I liked that Paula Vogel did not hold back and let all of the emotions of the play loose. I am anticipating that I will enjoy the play. I personally think I would like it more if the characters were portrayed by only people rather that people holding puppets, but they have too much symbolic meaning to be left out. I think the puppets are meant to resemble the fact that we really have no control over our own lives as children. The release of the real people from the puppets into adults symbolizes the freedom from their
Vivian, an English Professor focusing on John Donne, finds out that she has stage four ovarian cancer. Throughout the play, she communicates her thought process in the course of her treatment and death. She is a lonely character, without any visitors, and she is a very strict professor to the students. During the play, she changes her personality and regrets how she was while she recites John Donne’s poem. The audience can closely feel and understand what is going on with her.
“Doubt requires more courage than conviction does, and more energy; because conviction is a resting place and doubt is infinite—it is a passionate exercise ” (Shanley). John Patrick Shanley wrote the play Doubt, which takes place in a Catholic Church and school in Bronx, New York during1964. In Doubt, the school’s strict and heinous principal, Sister Aloysius is convinced that the priest, Father Flynn, is expressing inappropriate behavior towards Donald Muller, who is the school’s first black student. To help aid Sister Aloysius in finding proof about the conviction and keeping a close eye out for students, the naïve teacher, Sister James, is indecisive on whom to believe in this situation, but she still provides insight to both Sister Aloysius and Father Flynn. As the situation thickens, Sister Aloysius is using all of her power
Andre’s Mother by Terrence McNally discusses some deep topics using an issue prevalent in modern society. The play takes place at the funeral of Andre, a gay man who died of AIDS. Readers see how different characters react to his death, from his lover to his mother. The funeral itself and the fact that Andre was gay present two major themes that are distinct but also connected. These themes are shown through the interactions between characters and the use of symbols. These aspects of the play work together to explore ideas related both to grief and acceptance.
The play Well was interesting, confusing, and comedic. Lisa Kron came out and at first I thought she was the narrator, but she was actually in the play. The play started off with Lisa Kron talking about illness and wellness. She wanted to know why some people would get over the sickness they had, but others stayed sick. Her mother was in the back sitting on a La-Z-Boy chair and was sick and the doctors did not know what she had.
In Doubt Sister James is the character who is full of the most doubt out of everyone in the play; Sister James doubts herself, Sister Aloysius, and Father Flynn all in a very short time span. At the beginning of the play when Sister James is having a conversation with Sister Aloysius it is clear that a single word from Sister Aloysius could completely shatter Sister James’ confidence and make her doubt her abilities. Sister James takes the advice of Sister Aloysius but after she does she says to Sister Aloysius in another conversation “I feel. Wrong. And about this other matter, I don’t have any evidence. I’m not at all certain that anything’s happened” (Shanley 1025). It seems to be a common theme for Sister James to not be certain she is constantly questioning herself and what she believes and going back and forth on things particularly whether or not Father Flynn is molesting one of her students.
It is officially time for a new season of Sister Wives and things are changing for the Brown family. The news is out that Maddie Brown is married and also expecting her first child. Along with that, this season Mykelti Brown will get engaged, but her dad Kody isn 't holding anything back. He doesn 't feel like the couple is ready and he wants them to know it. Us Magazine shared a preview for the new season of Sister Wives where Kody Brown tells Mykelti 's boyfriend exactly what he thinks.
Tompson Highways play, The Rez Sisters, illustrates the various challenges Native Canadians face within today’s society. The audience and readers of the play are able to learn and understand the numerous problems which exist on the Reserve including poverty, gambling, abuse and addiction. Perhaps one of the bigger challenges found however, is within each of the individual characters. There is a loss of identity which in turn, diminishes one’s tradition, language and culture. Identity is how you view yourself and your life. It helps to determine where you think you fit in, but is often influenced by our experiences, society and our culture.
To begin the setting was amazingly seamless and convincing; although, I didn’t have very high expectation for the sets I was amazed to say the least when I saw the first scene set. In scenes where Santa was telling Buddy’s story the set was the most simplistic while other scenes for instance when Buddy first gets to New York I was amazed by the set and how realistic it was to the actual setting. The flow of sets was almost seamless making the entire play feel dreamlike. The stage props used throughout the play were handled as though they weren’t props and that the character holding or using them used them every day adding to the dreamlike feeling of this play. The lighting perfectly depicted the mood of each scene I noticed that while in the North Pole the lights tended to be more of a bright white light which to me symbolizes joy and happiness, while in other scenes in New York I noticed gloomier colors such as dark blue that most likely to symbolize Buddy’s struggle and conflict with his father, Walter.
The other element of a successful play that stood out in this production was fluidity. This musical moved smoothly from beginning to end and was easy to follow. Overall, this production was a success and the performance was
The switching of roles is as quick as the blink of an eye especially the scenes with the traveling salesman, conductor and Hannay. They also use vocal sounds to reenact trains noises and other objects that aren't visual props but still make you feel as if they're there. The actors themselves being human props is a great thing that makes the play work. The funny accents especially of Hannay are quite comical. When Annabella simulates sex with the male actor with her having a knife wound in her back was hilarious as hell I actually cried
I loved the placement of different props on stage, like how the first scene where Vivian is first diagnosed was off center to the right. The single spotlights added more emphasis on certain points in the play and I thought that added more to the environment, especially when Vivian would have another monologue and she would step forward towards the audience while the extras moved around the props in the back to change the scene. For sound, I thought the background music for the ending scene really captured the mood for the death of Vivian Bearing. It wasn’t exactly a grieving style of music but it was calming at the same time. Also, the lighting and sound effects for the x-ray scene was outstanding.
Do you know that Shakespeare is not the only gifted writer in his family? This mysterious member exists in the English writer Virginia Woolf’s imagination. In her famous essay “Shakespeare’s Sister,” Woolf uses the hypothetical anecdote of Judith Shakespeare as her main evidence to argue against a dinner guest, who believes that women are incapable of writing great literature. During the time when Judith is created, women are considered to be naturally inferior to men and are expected to be passive and domestic. Regarding her potential audience, educated men, as “conservative,” Woolf attempts to persuade them that social discouragement is the real cause of the lack of great female writers without irritating them by proposing “radical” arguments. By using casual diction, simple sentences, and well-known allusions, Woolf is able to shift the audience’s attention from the gender of the
The productions of this play were successful through stage design, lighting crewing, and acting. Those three aspects made the quality of the play stand out to me, as an audience member. The production of the set design of the play was a good effort. The set design for the play staging aims for the sweet spot between feeding adult nostalgia and satisfying a new generation of children.
Three Sisters is a play authored by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. Set in a small town used for garrisoning troops, the Prozorov family struggles to live their fullest lives in the backwater town. Accompanied by several military men, the three sisters, Olga, Masha, and Irina, and their brother Andrei attempt to navigate a somber and seemingly predestined life. Anton Chekhov uses the lives of the Prozorov and the people they interact with to insinuate beliefs about the Russian nobility and educated society. Throughout Three Sisters, Chekhov suggests that noble people live somber dissatisfying lives, are disconnected from the struggles of the average Russian, and suffer from various moral pitfalls.