Chapter 4

Experiencing the Performance Watching a play and reading a play are two very different ways of experiencing the play. Differences exist in how to study a play when read and study a play when being seen We can use Aristotle's six parts of play text to critique the performance It’s different because we see

New Questions to Ask What are the arts of – the actor – Scenic director – Costume designer – Lighting designer How do these all come together with the words of the play?

Play analysis-looks only at the art of the playwright Performance criticism-looks at two things – At the play (play analysis) – At the audience

Beginning the Criticism Process Prelim Work – The art of theatre- we need knowledge of theatre – The nature of the work- learn about the play before going to go see it – The program-gives clues about setting, names of characters and major relationships. Director might give notes explaining something the audience should focus on – The clues about the physical setting-what do you see and hear before the play begins to set the mood or make you curious

Performance Analysis Multitask – Participate in the performance fully as the audience member and enter into the created world – Watch the performance-step away from the performance how the effects of the play are achieved

Values of the Play Drama=imitation of human action – Helps us generalize from specifics to more general human truths (revelation) Story (similar to plot) Suspense: requires preparation and curiosity to find out “what’s going to happen next?” Surprise: unexpected happening, but logical in retrospect (different from accident)

Characters: interdependent yet independent; complex – I recognize myself or I can identify (mirror) – Appeals to feelings (conscious or subconscious) – I recognize others (trait, history, etc) Idea: intellectual content of the play – Theater: the home of the Now – might not be recognized as important in the here and now, but are in the time after – Come from plot and dialogue – Succeeds only if other theatrical values of the play succeed

Values of a Specific Performance Story, character and idea-in the text Music-heard Spectacle-seen Theatre = “seeing place” Auditorium = “hearing place” Given circumstances-basic traits that determine the world of the stage: age, sex, social class, physical health of characters, time, place, and mood.

Given circumstances must be made clear – Source or purpose – Consistency Conventions: contract between the theatre artist and audiences – Time can pass between acts – The door on the stage leads into the house – A gesture suggests a feeling

Style-used to describe recurring cluster of traits that set aside one type from another; mode in which art is presented; change over time (Neoclassical, Romantic, etc) Abstraction-removal from observable reality – Reproduce observable reality – Produce parts of reality in generalized but understandable shapes – Abandon reality all together

Detail – Amount-no detail to overwhelming detail – Kind-natural/artificial, urban/rural, etc. Material-mediums: (line, color, texture) – Black material-death, abandonment, loneliness – Metal-industry, sterility, coldness – Wood-comfort, tradition, simplistic

Actors – Are the actors real people, aware of themselves as actors and people – What type of details are the actors using (voice, movement) – Materials of voice and body-posture, loudness, softness

Responding What are the major values of the play? How are these values revealed or transformed through the performance? Informed Orderly Defensible

Rather than explaining the story, discuss how the performance reveals (through actors, director, and designers) the story, characters, ideas and values Discuss – Given Circumstances – Conventions – Style – Story and clarity – Characters and clarity