Week 6-Your production

WEEK 6 – YOUR PRODUCTION

RESEARCH: Research your own Shakespeare play: Much Ado About Nothing, Love's Labour's Lost or Titus Andronicus. What is the play about? When was it first performed? Find a contemporary production of the play you can get an idea of and research it in terms of concept, style, design, casting. Give some attention to your own character and their role in the play.

Titus Andronicus is a tragic play written by Shakespeare between 1588 -1593 it is thought to have been the first tragedy he wrote. It is also thought however not proven that he collaborated with George peele on writing the play.  The first recorded performance was in early 1594 at5 the rose theatre in London. The exact date was 24 January however it was acted by 3 different companies within a short time after this. 

Although it is set in Rome during the Roman Empire it is not a historical play however it is a mix of medieval myths and legends. Shakespeare took inspiration from several sources, such as Ovid’s Metamorphoses which he used to inspire lavinas rape, then Seneca’s Thyestes in which two sons are served for dinner much like Chiron and Demetrius.

The main theme of the play is revenge, The play is set in the roman empire, a war has just finished and saturnine and bassianus are arguing over who will now take the throne after the deceased emperor their father, Titus is offered the power by Marcus however he turns it down and says that saturnine should be given the throne. He then takes Tamora the queen of Goths as his empress and she vows revenge on Titus for killing her eldest son. This revenge takes place through Chiron and Demetrius raping and cutting of the hand and tongue of lavina (Titus daughter).  Titus then eventually kills Chiron and Demetrius and serves them in a pie at a banquet to Tamora and then kills Tamora then lavina and saturnine kills Titus who is then avenged by lucius who is made emperor at the end of the play.  

Looking at Seoul’s Shakespeare company’s version( video embedded to hte left) the first thing i noticed that was different from our version of the play was that is had males playing males and women playing women, our production decided to have an all female cast and it completely changed the dynamics of the play, The character of Demetrius that i play was more of a comedic character than serious, the first introduction in the play is of Chiron and Demetrius arguing over lavina, in this production their first entrance was then cat fighting with each other in a comedic way whereas in our production my character was more evil and serious.  The casting of all the characters was closer to what the character would have been like mainly due to the fact that there are the correct genders playing the correct roles.

The costumes for this production were closer to how they would have been in earlier productions, they matched their characters and the time era whereas in our production we used similar costumes for everyone and was more experimental. The way that this play is was more naturalistic to how it was written and hasn’t changed too much, even the set is pretty basic with just a doorway and stair either side with  props occasionally being brought on.

Furthermore the naturalism was also seen during the physicalisation of characters, there was no outlandish physical traits whereas during our production we all had more of a physicalised way of moving, especially my character who was crouched down for most of the play.

Week 5- Shakespeare Today

WEEK 5 - SHAKESPEARE TODAY

QUESTION: Analyse contemporary Shakespeare productions with reference to live performances you may have seen or clips or footage available online. You should comment on what you notice about them and how they differ from what you know about the original performance conditions of Shakespeare’s work? (Don’t be afraid to point out the obvious).
Consider how these productions are employing all the techniques, technology and resources of modern theatre.

I saw The Globes production of a midsummer’s night dream and it made me appreciate Shakespeare’s work even more than I already did, I always thought that Shakespeare was confusing and boring however this performance was extraordinary and made me remember why I love the performing arts, the play had an Indian theme. The play was definitely a modern concept and used lights and staging to add to this, the most obvious difference to classical Shakespeare was the fact women played women rather than having boys play them, there was also naturalistic costume and costume similar to character which the original performances wouldn’t have had.

the fairy queen from the version of a midsummers night dream i saw.

A similarity I noticed during the performance is that the stage still uses the ‘heavens; to create special effects, the queen of the fairies descended on a harness from the ceiling, this is something that would have been possible in the original conditions.

The staging of the play was also interesting as the used tables in the pit as well as the stage, this is quite a modern concept and in doing that it immersed those standing (of which I was one) they also integrated the use of modern language and culture into the text, normally I would find that this ruins the language as it is so different however due to the nature of the performance and the comedic way they did this it was very effective.

Contemporary productions are obviously more technically advanced. In the original performances of the shows they would have used daylight to light the stage however they can now use lights to create whatever environment they6 want, this makes performing Shakespeare now even more interesting as there are so many more ways of creating different effects, this is the same with music and props. Many companies have a better budget for props and you can also find things more cheaply so there are more props than there would have been originally.

I find that modern Shakespeare is interesting as it transfers old plays that were never intended to be set in certain ways to be interpreted differently, for example there was use of things like pop up tents in the version of a midsummer’s night dream I saw.Some productions even go as far to change genders of characters, there was a gender change in a midsummer’s night dream so the love triangle then had a gay relationship and character, this would have been unheard of in Shakespeare’s time however now it isn’t such a big deal.

There was also a use of physical theatre and a slightly experimental feel with the love triangle and them literally running in a circle, taking the text out of the original concept of them standing on stage dramatically saying their lines. There was also a use of direct address to audience which wouldn’t have happened in the Elizabethan era.

 I found the risk’s that the production took brilliant. The change of the play and making it modern makes it more enjoyable to watch, people are more likely to understand it rather than the serious Shakespeare we are used to.  Obviously the plays are performed in the same place as they were 400 years ago however you can clearly see the change.

The new globe theatre

Another major difference between performances now and in the past is that they are more likely to be performed in the evening rather than during the day as we have the technology to use lights whereas the Elizabethans relied on natural daylight.  There was also an interval halfway through the any modern shows however during the original performances there might not have been one or there may have been many small intervals to relight candles if being performed inside.