Catastrophe
In Samuel Beckett’s CATASTROPHE, the characters of the play are identified by letter, D for Director, A for his female assistant, P for protagonist and L for the Luck in charge of lighting. The whole play is based on a director’s vision of the Protagonist appearance and the persona that must be portrayed by the protagonist. Along side the director comes his assistant that is very irritated by his lack of vision, or it seems to come off that he lacks a vision because A is always suggesting things and making improvements.
We were asked to stage the play ourselves and to portray what we thought it would look like. Reading it alone was interesting in itself because the dialogue is so simple and direct that it didn’t seem to be that challenging. Well, that wasn’t the case because after running through it the first time did we notice that even though the lines are simple, the pausing and actions themselves are a little more profound and complex. I was played the part of the Protagonist and even though I had no lines, I found it difficult to “act” and balance the director in the play wanted me to do and what the script wanted me to do. I found it difficult not to laugh for some reason because it seemed to odd to stand on a box and have everyone around me say something and I must remain quite and still through all this dialogue. I think the most difficult task for me is to remain still and keep a stern and serious face throughout this play. Going through this process has given me a lot more appreciation for the work of actors.
posted by Flora @ 6:55 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
I agree with what you said about balancing the stage directions and the action going on around you being difficult. The part that I read had fewer stage directions, but I did find it difficult to pause at the right parts during the reading so that other people’s movements corresponded with what I was saying. Staging this production, with no outside director made the process difficult. If we had used a fifth person to watch the production and keep us more on track with the stage directions, I think that the process would have gone much smoother.
I agree with you about the dialouge being so simple. Do you think that the staged reading would have been more difficult had the dialouge been more complex? Also, how was it acting as the protaginist? Was is nerve racking at all? I think it would have been awkward had I played that role.
I also found the play more complex, and the characters as well, once the stage directions had to somehow be included in our production. I thought that it was hard not to read over the pauses; they were very frequent. I also found it difficult, as the Assistant, to keep taking my pad and pen out, then putting it right back up again. It was very helpful that my group made Luke read the stage directions because it really kept me focused on everything that was going on. However, I enjoyed watching your group the most because it was more like seeing a play with some acting because the technical part was left out.
How did you enjoy the overall experience of the performance looking back? Do you think that you would have interpreted the play differently than what our group did? I really felt sorry for you since you had to be the protagonist. Did you at all find it awkward to be standing in front of a small crowd doing nothing but being the focus of attention? You say that you have more appreciation for actors…does that apply to just actors of the theater, or does it also include movies/television stars?
Post a Comment
<< Home