Performance Analysis

Performance analysis will consider areas such as: The company performing the play. The genre of the play. The theme/s of the play. The performance space. The director’s intentions and effectiveness. The acting and development of characters. The Set. Lighting. Sound. Props. Costume. Make-up and hair. One mark will be awarded for the explanation of each feature of the performance that achieves dramatic impact and an audience response. One further mark will be awarded for each explanation that is detailed and is insightful. It should draw out and relate the implications of each feature. Analysis must cover dramatic impact achieved and audience response. Credit should be given for the quality of the analysis given.

National Theatre About the National Theatre The National Theatre is dedicated to making the very best theatre and sharing it with as many people as possible. They stage up to 30 productions at South Bank each year, ranging from re-imagined classics – such as Greek tragedy and Shakespeare – to modern masterpieces and new work by contemporary writers and theatre-makers. The work they make is intended to be as open, diverse, collaborative and national as possible. Much of that new work is researched and developed at the NT Studio. The NT creates many opportunities for new writers, directors, creative artists and performers. The National's work is also seen on tour throughout the UK and internationally, and in collaborations and co-productions with regional theatres. Popular shows transfer to the West End and occasionally to Broadway; and through the National Theatre Live programme, their productions are broadcast live to 2,000 cinemas in 50 countries around the world.

GENRE What makes it a Shakespearean Comedy? Light, humorous tone Deception and disguise Mistaken identity Love overcomes obstacles Family drama Multiple plots with twists and turns (Re)unification of families Marriage

Oliver Theatre The Olivier - named after the National's first artistic director (1962 until 1973), the late Lord Olivier, then Sir Laurence Olivier (made Baron in 1970); − is the largest of the three theatres at the National. it can accommodate 1,150 people in its fan-shaped auditorium, and 2,000 years of drama on its open stage. Two main tiers of steeply raked seats − flanked by side-banks on a higher level − sweep down to the stage. In spite of its size, the Olivier has a concentrated intimacy. No seat is far from an actor's point of command; and the span of the seats matches their effective span of vision. They can hold the audience within the compass of their eyes.

Plot Summary With her father the Duke banished and in exile, Rosalind and her cousin Celia leave their lives in the court behind them and journey into the Forest of Arden. There, released from convention, Rosalind experiences the liberating rush of transformation. Disguising herself as a boy, she embraces a different way of living and falls spectacularly in love. Shakespeare’s glorious comedy of love and change comes to the National Theatre for the first time in over 30 years.

PURPOSE and MESSAGE The purpose of the play is to entertain; it is not didactic and seeks only to promote tolerance and goodwill. As You Like It stresses the freedom of individuals to determine their own fates; one’s experience is largely dependent on how one chooses to view a situation, as exemplified by Jaques’ pessimism and Rosalind’s tempered humanism. As You Like It counters Jaques’ pessimistic insistence that love fades with Rosalind’s love for Oliver. It also pits the Christian virtues of love and kindness against the misanthropic belief that human beings are weak and undignified. Wordplay is presented throughout the text, particularly in Touchstone’s puns

Set Watch the time lapse video and discuss the set design. what the cast say

Themes Love Gender City vs Country Family Transformation

Love As You Like It is obsessed with the nature of love and desire. Shakespeare demonstrates over and over again how love can make people do some pretty risky and foolish things. The play spends a lot of time critiquing the artificiality of "courtly" romance and reminds us of the silliness of assuming the clichéd pose of a "Petrarchan lover"— something that involves a lot of dramatic sighing, sadness, and frustration over an unattainable girl. As a Shakespearean comedy, As You Like It steadily works its way toward marriage. Shakespeare raises the possibility that heterosexual unions aren't everything they're cracked up to be—hence, the numerous cuckold jokes that suggest all men (regardless of age and social status) are destined to be cheated on by unfaithful wives. To complicate matters further, the play also explores the possibilities of same-sex desire between Phoebe and Rosalind, Rosalind and Celia, and "Ganymede" and Orlando.

GENDER Like Twelfth Night and The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare's As You Like It features a cross-dressing heroine whose disguise allows Shakespeare to explore the fluidity of gender. When Rosalind flees into the woods for safety, she disguises herself as an attractive young boy, "Ganymede," challenging traditional ideas about what it means to be a man or a woman. Rosalind's gender-bending game of make-believe is complicated even further by the fact that the actor playing the role of "Rosalind" would have been a boy, since women weren't allowed to perform on Shakespeare's public stage. In As You Like It, Shakespeare makes it clear that gender roles can be imitated and performed—in theater and in real life.Twelfth NightThe Merchant of Venice Because Rosalind is bossy, opinionated, and willing to set out on her own, she defies the traditional 16th-century assumption that women are passive, silent, and helpless. Rosalind's "Ganymede" disguise gives her the freedom to explore her identity because it allows her to behave in ways that were considered socially unacceptable for women.

CITY vs COUNTRY By contrasting the treacherous French court with the idealized Forest of Arden, As You Like It participates in an age-old debate of pastoral literature—is city life better than country life? On the one hand, the court is a cutthroat place where corruption and family treachery are all too common, while the Forest of Arden is a place of simplicity, freedom, and self-discovery for the exiles seeking its refuge. On the other hand, despite its appeal, the forest is only a temporary sanctuary for Shakespeare's city-slickers. In the end, most of the cast high-tails it back to court, where, presumably, they will make it a better place.

Setting -France The Court The play is set in France. For Shakespeare's 16th-century English audience, the setting of France might have seemed like a dreamy, far-off place with fairy tale qualities. At the court, backstabbing and treachery are the names of the game. This is where the scheming Duke Frederick has usurped his older brother's (Duke Senior's) title and where Oliver encourages a professional wrestler to snap his little brother's neck. The Forest of Arden Since life at court can be pretty dangerous, most of the cast hightails it to the Forest of Arden by Act 2. Because Arden is full of shepherds living the simple life, it's considered a "pastoral" setting. The word "Arden" combines the names of Arcadia-an earthly paradise from classical Greek mythology, and Eden -the Biblical paradise. The name "Arden" makes us associate the play's setting with France, Eden, and Arcadia. Arden is cold, windy, and full of dangerous animals. If you want a job, your only option is taking care of sheep. (As old Corin reminds us, taking care of smelly, "greasy" sheep is no picnic.) According to Duke Senior, Arden is a harsh environment but that doesn't matter because it's so much better than the fake and treacherous court: Arden is a place of refuge and freedom. Like most Shakespearean wildernesses (like the woods in A Midsummer Night's Dream or Prospero's Island in The Tempest), Arden is also place for self-discovery, renewal, and fantasy. In the forest, desire rules and characters have the freedom to be and say and do as they please.A Midsummer Night's DreamThe Tempest

FAMILY Domestic drama is par for the course in Shakespeare's comedies. In As You Like It, family treachery and betrayal drive the play's action and also remind us that relatives cannot always be counted on to be loyal or loving. Like King Lear and Henry IV Part 1 and Part 2, As You Like It is largely preoccupied with the unfairness of primogeniture and all the privileges one receives simply for being the first born in a family. It explores the social problems that can arise when oldest sons inherit all of their fathers' titles, land, and wealth, leaving younger brothers with virtually nothing. Because As You Like It is a comedy, though, all of the family drama is resolved by the play's end and domestic order is restored.King LearHenry IV Part 1Part 2primogeniture

Transformation Transformation is a big deal in As You Like It. In the Forest of Arden, some characters transform through the ancient art of cross-dressing, while others shrug off their city-slicker identities and live as rustic country-types. Physical transformations aren't the only big changes in the play pastoral. Except for Jaques, most characters undergo some sort of psychological or spiritual transformation in Arden. Often, these "conversions" are sudden and seemingly miraculous, as is the case with Duke Frederick and Oliver, who change their evil ways upon entering the woods. This theme allows Shakespeare to explore the nature of the theater, which requires actors to transform themselves on an ever-changing stage. At other times, the characters' physical and spiritual conversions allow Shakespeare to comment on humanity—we may be deeply flawed, but we are also capable of changing for the better.

16 Jot down some notes to the following questions. 1. Expectations

Homework task Performance Analysis Essay 1. Analyse the extent to which two of the following helped to create contrasts in a theatrical presentation that you have seen recently: acting setting costume sound Your analysis must include details of the dramatic impact achieved and audience response. You must give equal weighting to your two chosen production areas. You must give detailed analytical points to gain full marks. Writing your Introduction Begin by making a statement telling the marker the title of the performance you will be discussing, the name of the author and the name of the theatre company involved. Make sure you do this accurately – misspelling the name of the author does not make a good first impression. You then provide a sentence which rewords the question. This also ensures that if you have forgotten to write the number of the question in the margin, the examiner will have an easier time deciding which question you answered. Your final statement should simply tell the examiner what you are going to discuss in your essay. This statement may be easier adding once you have written the main body of your essay.