The practice of theatre is an inherently political act. By telling a story onstage, performers, playwrights, directors, and designers alike are presenting audiences with complex messages that are unfolding right in front of them; this shared experience engages the public and provides them with an opportunity to experience the world through a variety of lenses. Since its invention, theatre has possessed the power to spark important dialogues that propelled audiences to question society’s role in their everyday lives. Theatre provides an opportunity to confront social and cultural unrest in a way that utilizes creativity, intelligence, and empathy; rather than blindly disagreeing with something, the theatre artist explores all facets of a social …show more content…
As the son of a European mother and an Indian father, Joseph has grown up as a product of two very different ways of life. Joseph is praised for the ways that he allows characters to “speak for themselves”; he does not let a character’s identity control them, but he examines how the environment can have profound influences on the way that his characters think, act, and carry on with their lives. In Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, such an idea is evident in Tom and Kev, two American soldiers who are sent on an assignment to stand guard over a tiger at the zoo. Their dialogue is vulgar and often misogynistic, speaking about their desires to capture, kill, and torture the enemy. However, it is soon clear that these two are all bluster and bravado, the product of a culture that systemically breeds people into thinking of the world in a destructive, narrow-minded way. Especially in the case of Kev, they are completely a result of the environment that surrounds them. It is this intricate, subtle displays of commentary that Joseph does especially well; rather than hit the audience over the head with symbolism and metaphor, he uses the dialogue as a way of naturally and effectively bringing social controversy to
Live theatre has been an important method of entertainment, self-expression and storytelling for centuries and still plays an important part in modern society for the same reasons however not all performances will successfully entertain, express or tell their story. The first and one of the most vital features of a successful show is the performances of the actors. To assess the performance of an actor there are many aspects that one must consider, I believe the most important to be vocalisation, physicalisation and characterisation. I will be critiquing The Bengal Tiger at the Bagdad Zoo, the story of the lives and afterlives of the people and animals caught in the middle of a war torn country, as performed by Persona Collective at the Annexe Theatre on the 10th-12th of April, on the performances of John Swindle and Amanda Phillips.
The duration and cost of the production have been compared to other media which provide entertainment, such as television and film. A theatre performance is more expensive to attend than cinema. The play only lasted for 85 minutes, a film can go on for two hours or even more. This can have a big influence on why people would choose one medium over the other. Accessibility has also to be taken into account when investigating the relevance of theatre in the 21st century. Television is a medium which can be accessed from home, and usually doesn’t cost a lot of money, whereas theatre costs money and is harder to access. Although the production was Australian, the actors talked with an American accent. Bearing in mind that the play was written in America, which could make it harder for an Australian audience to familiarise with the dilemmas going on, on stage, while the themes discussed seem to be more relevant there than in Australia. Overall this play doesn’t contribute to the relevance of Australian theatre in the 21st century, due to the many other sources people can access for entertainment, and because the play seems to be more relevant for an American audience rather than an
...that bombard us in our cosmopolitan, mediated culture today’ (The Psychophysical Actor at work, pg. 200). Throughout attempts on her life, Martin crimp explores representation by using an absent figure who always appears, but never appears. In the context of post dramatic, I believe at times the text has abrupt reference to terrorism. Its post dramatic structure comes in response to the fact that the issues of representations that are raised in terms of Anne being absent, is the same role that mediated images play in constructing our world today. It appears that Martin Crimp uses post dramatic theatre in this way to highlight the social and political issues of the world above and beyond theatre. Particular references relating ‘Anne’ to terrorism are evident when she is described as ‘A terrorist on the run’, or ‘An artist who has turned her suicide attempts into art’
...izens and the moral choices to be made in order to effect a critical examination of society. In this sense, Bigsby contends that “[i]n his essays Mamet spends some time explaining what theatre is not. It is not, in particular, […] a mechanism for changing the world. He does, though, see it as a place where we show ethical experience, it is where we show interchange” (7) and the same Mamet goes further by stating, “[t]heatre is a place of recognition, it’s an ethical exercise, it’s where we show ethical interchange” (qtd in Kane: 2). In this sense, following Mamet’s reflections theater is not a catalyst for change, it is only a site of critical examination and does not offer ready-make solutions. In other words, it is a site where there is an ethical engagement and a place of encounter, but not a place to boost changes and intervene in the configuration of society.
This week, I could see that it is impossible to understand a performance without knowing its social/ cultural context. At first I watched Jerome Bel’s The Show Must Go On, I found it was experimental. However, Shirtology, Bel’s another performance, was the weirdest and embarrassing piece that I had ever seen. It was a couple of days later when I could comprehend the intention of the video where he changes his shirts for six minutes. He was challenging the capitalistic structure of choreography; he was refusing to adapt to the tastes of the audience. In Cult Plastic, Voaugust says that “his work reveals how deeply we have been socialized and colonized to experience and create performances” (Voaugust, 2017). Artists cast a doubt on the social
During the time period of and between World War I and World War II, major societal changes began to occur. Fascism, totalitarianism, and socialism began to take hold in certain societies, and economies began to fall. The general social unrest that was occurring throughout the world was also being reflected in theatre, which is when new forms of theatre such as expressionism, futurism, Dadaism, surrealism, and epic theatre began to emerge. Among the pioneers of these avant-garde forms of theatre was Bertold Brecht, a philosophical dramatist who was known for his socialist ideals. He believed that theatre was meant to instruct, not to provide the means for emotional stimulation and purging. Brecht’s ideal form of strictly intellectual epic theatre is not possible, because without catharsis and some form of emotional attachment to theatre, society will be unmotivated to effect change without some element of care for the piece of theatre that they are experiencing.
...pressing of emotions, identifying with other systems of thought. Theatrical arts have managed to transcend ethical issues, racial differences, and many other facets of discourse in society. If theatre is indeed an engine for social change it should not be held from the people who need it the most. Those who are incarcerated. Programs across the nation have already started to see success in the prisons they operate in, so to think about the effect that theatre in prison would have on a nationwide scale is indeed a beautiful thought. If theatre programs in prison would be funded by the states or nationally, potentially the idea of professional prison playhouses could become a reality, and the world would be introduced into a new era of art that is truly a beautiful thing to behold. Shakespeare writes in Hamlet, “We know what we are, but know not what we may be.”
Did you know that Tigers are carnivores so they only eat meat? Tigers are good swimmers did you know that they love water? Tigers might be big and heavy but they are very fast runners.All tigers are different because they all have different colored stripes.Did you know that tigers were on earth for 1.2 million years? Tigers are huge animals.
“The theatre was created to tell people the truth about life and the social situation,” says Stella Adler. Theater is unique and intriguing because it blends literary and visual arts to tell a story. Before Theater 10, I viewed theater on the surface level: cheesy plot lines with dramatic scenarios for entertainment purposes. Throughout the course, I have learned what it means to appreciate theater, such as understanding Brechtian and Chinese theatre; however, I believe understanding theater’s ability to convey crucial historical and social messages, such as in the production of RENT, is more relevant and important for theater appreciation.
Applied Theatre work includes Theatre-in-Education, Community and Team-building, Conflict Resolution, and Political theatre, to name just a few of its uses. However, Christopher Balme states that “Grotowski define acting as a communicative process with spectators and not just as a production problem of the actor” (Balme, 2008: 25). Applied Theatre practices may adopt the following “theatrical transactions that involve participants in different participative relationships” such as Theatre for a community, Theatre with a community and Theatre by a community Prentki & Preston (2009: 10). Whereas, applied theatre one of its most major powers is that it gives voice to the voiceless and it is a theatre for, by, and with the people. However, Applied Theatre practitioners are devising educational and entertaining performances bringing personal stories to life and build
The survival of theatre lies in the very nature of humankind: its inner voyeuristic drive. The desire to watch other people dealing with their conflicts and fates challenges as well as reinforces values and the morality of society. The theatre provides an exciting opportunity to watch stories and situations as if they were real life, showing us the truth of our nature.
Theatre has the power to take people away from their current reality, teaching them, changing their minds, providing catharsis, and helping them empathetically understand their world. It also refers to my desire to help others find their purpose through my own. By performing, doing what I love, I have the opportunity to touch people and maybe inspire them to take chances, try something new, and actively seek happiness and fulfillment. I seek to inspire others while simultaneously being inspired.
For thousands of years, people have been arguing that theatre is a dying art form. Many people think theatre is all just cheesy singing and dancing or just boring old Shakespeare, but there is much more to theatre than those two extremes. Theatre is important to our society because it teaches us more about real life than recorded media. Theatre has been around for thousands of years and began as a religious ceremony that evolved into an art form that teaches about the true essence of life. Theatre can incorporate profound, and provocative, observations of the human condition that can transcend time; lessons found in Greek plays can still be relevant to the modern world. People argue that the very essence of theatre is being snuffed out by modern
In the public demonstration, the whole purpose was to raise awareness of the different social issues in today’s society and communicate to a larger audience in a different manner than the typical protesting method. This involved creativity in an artistic form, with poetry, music, stories, and visual arts. In this public demonstration, personally I been involved in the performance of reading a poem/story that I wrote about the evolutionary aspects of the social identities and how my perspectives of the world changed as I grew up and started to travel to different states and their cultures. I wanted the audience to think of the trends and how more of the social identities became relevant to our society in their timespan.