadway musicals, "Heathers" (a high school musical but with murder) and "Be More Chill" (a high school musical but with a literal chill pill). The YouTube communities for these musicals even inspired me to start a series of animatics (like animation storyboards) for the "Dear Evan Hansen" soundtrack. Currently I've only finished my animatic for the first song, "Anybody Have a Map?", which you can watch on my YouTube channel, "Agent Raven" (yes I'm self advertising in a blog for school, sue me).

The thumbnail for my video

I signed up for this class not just because I love theater, as was shown above. I am fascinated by the art of acting - specifically, how a person can step into the life of a character separate from themselves and yet still make the audience believe that they ARE that person. In addition, different actors can play the same character in different ways, based on subtle things they pick up on in the script or by adding pieces of themselves or similar characters from different works to the performance. While theatre is not my main interest in the arts world, I hope that by taking this class, I can learn not only the history of theatre and how much goes into making a show happen, but also what it's really like to be a serious actor. If anything, the experience with getting into a character's head may help me when doing my own creative writing.