Upon entering this class I had only gone to a few plays- some of which were by choice, others I was dragged to. My understanding of theatre was extremely limited, and after taking the course my understanding has changed substantially. Before The Page & The Stage I had never really thought about what choices directors and actors were making in preparation for the show, or how the script transfers itself from the text to the stage. As an extremely casual playgoer I had never really thought about how reading a play before seeing it can have an effect on the experience. By reading scripts, going to plays and discussing the experiences, I have thought about issues in drama that I never would have before.
When I was reading Life Without Instruction there were parts of the play that were funny, but the thing that stood out the most was the fact that parts of the play were difficult for me to read because they were so graphic. I am referring, in particular to the rape scene and the court scene in the play. I felt like this would be a very emotionally driven scene that would make the audience uncomfortable. When I went to see the play however- the director focused more on the dark comedy of the play, and less on the drama. The transition from the text to the stage is different for different people. By reading the text before seeing the play- I had developed my own ideas: what characters would act like, where the audience would laugh, where the audience would feel uncomfortable, and what the stage would look like. Actually going to the play after reading it was a startling experience- because the directors vision was so different from my own. After reading a number of plays and thinking about them and how they will be performed- before actually seeing them, opened my eyes to something that I had never thought about. I should not go to a play thinking it will be exactly like what I have created in my mind- I should go to the play wanting to see how the director views the play- and how the actors perform their characters. You could go to several productions of the same play and have a completely different experience every time.
There was a lot of debate in class concerning the fact that we read the scripts before seeing the play, some people thought it was a good idea, others did not. After realizing that I should see a play to appreciate, or disagree with, the directors choices- it seems pretty clear to me that I should read the script beforehand. By reading the script in advance, I can really get a chance to make my own decisions about the play.
I'm not sure why, but every time I read a script, I am extremely interested in how things will work on the technical side of the production. Things like the gun and the blood in Problem Child and the fight scene in Beaux Stratigem. With the fight scene especially- because on the script, action sequences are always so dry- it leaves a lot of work for the director and the actors to fill in. The jump from stage directions to performance is an interesting and leap- which can either go really well, or really poorly. When playwrights introduce an element like and action sequence or the need for something startling onstage- like a gun or blood- it puts the director in a tricky spot. But, as seen in the plays this year- they can go off without a hitch!
Something that I discovered while going to the plays this year, many of which had suspenseful or uncomfortable scenes, was the experience of being a member of a collective audience. The moments were rare, but they are moments that really stood out for me this year. When the gun was fired in Problem Child- the entire audience was still, there was an eery silence that every person and performer shared. Or in Life without Instruction during the (turned) comical court proceedings, when Artemisia was being tortured with the thumbscrews; instantly everyone in the audience stopped laughing and realized that something terrible was happening. The experience is something that is unique to theatre, and is something that I found I really enjoyed while going to new shows. Going to the Gut Girls was another great group experience- because the theatre was so cramped, and everyone was so close to the stage- it created a more intimate viewing.
After taking this class I am much more conscious of the choices that actors and directors make, how reading a script can affect seeing a play, and how production makes its way from the page to the stage.
