Melodrama in Blood Diamond

Realism and Realsitic. Basically, realism is trying to make somehing appear to be real or seem to be something that you would normally see. It attempts to give the appearance of everyday life. This is common in the theatre since they are usually only able to use props. Realistic is more about making something seem as close to reality as possible. This is achieved through special effects and actually filming a scene on site rather than in front of a painted background. Realistic depictions are common in films and almost even expected from its audience. To heighten a dramatic scene, films will often incorporate music that will sometimes be louder than what is going on in order to evoke a certain emotion from the audience. A good example of this (an example can be found in practically any film) is in the movie Blood Diamond. Towards the end, the character played by Leonardo Dicaprio has been shot and realizes that he can not make the rest of the hike up the hill to the escape plane. He sends the other guy and that guy's son with the big diamond, to keep going to the plane. He provides cover fire for them as they run up the hill. He loads a new clip in and lies against a rock. Soft music begins to play in as Dicaprio stares into the distance. He then picks up a phone and calls the girl that he meet earlier in the film. He tells her to meet up with the father and the son. The two exchange a few sweet nothings as the music becomes a little more present. Then the conversation ends with her saying "I wish I could be there with you" and Dicaprio replying "I'm right where I'm suppossed to be". The music picks up a little bit more and is now no longer a background noise. The camera pans back and you can see the valley below and the beautiful African Jungle skyline. Then you see the plane flying away into the sunset. The music gets soft again as the plane gets farther and then the scene changes to a busy street in London and car engines and honking, to bring the audience back to reality. There was enough time allotted for the audience to morn the death of the main character, Dicaprio, but you are then brought right back into the plot by the loud noise of a busy street, as if the film is saying, now lets get back to the rest of the story plot.
Melodrama uses the style of realism, but intensifies it, making it more exciting and tries to evoke certain emotions from the audience. Two terms are used to describe melodrama: Phenomena and Semiosis. Phenomena is the act of looking directly at the performance, the concrete, real thing. Semiosis looks through the play and reads between the lines for deeper, hidden meanings; the hyper real or imagined.

We were asked to consider the difference between realism and realistic. Realism is an art form that is commonly used in both theater and in film today. Realism is a form that constructs all the trappings of a realistic situation to the point where the audience does not realize that the action that they are watching happens to be totally unrealistic. This is because audiences do not want to watch a depiction of everyday life. They want to see an extreme version of reality, but not so extreme that they can not picture themselves or someone that they know as a part of it. Realistic is simply a description of one particular aspect of a work of art. This is when a character buttons their coat before walking "outside" to protect themselves against the cold. It is irrelevant that the character is simply walking through a door to another part of the stage. Buttoning a coat is something that he or she would do in a "real" situation and so they do it on stage. A technique that is employed by directors in order to achieve this realism is melodrama. A director will use music to supplement the action in order to heighten the audiences experience. The music often tells an audience exactly what to expect. "The Sandlot" provides many examples of this. In one scene Benny, a primary character, laces up his new PF Flyers before jumping over a fence to retrieve a baseball signed by Babe Ruth. To get it back he must conquer The Beast, "giant gorilla dog thing". The building music in the background lets the viewer know that they are coming to the climax of the movie and that there will be a serious fight between Benny and The Beast.

Melodrama...Swordfish

Melodramatic…drama with music. This seems to be the basis for the majority of media we are subjected to these days. Movies, TV shows, video games, all seem, at some point, to intensify a mood using music. Melodrama is, nowadays, an essential piece of production, especially movie production. One example of a melodramatic scene from a movie is from the film Swordfish. The scene I am referring to involves John Travolta and Hugh Jackman sitting in a coffee shop discussing the plans that Travolta has for him. Travolta is trying to hack into a government database and plant a worm, that Jackman has created, in order to steal 9.5 billion dollars from a terminated government operation entitled Swordfish. It seems like a realistic discussion at first (as realistic as two criminals talking over coffee can appear) until the point where Jackman thinks he finds a flaw in the plan. “…before you can access a secure cluster you need a bank on the backbone of the network,” says Jackman (and the music begins, at this point very subtle). Travolta responds (maintaining his cool, laid back attitude) “Not a problem, look behind you…”. The music has heightened now as a low angle shot dollys toward the bank. The closer the shot gets the louder the music, it builds, it builds, it builds. The camera flashes back to a close up of Jackman and at that very second, the music stops. The next shot is a close up of a smirk on Travolta’s face and he replies “Cheers,” as he tips his glass (comic relief, more often than not a sign of comic relief).

Jon Weems

Realism, realistic, and Melodrama

A usable definition for the term realism is written in The Creative Spirit as “theater that seeks to give the appearance of everyday life. It is also defined as specific literary style that dominated a large part of American Theater beginning in the twentieth century. On the other hand, realistic refers to an “actual life events.” It gives a more “balanced” view of what actually happens in everyday life events. Melodrama attempts to use the realism style to portray everyday life events, but in a more emotionally driven, exciting way. Two important terms that help describe what Melodrama is are: phenomena and semiosis. Phenomena deals with "making observations and looking at the real and concrete." Semiosis deals with "looking through. It is interpretation of the hyper real or imagined.Melodramas bring what would be everyday situations and turns them into extremely dramatic events, that more often than not, over the top. It uses what is known as polyphany which is the music that helps heighten the emotions of the audience members so that the unrealistic or "melodramatic" scenes can make more sense. It takes the agon or conflict/game and brings it to a climax. One of my favorite examples of melodrama is the film The Princess Bride. Although this film shows the specific nature of everyday life, such as eating and traveling, many of the other events the characters find themselves in are unrealistic and extremely dramatic. There are even points where the film seems to poke fun that it is such an extreme form of melodrama.
My question is whether or not there are many, if any, films or plays that have absolutely no from of melodrama in them. Obviously there are films such as The Princess Bride, which is clearly a comedic melodrama, but are there subtle aspects in almost every existing entertainment pieces?

Realism & Melodrama in Film

It is difficult to determine the difference between Realism and realistic. It seems that often times, the terms are used interchangeably. However, the key difference is that Realism is a specific style of playwriting and production used in theatre, and realistic is an adjective used to describe elements of the production that contribute to the aforementioned style. Realism is a rejection of Romanticism; it attempts to show the social, economic, and psychological problems apparent in daily life. In order to accomplish this task, realistic elements are included in the production. For example, if a character in a play is from the deep South, it would not be realistic for them to speak in a poetic style with a British accent. Instead, they would speak in a prose style with a Southern accent.
Furthermore, elements of melodrama in film or theatre often include realistic elements. Melodrama is an ornamental style that brings more emotion to the situations than seems to be required. It is associated with Sensationalism and Implausibility, often using music and special effects to add to the heightened emotion of the scene. One example of melodrama that incorporates elements of Realism can be found in The Last Samurai. Tom Cruise’s character, Nathan Algren, is a military officer who was commissioned to train an American-style army in Japan, but he develops a deep attachment and respect for the Samurai way of life and decides to fight on the side of the Samurai. Towards the end of the film, he is running up a hill with a few Samurai warriors at his side, in an attempt to attack a large and powerful American army. A military officer commands his troops to fire at Tom Cruise’s character. The camera focuses on the faces of the troops, visibly upset that they have to fire on their former leader; then, the guns are shown firing. There is a huge cloud of smoke, and Tom Cruise’s character appears unharmed—the soldiers all intentionally missed. Though the scene was melodramatic, magnifying all elements of emotion with music and close-ups, realistic elements were present. The dress of the American soldiers and the Samurai were extremely realistic. The swords of the Samurai and the weapons of the American soldiers were also realistic. It seemed realistic to see Tom Cruise’s character fighting on the side of the Samurai, essentially against his own people, in the context of the film.

Realism in Shrek

Realism defined in The Creative Spirit is a theatrical style that creates an illusion of daily life through the presentation of a detailed environment, natural actions, and language that sounds as if it were overheard in ordinary circumstances. Therefore, realism uses realistic elements from daily life that help draw a connection that alludes to people’s everyday life. Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson directed the computer-animated movie Shrek in which realistic elements are used to make the movie appealing not only to kids but adults as well. Even though the characters and the story line are not very realistic considering we don’t ogres traveling with donkeys to go save princesses, we do have the witty and charming characterizations that make the movie realistic. All the characters are personified and given human emotions and they, like us, have issues with love, family and bonds of friendship. The animation itself connects with the younger audience, however the substance and witty humor is enough for younger audiences to understand the surface, but witty enough for more mature audiences to appreciate. Music in the movie is a technique not only used to tell parts of the story, but also to entertain with popular pop culture. The movie integrates storylines that everyone is familiar with like the gingerbread man story and the writers and directors manipulate it the storylines into comedy. They use childhood fairytales and take their own spin on them, for example in Shrek II, we have the evil fairy lady, the frog that is supposed to turn into the prince, the big bad wolf, and the three little pigs. I think the thing that makes the movie very realistic is the humor in the movie and they poke fun of things that we all find amusing.

Melodrama and Realism

Subject:Snatch

I'm not entirely sure what this post is supposed to address. However, as far as I understand, we are to use some example of melodrama and reveal within it some form of realism. Realism was and is a literary and theatrical movement to prose. It is class conscious and is characterized by the ability to present some type of material that the observer can relate to his or her own experiences. Even if the situation is realistic, we want to see the extreme, or condensed, reality. In this sense, realism separates itself from pure reality. After all, who wants to watch a movie in which nothing interesting happens? It’s something we look at instead of through. We are content, and even seek, to be “deceived.” Melodrama – drama with music – aids the process by presenting something that we know to be unrealistic. Snatch, directed by Guy Richie, is one of my favorite movies of all time. I love soundtracks and the way the music can enhance the experience and the Snatch soundtrack is definitely my favorite one. A good example of melodrama and realism is when Mickey, played by Brad Pitt, knocks out Gorgeous George. The fight itself is very quick ending with just one punch from Mickey. Unlike the Rocky series, there is no hour long exchanging of damaging roundhouses and uppercuts. It’s more realistic in that when the character sustains a direct hit, he’s knocked unconscious, as he should be. Now would the first punch be a direct hit capable of this type of damage? Most likely not, but this is, after all, realism, not realistic. The camera switches to an overhead view, slowly spinning and moving farther away as the sounds of the scene slowly fade and “Golden Brown” by The Stranglers slowly rises in volume. The light tone of the song adds a bit of comic relief to the situation, that could ultimately prove quite dangerous for the main character Turkish.

Trouble in Mind

Alice Childress' Trouble in Mind is basically about a play within a play containing actors acting as actors. It is important to note when this play is set because it was at a time when race and racism was prominant. The play was bold because it incorporated blacks as actors during this time period. Manners, the white director in the play, is a dominant presence who uses sly strategies to get a desired reaction out of the characters so that he can show what kind of mood the character being played is in. Willetta seems to be affected the most by Manners' personality and style of directing. The two clash on views in a number of instances. Somthing that I thought of while reading the play was that it was hard to tell whether Manners is racist or not.

Things to remember from this play:

-beginning of Act 2- speech by Bill with applause being corrected in the background by Manners
- "My friends, if all the world were just, there would be no need for valor..."- Bill
-Sheldon speaking to himself in his mind
-Manners trying to show to Wiletta that there is no difference between their sons
-this is a metatheatre- a play within a play

“Cut, Cut, Cut” – Trouble in Mind- Mr. Manners throws down piece of paper and tells Willeta to pick it up- we looked at a video of this in class

Melodramatic Scene "Pirates of the Caribbean"

Subject:
In recalling a scene that is melodramatic, what came to my mind was the scene in the first installment of the trilogy Pirates of the Caribbean in which the daughter of the royal governor is dining with the captain of the Black Pearl. They are speaking about the tale of cursed Aztec treasure during which we find out that the captain and his crew is cursed by the treasure which they took. The music increases in volume as the captain tells this tale, heightening the suspense the audience is feeling in hearing about the curse. The scene reaches its climactic moment when the captain tells the mayor’s daughter that “the curse can only be broken by spilling your blood over the Aztec treasure. That is why cannot be killing you, at least, not yet.” The daughter responds by stabbing him in the chest, but he doesn’t feel anything because the curse. He grabs the knife and asks “I’m curious, after killing me, what is it that you planned on doing next?” At this climactic moment, the music reaches its peak in volume accompanied by a drum role. The situation is obviously not realistic, but it doesn’t have to be in order to be considered melodramatic. The scene is characterized by an extreme situation that is reinforced by the underlying music, a trend that is common among melodrama scenes.

Talley's Folly

Subject:
In making observations of the showing of Talley’s Folly at Austin College, I took note mainly of the work of the actors, looking particularly for the amount of thought that they put into creating their characters. There were only two characters that appeared for the entire play Matt Friedman, played by Michael Brahce and Sally Talley, played by Averie Bell. Michael used imagination to create a Russian accent, a technique that I have never seen before. Not only was it creative, but it was convincing; it sounded like a Russian was speaking. This feat is more made more impressive considering that Michael was playing one of only two actors during the entire two hour production. To maintain an accent with consistency with that many lines to speak presents tremendous challenge. In examining the interactions between the characters, I noticed that Avery’s use of emotion is very flat, in that her anger remains relatively constant throughout the play. Though we see Sally calm down some when Michael opens up to her, she only moves back to being angry with Matt Friedman. After he tells her about the atrocities that his family experienced before fleeing to America, Sally tally screams at him for lying. I found her constant anger to be over the top. Her behavior seemed to reflect that have of little girl griping about everything rather than a more sophisticated women who can exercise some self control. In fact, the whole play made the audience sympathize with Matt since we see him being stepped on by Sally every time he starts to begin a conversation and open up to her. Perhaps this was meant, since Matt has the central role of trying to win Sally over in 97 minutes, and in any conflict, it is usually the main character that the audience sides with. But the view that the audience should side with Matt is one sided considering that Matt is manipulating Sally in attempting to win her, and is therefore not good in his intentions. The play is not balanced, portraying Matt favorably over Sally, when this is not justified given his intentions. To correct this imbalance would require making Avery’s moment to moment interactions with Michael closer to that of a woman’s, she should exercise more restraint on her anger and perhaps add other emotions besides anger to make her appear more emotionally sophisticated than just gripping, little girl. After falling through the floor of the dock, Matt calls for help in an attempt to get Sally close to him; Sally could have smiled when countering this bid to manipulate her. She knows that Matt is bluffing being stuck and her way of forcing him out of the water by mentioning that there are snakes is actually amusing.

Trouble in Mind

During the play, a block man named Job is lynched for voting, which the audience finds out later that he never did. This boy is portrayed as being very sweet and lovable the play. By having such a man viciously lynched by a white mob in front a white audience, Manners wants to making the subtle point that violence is wrong. This occurred at time when violence was erupting on the streets against. Manners is trying to challenge the status quo, but not in way that will be obvious. He knows that whites are convinced of their superiority. Americans are not ready to see the truth that they have no blacks deserve equal treatment to whites and should be treated with respect. As such, a direct condemnation of white’s actions against blacks would only offend the white audience. Despite his good intentions however, there is skepticism from his black cast from the start, particularly. Though Manners is on their side from the start, Wiletta won’t believe in his idea no matter what he says. She can’t bring herself to play the part of a mother whom she sees as sending her own son to his death. Since she doesn’t believe in the role, playing that role would be violation of her integrity. In the end both Wiletta and Manners get into an argument which ends in Manners storms out of the theatre in fury. The play shows us a basic truth of human nature. When someone is predisposed to believe that another doesn’t have their best interests in mind, it is very hard for the other to gain their trust, and build a coordinated effort. By the 1950s, blacks had been oppressed so long by whites, that it had become part of American culture. Since childhood, all of these black actors had experienced this mistreatment. If a white director starts telling these black actors that he wants to help blacks by putting on this play, they question whether his intentions were genuine since they had seen so much mistreatment brought by other whites that they met before him. Thus gaining the support of the actors will present a tremendous challenge to Manners.Subject:

Trouble in Mind

Trouble in Mind was written by Alice Childress that at the surface tells a slightly humorous story about actors being actors. It also looks at the role of the crew members; such as the stage manager, doorman, and director. The play gets interesting when the relationships between the director, the crew, and the cast are blurred and the ensemble begins to break apart. The topic of race relations was at the top of people’s minds at the time the play is set in. The cast and crew are made up of a mix of both blacks and whites, with a white director leading his ensemble almost as a dictator. The director Mr. Manners has a hard time relating to a mixed cast and the matters only complicate when it is discovered that he also has sexist feelings. Wiletta is a strong black woman who eventually breaks Manners down and expresses the feelings that many other blacks (especially women felt.) Millie displays similar feelings about being a black female actress when she talks about how she is tired of always playing maids. Wiletta attempts to explain to John (a young black actor) how to behave so that he will not be taken advantage of by the director. Judy may seem like she could escape from Manners' prejudices but because she is female, she is also treated badly by Manners. Even Henry, a white male doorman understands how the others feel because he is an immigrant himself. Sheldon seems to be the only one who does not mind Manners' abuse because he would rather have work than be defiant. In this way all the characters of Childress' play represent a "microcosm" of the different types of people/positions that existed on racial issues in the 1950's. When the director realizes that even he is not completely innocent of racist tendencies, he loses control of himself and the command of his players. Perhaps if he had kept his director role either as a dictator or as a friend, he would not have had the breakdown that potentially destroyed the production.

Trouble in Mind

Trouble in Mind is a play that at the surface tells a slightly humorous story about actors being actors. It also looks at the role of the crew members; such as the stage manager, doorman, and director. The play gets interesting when the relationships between the director, the crew, and the cast are blurred and the ensemble begins to break apart. The topic of race relations was at the top of people’s minds at the time the play is set in. The cast and crew are made up of a mix of both blacks and whites, with a white director leading his ensemble almost as a dictator. When the director realizes that even he is not completely innocent of racist tendencies, he loses control of himself and the command of his players. Perhaps if he had kept his director role either as a dictator or as a friend, he would not have had the breakdown that potentially destroyed the production.

Trouble In Mind

I liked this play because of the technique of having a play with in a play to address social issues. To me it reminds me of reading history books and then me writing about myself reading the books, which in turn helps me to relate to the style of writing because it makes it easy to imagine myself in the play. The character Wiletta is a very intense character because she has to play a part that she does not agree with, which is a skill only the greatest actors in my opinion possess. It is kind of hard to read a play about racism where you can't tell whether or not the director Bill O'Wray is racist himself, which I think makes this play even more intense. Bill however, is just a character in the play so I guess I have to find comfort in knowing that the author of Trouble In Mind wrote this to get a reaction out of the reader.

Truth in Trouble in Mind

Truth becomes a controversial issue as Trouble in Mind comes to a close. Manners, the white director, claims that “truth is simply whatever you can bring yourself to believe, that is all” (82). This statement stirs anger within Wiletta, and she later proclaims that she doesn’t believe in her character in the play: “I’m his mother and I’m sendin’ him to death. This is a lie.” (92). She does not believe in the storyline; she does not believe in its representation of black people. She wants the play changed. However, Manners reveals a cold hard truth when he asks “where the hell do you think I can raise a hundred thousand dollars to tell the unvarnished truth?” (97). He declares that “the American public is not ready to see you the way you want to be seen because, one… they don’t believe it, two… they don’t want to believe it… and three… they’re convinced that they’re superior” (102). Following this, Millie proclaims “we got all the truth we bargained for and then some” (103). Millie’s declaration illuminates a key point about truth at the end of the play. The truth can be painful to hear; the truth is not necessarily fair or right or just. It is reality. Wiletta can have hope, and nourish dreams of becoming a great actress, but her dreams will likely never be reality. Idealistically, the position of black people in society would improve with the ending of segregation, but the truth of the matter is that white people still held onto prejudicial beliefs. Wiletta will likely continue to be discriminated against for some time, even though it is not right.

Trouble in Mind

Subject: In Alice Childress' microcosmic play Trouble in Mind she has a director manage a play with a diverse group of characters. Al Manners is the director and he does everything he can to manipulate the actors so their real emotions are portrayed in the character roles that they play. In the play he comes off as an overpowering jerk that bosses people around and demands orders, but never collaborates with other suggestions. This is mostly seen with Wiletta’s and Manner’s consistent budding of heads. Wiletta does her best to follow Manners directions, but his style of consistent attack and overbearing demands reaches under Wiletta’s skin. This is more clearly seen when Manners demands that Wiletta pick up a piece of paper that he crumbled and threw on the ground. Here it’s hard to differentiate between the possibility that there might be a hint of racism in Manners, even though he says otherwise, or that he just wants her to pick up the paper to reveal some emotion. Whatever the intention Manners vision of how he sees the play does not coincide with the visions of the actors.

Subject:Concept of Truth as it relates to "Trouble in Mind"

The dynamic of truth is most interesting in its relation to the two main characters, Wiletta and Manners. On one side, there is Wiletta. Wiletta still bears the scars of segregation and constantly feels the fresh wounds of racism. She resents having to be so dishonest with herself in order to please these various white people in power. A perfect example of this is in Wiletta’s conversation with John upon John’s arrival. She basically tells him to say and do specific things regardless of their truth. She even tells him to outright lie about being in “the latest revival of ‘Porgy and Bess.’” She has a dilemma because being honest and being successful seem mutually exclusive. On the other hand, Manners is in a different position all together. He is playing the role of a non-racist white man but in the end we see that there is, in fact, racism and that he is only suppressing it. Also, Manners thinks that he has won the admiration and affection of these actors, some of whom he has worked with before, when really those who know him despise him. What’s most interesting is that not one both of these characters have a history together and interact the most in the play, yet all the while both are being someone they’re not. Everything that these two have experienced in relation to each other has been under false pretenses. Really they have no relationship or truthful interaction at all. The summation of their years of knowing each other is seemingly nothing.

Talley's Folley

I went on thursday night to see Talley's Folley. I found the introduction to be pretty interesting when he was talking directly to the audience. His accent caught my attention first. I think its impressive for someone to be able to fake an accent, especially one that different, for almost two hours straight and for the most part maintain it consitently. Referring to our class notes, the male actor had an outside-in approach where he created a character through transforming his outside appearance. He was character acting. His hair was obviously dyed brown and it was also apparant that he had a fake beard as well. As I was watching the play, I began to notice how many more lines he had than the other actress. I also thought that it must have been rather difficult to go for 97 minutes straight without any stage break of any kind. Since the actress didn't have as many lines, she had to construct non verbal ways of communicating/acting to express how her character was reacting to whatever the other actor was talking about. The play was giving Sally alot to do by giving her not alot to say. I also noticed there was an abundance of props on the stage. It was littered with random stuff to make it seem like an old boathouse that was maybe even being used as storage. I felt myself sometimes examening all the items and straying from what was being said. The music, that was suppost to be coming from across the river, was distracting at times because it would randomly come on in strange points during the play. I felt like they were trying very hard to get the effect of it being just background music from the other side of the river and thus made it distracting at times.
Overall, the play was pretty enjoyable and the attempt at the Lithuanian accent added to the humor of the O.K. jokes.
This play was by Lanford Wilson.

Talley's Folly

Landford Wilson’s Talley’s Folly was directed by Austin College’s Rachel Aker and previewed Wednesday night. The main characters of the play were Sally Talley and Matt Friedman. The play told of two lovers who were too stubborn to allow one another into each other’s life. Most notably ingenious about the play was the continuing metaphor of the “Humpty Dumpty”. This metaphor is the caring theme throughout the play in that both Sally and Matt refuse to let one another crack to the other. However, inevitably they break one another’s shell and reveal their true past and nature. However, throughout the play the relationship between the two characters was very awkward in that every time they embraced or showed affection it seemed more “acted” than “natural”. Matt’s character accent was diverse in actuality, but the accent seemed to slip multiple times for the actor. Matt’s accent was fluid, however in moments like when he is on the skates and falls in the hole it causes him to lose his accent, or even when he argues with Sally. There was not much character development in the play and that made the play seem to drag. Sally’s habitual anger and attacks at Matt came off a little annoying and frustrating for the audience. She seemed to never cut the guy some slack and it made us lose interest in her role and refocused our attention on Matt. The most distracting and out of place part of the whole play was the awkward interruptions of the music. The music did not mesh with the play very well and at times was too loud where the character’s dialogues were not heard. The lighting also was off sometimes because it did not fit with the atmosphere of a scene, for example, when the candle was put on the lighting did not seem natural or believable. Overall the play was good, but could have had multiple touch ups, but that can be understood because of the fact that I viewed it on a preview night.

Talley's Folly

I saw Talley’s Foley on Friday night in the Arena Theater. The first thing that I noticed about the performance was the difference between the techniques used by the two actors. The actor who played Matt seemed to use a outside-in approach to make his character come to life. His costume was very basic, but it still seemed to help him take on the body language of his character. His facial hair and his accent also added to his performance by allowing him to feel more like the character and less like himself. The actress who played Sally took a different approach to her performance. Her dress was not as constricting compared to Matt’s suit, and she did not seem to have an obvious accent. Her method of using an inside-out approach was apparent by the way her body language was more understated and she relied more on her voice. In my opinion Matt’s performance was more interesting because his character acting took more energy than the internalized acting style of Sally. However, as a duet, the two styles seemed to mesh well and created a very cohesive and entertaining performance.

Tally's Folly

Subject:
This is an interesting play involving two characters that analyze the complexities behind love and relationships in which people struggle with on a normal basis. Both characters, Matt Friedman and Sally Tally, use shamanic techniques in their acting by basing their performances on social experimentation and protest. This is especially noticeable in Michael Brahce’s performance of Matt Friedman’s character. For example, he makes multiple metaphors about people. The most memorable metaphor he presented to the audience, for me, was his description of how people are like eggs. By having this “Humpty- Dumpty complex” people are scared to get too close to one another because we fear that we will crack our shells in the process. This idea of delicacy breeds mystery in all of our lives and these two characters illustrate the intense balancing act between the two separate entities. Matt Friedman’s character claims that, “Mystery is the spice of life,” which means that in the process of creating relationships we crack our shells and open ourselves up to others. The excitement we find in life is hidden behind the shells that encapsulate our personalities and the opportunities we will eventually be faced with. The two actors use strong dialogue and individualized charisma to portray the intended message behind their characters.

Talley's Folly

Talley’s Folly, Lanford Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize winning play, opened in Austin College’s Beardsely Arena theatre last week. I attended the March 1st opening night performance. As I entered the arena theatre, I immediately noticed the folk music playing in the background. I took my seat four rows from the stage, which was designed to look like an old boathouse, or “folly”. There were only two characters in the entire production: Matt Friedman and Sally Talley. The performance opened with Matt Friedman, played by Michael Brache, giving a brief, scripted introduction. In the introduction, he announced that the play run like a rhythmic waltz (1-2-3, 1-2-3), it would run exactly 97 minutes, and he pointed out the exits in case audience members needed to use the restroom. I found this method of introduction interesting because the character was acknowledging that the production was a play; it was not reality. Thus, instead of seeing the character Matt Friedman in front of me; I saw an actor. However, Brache quickly became Matt Friedman, an older Jewish man in love with Sally Talley, as the production progressed. Brache was successful in portraying Matt Friedman through his use of voice. The actor had a well-rehearsed, Jewish accent that was clear and full of energy. Each line was spoken without breaking the accent, and the actor seemed confident onstage, never faltering in his lines. The character’s gestures and movements were very polished, even when the character had the difficult task of falling down in ice skates. In addition, Sally Talley, played by Averie Bell, seemed less confident in her words and actions, occasionally fumbling over lines, walking a fine line between a West Texas and Missourian accent, and often standing with a scowl plastered on her face. Though maintaining an angry tone throughout the majority of the performance, her character was not well-rounded, making it difficult for the audience members to relate to her. Also, the interactions between the actors were at times awkward and painful to watch, such as the uncomfortable kiss as the characters overlooked the water at the end of the play. Ultimately, there were some imperfections in the production. However, I found Talley's Folly to be enjoyable overall.

Subject:

Talley's Folly

Subject: I attended the Friday night performance of Talley’s Folly. This was a different kind of play that I have never seen before but it did remind me of 12 Angry Men when they are in talks about the case. Some of the jokes were hard for me to get because I felt like they were alluded to songs and things before my time that I don’t know about. I was also very hard for me to sit there for 97minutes without intermission. I disliked my overall experience because I was uncomfortable with the closeness of the seats which irritated me. The acting was good though because I could see how hard it would be for two actors to keep your attention on stage for that length of time, which they did well. I was also aggravated with Sally’s character because it was obvious she had this big secret she didn’t want to tell, but when it finally came out I felt like shaking her and saying, “Why did not tell him in the first place and all this drama could have been avoided!” But then I guess there would have not been a story with such a climactic ending. So the actress who played that character did a great job. In conclusion I liked the play but was very uncomfortable in the small theater.