Comments!
http://jenniferdownes.blogspot.com/2013/12/sor-juana-ines-de-la-cruz-house-of.html?showComment=1386457201027#c1123697361853606730
John Michael Moore
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Show and Tell Post- Spears
Spears- by Zora Neale Hurtson, written 1926, never been
produced
The play Spear is about the rivalry between two separate
African tribes, the Lualaba and the Wahehe.
In the beginning of this play we are in the Lualaba’s tribe and all of
the men warriors are sprawled out on the ground or preparing their spears, but
they all seem weak and quite tired. One
of the warriors shares his plans to go down to the river in hopes of finding
fish, since they are not having the best of luck with their hunting
endeavors. There has not been much rain
at all lately, which means there is no grass growing, and there are no animals
to hunt. But then “the brave” Uledi,
comes into the town bearing grains and meat, and all of the other men are
surprised to see him since he has been gone on a hunt for a few days. Uledi
walks tall and proud because he is a strong warrior and he claims, “there is
always good hunting for the brave. The lion never starves.” But he will not
tell them where he obtained this food.
After that the councilmen are trying to discuss the future of the tribe
and how to keep it alive. Bombay, the
head councilman to the king of chiefs states that they should sell their extra
women because they do not need that many.
But that is quickly rejected and throughout the rest of the play Bombay occupies
his time wallowing in his own dismay, wanting someone to take notice and stop
him from killing himself. The King, Monanga Wa, has a daughter named Zaidi, and
she is in love with Uledi. Uledi shares
his food with her and the other women, then it is discovered that he stole the
food from the Wahehe tribe and they are now coming to fight, take goods, food,
and women from the Lualaba tribe. This
is Uledi’s fault but Zaidi helps spare his life from her father’s wrath seeing
as he is the best warrior and they cannot defeat the Wahehe’s without him. They battle, and Zaidi retreats to the tribes
totum pole for safety, she hears footsteps approaching her and it is Uledi
carrying a leopard skin over his shoulders.
The chief of the Wahehe tribe wore that and called himself the
Leopard. As the Lualaba tribe defeats
the other thunder and lightening fill the sky and it begins to rain. One of the two dramaturgical choices I found
interesting was how they used animals to represent their power in a way. The king of the Lualaba was the Lion, while
the Wahehe was the Leopard. The lion is THE king of the jungle, and Monanga was
the King of spears. He won’t even speak
with other chiefs, only other kings. And the other dramaturgical choice I really
enjoyed was the way everything ties in at the end, none of the women are sold,
the men prove their strength in battle, Uledi is setting up to be the future chief
and king, and it rains so that leads you to believe all of their “problems”
have been solved.
John Michael Moore
Next to Normal
Next To Normal-
Two of Hornby’s elements I noticed in this musical were
progression and ambiguity. There are
tons of examples of progression; the difference in the song progression in act
one compared to in act two, the general progression within each song, the areas
that it would build and resolve. But the use of the song, “I’m Alive” was
present in many areas, with slightly different tempos, and all kinds of
variations to it. The progression of
just that song throughout the show is interesting to look at, because the
moments in which Gabe comes out to repeat the song in some way are all
typically touchy moments. The end is left so open ended and you as an audience
member leave thinking something, whether it is thinking about the way you
wished it would have ended or the reasons why you liked it. The ending to this play when Gabe says once
again, “you’ve always known who I am” and Dan finally hears him is such an
interesting way. I remember the first
time I ever saw this musical and when I saw Dan finally respond to Gabe I immediately
thought back to the song, “Who’s Crazy” because that song is about Dan trying
to make sense of everything happening in his life, when maybe he should have
been the one in the doctors office.
John Michael Moore
Topdog/Underdog
Topdog/Underdog-
This play well represents theatrical mirroring that do not
seem to have much in common in the beginning, those being the Lincoln
assassination and the game, three card Monte. We see Parks make a connection
between these things showing them both as manipulated situations. When playing
three card Monte the dealer is in complete control and Lincoln even states that
the only way for anyone to win is by the dealer allowing it to happen. “… the dealer has been wanting to thro his
cards all along. Only he don’t ever show it.” (410) In the card game Lincoln is
in total control but in the arcade game he ha no control at all, all he can do
is stay put while Booth puts the gun up to his head. He isn’t used to this lack of control he has
and it is shown to us again when Lincolns boss replaces him with a wax dummy.
John Michael Moore
Water By The Spoonful
Water By the Spoonful-
I decided to choose scene 7.
In scene 7 Odessa is talking with john for the first few pages then
enters Elliot and Yaz. Elliot and Yaz
are trying to get money from Odessa to pay for flowers to bring to their aunt’s
funeral. After bickering over it for a
little bit, John then decides to interrupt the conversation and then introduce
himself. Odessa continues to refuse to
give them any money and it is in this scene that we find out that Elliot is
Odessa’s son. After rejecting her sons
pleads for money he tells the story of Mary Lou, then she offers to give them
her computer to pawn for money. This
scene is a big moment, it is the first time the audience gets to see Odessa
away from the computer and is also the first time the worlds of chat room and
real life collide and we learnt the story of Odessa’s daughter. This is a pivitol scene that pushes the plot
forward and helps us understand more of the motivations coming from Elliot and
Odessa.
John Michael Moore
T'is Pity She's a Whore
T’is Pity She’s A Whore-
If I was going to be on the publicity team for this
production I would probably want to do some sort of family picture. I wouldn’t want it to be something too
obvious, but maybe a very oddly set group of people taking what appears to be a
very odd photo for a very odd family.
And I would try to find a way to tie the incestuous relationship between
Annabella and Giovanni in the picture. I
would like to use different variations of red since that color can represent
both death and love. It also represents
other things like blood or anger and all of these emotions are shown in the
play so I think red would be my main color.
Giovanni- Act 1 Scene 1-
“Me. My tortured soul hath felt affliction in the heat of death.”
Friar- Act 2 Scene 5-
“Peace! Thou hast told a tale whose every word threatens eternal
slaughter to the soul.”
Friar- Act 3 Scene 6- “Ay, you are wretched, miserably
wretched, almost condemned alive.”
John Michael Moore
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)