More Than Just Actors (Pamela Sieja)
Theatre is more than just actors, an audience, and a stage. It is a way to attain knowledge about history, human experience, and life in general. As Miss A comes to seek knowledge and truth from John; audiences attend theatrical performances for the same reason. It is a way for audience members to transform and experience a time away from reality. The theatre can raise such intense emotions that it causes audience members to laugh hysterically at one moment and weep at the next. In many cases, people long for this release of emotions, and they come to see characters experience humorous or tragic situations. In Shakespeare in Love, Gwyneth Paltrow’s character Viola longs for the intensity of an ideal, passionate love to be performed on stage. She wants to see this perfect love, relate to it, and possibly strive to reach this ideal love in her own life. Furthermore, Elizabethan drama focused on the internal struggle of the characters, often in the midst of political and religious concerns. During this period, Shakespeare’s grasp on language allowed him to use the power of words to create deeply emotional plays. Shakespearian performance depended greatly on the imagination of the audience; for example, costumed characters would walk onstage and describe a battlefield scene that the audience had to imagine. Thus, a simple stage could be transformed into a dangerous battlefield by manipulating the audience’s imagination. The power of theatre, then, seems tremendous; it can trigger a release of emotions, serve as an escape from reality, and modify the thinking of individuals.
Written by Pamela Sieja - February 13, 2007
Posted by Kirk Andrew Everist
posted by Kirk Andrew Everist @ 10:47 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
It found your comment about “manipulating the actor’s imaginations” really interesting. I have never really thought of the creative process in quite that way. I suppose it does take a great deal of imagination for an actor to transform his/her character in to a person that we would find believable. It is also, like you said an extension of the desires that the actor holds within himself. It seems that there are many examples of real life situations where an actor cannot handle a particular role because it can be too emotionally draining.
I agree with your assessment about the complexity of theater that I think is often overlooked by some. However, I am not sure that I agree with the comment that theater is "a way to attain knowledge... about human experience and life in general". I do not feel that theater is meant to teach people things about life. There is very litle in theater that can not be learned in real life. I think what theater does is to realate to the experience of audiences in an effort to make some sort of statement.
I really like your assesment of theatre as a whole and I also believe that an actors performance on stage is attempt to manipulate their personality in a way to ligitimately present an alternate character or idea to the audience. Generally, I don't believe theatre is used as "a way to attain knowledge... about human experience and life in general," however there are instances where a thratrical event can litterally show an audience certain things about human experience during a specific time period. For example, Trouble in Mind by Alice Childress shows an audience how racial discrimination was present in 1955 by having a play within a play to demonstrate an accurate depiction of the relationships between whites and blacks working together and the lack of understanding that went on between the two races within this one instance.
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