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Absurdism was a style popularized by the likes of Samuel Beckett and Eugene Ionesco. Absurdist plays would pose existensial questions like "What is the meaning of life?" or "Why are we alive?" They had little action in their plots and was based more on the content and making the audience think than any physical styles.

For my installation, I took my school notebook that I regularly use and had a piece of paper that said to take a page! (cause nothing matters). I took something that means a lot to me and questioned whether or not it really mattered by allowing people to rip out any page they want from it. Because at the end of the day, we all die and that notebook won't matter in the grand scheme of things. Unfortunately, no one actually took a page, but Toni said I was brave so I guess that's something!

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Bertolt Brecht

Brecht was born on February 10th, 1898. He moved to Berlin to do theatre. He had a lifelong collaboration with Hans Eisler. He established the theatre company Berliner. He wanted to explore theatre through a political lens. Brecht expanded on the ideas brought forth by Erwin Piscator and Vsevolod Meyerhold. He wanted to activate the audience's reason and provoke social change in them. He was also in part influenced by Chinese theatre and its usage of the Alienation technique, so much so that he wrote an article on it. Later in his career, he preferred the term "dialectical theatre" rather than Epic Theatre to describe his works.

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Erwin Piscator

Erwin Piscator was a German theatre director and producer. He began acting in 1914, but was then drafted for WWI. After the war, he returned to do theater in Berlin. He co-founded a theatre company and then his own theatre: the Piscator-Buhne. He coined the term Epic Theatre. He joined the communist party and used theatre as a means to have a dialogue about his radical political positions. He used a lot of spectacle in his work, such as flashing lights, projections, and revolving sets.

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Alienation Technique

Otherwise known as German Verfremdungseffekt or V-effek. Uses techniques designed to distance the audience from emotional involvement in the play. It makes use of jolting reminders of the artificial aspects of theater. Such as breaking the fourth wall, making announcements, exposed sets and abrupt lighting. Makes audience aware of being in a theatre and that they are watching actors in order to make them think more critically of the work.

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Epic Theatre

Epic Theatre arose in the early to mid-20th century. Erwin Piscator coined the term "Epic Theatre." The emphasis of this form of theatre is on audience reaction and forcing them to see the world the way it is. It uses an acting technique called Gestus, which uses physical gestures and attitude to portray social relationships or ideas. It also uses Historicization to draws connections from history to a similar current event. They would also use Alienation technique , which uses fourth wall breaks, lighting and exposed sets.

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The Problem Play

The Problem Play is a style of drama developed in the 19th century. It dealt with social issues of the time in a realistic way, trying to stimulate the thoughts of the audience. The problem play reached its full potential through the works of Henrik Ibsen, who wrote plays such as A Doll's House and Ghosts. A Doll's House is probably the most popular example of the problem play, as it dealt with gender roles and women leaving their matriarchal and submissive roles in the family.

#Youtube

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Expressionism Installation

My installation on expressionism consists of three grocery bags and five crumpled up pieces of paper. I made sure the bags were under harsh lighting in order to create shadows, like how shadows are used in expressionism. I wrote on the crumpled up bits of paper to signify the deconstruction and little need for language. I think these two aspects of expressionism are important to represent so that is what I tried to do in my installation. The reason I used grocery bags is because as humans I feel like we have needs that need to be filled in order to be happy. Intense feelings and emotions are a huge part of expressionism and I wanted to explore a visual of what it is like when we are missing something that can't be fulfilled and what makes us act out in such a way. No one else was with me besides my classmates and I talked to them about the installation and their own for a little bit.

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Expressionism Documentary

Three Scenes:

The first scene in the documentary stuck in my mind visually. The instant I saw the shadow and the music began playing, I thought to myself “Yup. That is realism.”

The scene from The Hands of Orlac where he is walking with his hands outstretched in front of him is very interesting. The hands are almost claw-like and the shadows grow darker. 

Nosferatu’s scene of Ellen at the window and Orlac coming to their home was interesting to watch. Their desire for each other was made abundantly clear and included Orlac’s shadows taking her.  

Three ideas:

The set design elements of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari definitely caught my eye. Its labyrinthian architecture and dramatic sharpness was unpleasing and unsettling to the eye, adding to the feel of the film. 

I think that the mention of film noir and horror using a lot of expressionist elements was something that stood out to me. I began looking back on horror movies I have seen and picking out different elements in them that could be considered expressionism.

The Hands of Orlac doesn’t outright use expressionist style, but instead intensifies it as the film continues on. It uses expressionism as a story device to signify Orlac’s descent into madness.

Two images:

The image of Caesar (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) creeping out of the shadows is something that will definitely stick with me. It was haunting and the way he was one with the shadows, then left it was amazing to see.

The image of the rabbi summoning the golem with the green smoke is really interesting. I loved the colors and its contrast to the village. The use of color is something that I always love to play with as an artist.

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Machinal Research

Today we read about the play, Machinal, by Sophie Treadwell (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_Treadwell). She was an American Playwright and journalist whose plays focused on women's issues and current events. Machinal is considered America's version of expressionism. The summary of her play can be found through this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machinal. This play can be considered expressionist because of its Episodic style as well as its character's lack of names. The dialogue is also very expressionist in its rhythm and the usage of repeated phrases. It feels like it is working with the soundscape created by the sound of machinery throughout the play.

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Realism is a genre of theatre that focuses on believable real life situations. It includes common language, middle class characters and the deconstruction of gender norms. It is not focused on slice of life though, mainly providing stories that include high stakes situations for ordinary people. Stanislavski's technique played a huge part in this form of theatre. He wanted actors to give more "authentic" and "believable" performances. He used methods like the "Magic If" and Emotion Memory for actors to tap into real emotions onstage.

We also discussed magical realism vs realism and how they differ. I prefer realism because I feel like it is more relatable. Also, outlandish things can happen in everyday situations too.

For my installation on realism, I put down two things that would be familiar to me in a home, which is where most of these plays take place. I brought in an oven mitt and a cutting board. Then I set them up in the lounge along with a bunch of sticky notes with major life events written on them (marriage, graduation, etc). I also put my polaroid camera on the table because of how important the events of the play are for the characters.

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My Personal Style

For this assignment, we had to ring things from home that we would consider part of our personal style. I brought flowers from my vase at home, sheet music, my journal, my blanket and my stuffed animal giraffe. When I talked about these items I spoke about how my giraffe has been with me since I was a baby and how my aunt made the blanket for me when I moved to Philadelphia. I suppose those items, including my journal, reflect how much I value memories and reminders of home. As for the flowers, I've always loved nature and had a big backyard when I was growing up. I chose to bring sheet music because I love music and sound, and I feel like sounds and music can really unlock different emotions or memories within people. I sat for a while with my installation and no one came up to me until the end of the 15 minutes, and it was a person from this class. We talked mainly about my stuffed animal and how well loved he was and we also talked about one of the songs of the sheet music I chose, which was "Someone Else's Story" from the musical Chess. I didn't even realize that was a song I grabbed. a song I sang in high school that won me an award at the NJ Thespian Film Festival. I really appreciate that Fadi mentioned that I was attached to memories and it helped a lot with my reflection on this installment.

#theater #style #inspiration

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My Favorite Play

I got to see the Broadway revival of king Lear a few years ago with Glenda Jackson and Pedro Pascal. The play itself is a great work from Shakespeare, but what really drew me in was what they did with it. I loved the costumes and how they modernized the play. There were also small elements like the map of their kingdom being a rug on the floor, or the gold lion beside the throne that were interesting easter eggs. It started in the throne room and the set was pristine with golden walls, then for the thunderstorm they used some practical effects which I absolutely loved. They had golden tin walls in the back of the stage that they banged on to create the thunder sounds. Not to mention the lighting for the lightning. Then once the war began they had the entire set destroyed on the stage. I think that there is a lot people can do with Shakespeare's works and this production took full advantage of that. Glenda Jackson, while being in her 80s, was such a force to be reckoned with and was truly a king. The whole entire cast was great and without their expertise I think the play would not hold up as well as it did. The set design and special effects they used helped to uplift the story and didn't overpower it. it breathed new life into a play that is hundreds of years old.

#shakespeare #king lear #broadway #theatre #theater #acting