Honky Production Critique
The San Diego Repertory Theater did a praiseworthy job at presenting Honky by Greg Kalleres. Honky is a dark comedy drama that raises concerns about class and racism through its characters. Some components that contributed to the success of the production were Jacque Wilkie’s exceptional acting, Director Don Roy King’s effective casting choices and stage pictures, and Costume Designer Valerie Henderson’s emblematic costume choices.
Jacque Wilkie did a remarkable job at playing the character of Andie Chastain. Her dialogue delivery and body language perfectly portrayed the character of Andie Chastain who is supposed to be a naive white female. She demonstrated good dialogue delivery by varying her tone to match the
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This variation in the tone immediately allowed me to envision Andie Chastain as someone who is frank and outspoken. Her body language was very effective in expressing her emotions when she had the argument with Gerard Joseph (as Thomas Hodge). In this scene, she successfully expressed the feelings of anger, sadness, and love that was needed for her character. She expressed her anger towards Joseph by spreading her hands in front of her and leaning her head back and forth between lines. She raised her eyebrows when she felt offended by anything that Joseph said. Wilkie also slapped her hands together at different points in the scene to prove her point and sound authoritative. In most of the scene, she …show more content…
King’s decision to pick Gerard Joseph to play the character of Thomas Hodge was excellent. The character of Thomas Hodge called for someone who can successfully express the dilemma between feeling a sense of responsibility towards his community and fulfilling his professional obligations. I felt that by picking Gerard Joseph, King was successfully able to fulfill this breakdown. Joseph’s light brown complexion symbolized the struggle of his character to fit into both White and African American cultures. Joseph’s lean physique also added credibility to his role because it indeed made him look like someone who originated from a wealthy suburban family. Moreover, I also felt that King used very effective stage pictures for his production. For instance, the placement of actors in the subway scenes was very effective. By observing the placement, I was able to tell that the two kids standing were going to have a conversation, and the person sitting down on the bench will observe the conversation. Later, both kids putted one of their feet on the bench and looked at the observer. Just by looking, it seemed that the kids were threatening the person sitting on the bench. Another stage picture that I felt was very beneficial to the production was the placement of Francis Gercke (as Peter Trammel) and Tanya Alexander
The setup of the stage was very simple. It was the living room of a home in the early 1980’s. It looked like a normal household, and it had small things such as crumpled up pieces of paper lying around the wastebasket. It also had a couch, circular class table and a recliner in the living room. The dining room was to the left side of the stage and only had the dining table and surrounding chairs. There was a door in the back of the set where characters entered and exited through. Beside the door was a table and stool where Willum presumably worked on his blueprints for the hotel. The lighting design was great; it put you into the atmosphere of the
Yesterday night I reviewed the play “The Miss Firecracker Contest” In Wilmington, North Carolina at Big Dawg Productions. The play started out as Carnell Scott, 24-year-old orphaned southern girl who lives in Brookhaven, Mississippi. She is tap dancing in her room with a purple leotard and some kitchen utensils used as creative batons practicing her routine for The Miss Firecracker Contest.
The performance ‘Chasing the Lollyman’ by Debase productions succeeded in using the Dramatic Languages to create a Dramatic Meaning that comments on a social and political issue. This, along with the effective manipulation of the dramatic conventions, has allowed Debase to successfully recognised the Epic Theatre style. Chasing the Lollyman is one man show starring one of Queensland's most dynamic and funny Indigenous performers, Mark Sheppard. He shares many stories, a celebration of urban Indigenous identity and takes a satirical look at the media and popular culture. Playing a variety of characters, Mark pokes fun at everything from Neighbours (what would it be like if a Murri family moved into Ramsey street) to polities. The dramatic meaning of the performance is if Australia wants to become one, we need to learn to accept each other for their differences.
The production of Honky is a satirical comedy, following the lives of five people and the language of racism. While it focuses on the plot of 5 characters, the storyline was well thought out and intriguing. One actor in specific, Gerard Joseph, who played Thomas, did an exceptionally well job at conveying emotion and projecting to the audience, in my opinion. The overall directing, from the actors to the soundtrack and lightning, seem to be presented with excellent detail. Overall, this production was well done.
The play, Bug, is written by Tracy Letts, composed of two acts. When I realized the background of play was in the old motel in Oklahoma City, I was interested because I live in Oklahoma. I watched the performance at TCC a few weeks ago, so I could make sense easily. Through the two main characters, who are Agnes and Peter, Letts makes a story of the play and shows what Agnes’ and Peter’s condition is, and why Peter acts aberrantly such as when he mentions conspiracy theories and pulls out his teeth to take out the bug, which does not exist.
The production had many elements which for the most part formed a coalition to further the plot. The characters, the three part scenery and costumes represented well the period of time these people were going through. As far as the performers entering and exiting the stage, it could have been more organized. There were a few times when the performers exited at the wrong times or it seemed so due to the echo of the music. At certain moments the music was slightly loud and drowned the performers. Many of the songs dragged on, so the pacing could have been more effectively executed. Though the music was off at times, the director's decision to have most of the songs performed center sage was a wise one. Also the implementation of actual white characters that were competent in their roles came as a great surprise to the audience and heightened the realism.
For my second article critique I chose to attend a play at the CORP Theatre in Rowlett to watch Steel Magnolias. Throughout the play my eyes were immediately drawn to many aspects of the play such as the characters and use of spectacles. My overall opinion of the play was positive. Although, unless you have seen the movie before it could be hard to follow along with.
He used rhetorical techniques such as allusion, irony and metaphors. These were all ways of connecting to his reasoning’s by using an element of life or something that we are well aware of. He also used different types of appeals, which were pathos, logos and ethos. Each of these appeals had drawn us into his reading in different ways to connect to our emotions and the most affective was the common logic he brought and his credibility of being a well-experienced person in horror. Common logic is the best way to catch your readers attention because if they understand what you are proclaiming then they can grasp onto your argument. For Why We Crave Horror Movies, King gave both visible common logic and hidden. The hidden had to do with the psychological reasons to why we desire horror movies and how it can release our hidden, evil emotions that we normally keep inside of us. Also, it relieves us of stress to not be in the real world even if it is just for an hour or more. These hidden logic is more of a realization for the readers and come into sense these are the reasons why we truly do crave horror
Even though King uses pathos through his argument he connects to the reader. He also uses evaluating points to support his debate. When a writer uses a situation you can relate to, it makes you remember the situation and be able to learn from it. Though his argument his connects with the audience through emotion. By using the situation with his sister, he painted a picture that everyone in the audience could relate to. His argument was strong and made a powerful impact on the
King used an appeal to pathos, in order to persuade his viewers to aid in the quest for equality. By using the power of human emotion, King established the connection needed to ...
Every face had excellent expressions, presenting their characters perfectly. Also, each actor added their own twist on the characters, anywhere from a slight accent to body language, adding more depth to the entire musical. Furthermore, every actor changed their voice in a way that depicted their character’s emotions and attitude at that particular moment. Also, the color of the lights changes according to each scene and the mood for that particular scene.
She moved with a passion and intensity that was not reflected in her face. As Macaulay stated, "you watch in the hope of understanding her better" (Citation). Although the movement was compelling, her blank expression made it difficult for the audience to connect with her. Instead of watching her movement, I was preoccupied in understanding what was driving her. However, her empty expression was suitable for the sections that included props and enabled me to focus on the intricacies of those
As Daniel Kaffee Tom Cruise does a believable acting as in times Daniel is clueless and must ask others to explain things to him. His best scenes are when he is in the courtroom launching counter arguments and evidence to win the case. The scene where Kaffee is driving home and gets surprised by a character appearing is wonderful as Tom Cruise appears to genuinely be shocked in the scene, but not only does tom cruise make the movie good so do his co stars.
Chasing the Lollyman, an Australian, comedic, one-person play, communicates urban Aboriginal identity and effectively uses the elements of drama. The actor, Mark Sheppard, successfully applies the human context through characterisation and his constant focus during the show. His characterisation, with the use of minimalistic costumes and movement, effectively portrayed the dramatic meaning of the play and allowed the audience to understand the actor’s stories. By allowing the audience to understand, the director of the play, Liz Stitch, successfully brings up the stolen generation and the destruction of the community through the stories told by Sheppard. These stories with the exploration of the elements of drama, the dramatic meaning was conveyed and allowed the audience to identify what the play intended to communicate.
There wasn’t any particular scene on stage that made me doubt the integrative work of the director since all the staging work such as lighting, design, costumes and performance were well coordinated and blended for a very good production. The lights were well positioned with well fitted costumes and a very ideal scene to match. There wasn’t much change of scenes in the play except for some movement of tables and chairs. There was an entrance and exit for the performers which made their movements uninterrupted. There was a loud sound of a bell when school was over while the lights were dimmed whenever there was a change of scene. The pace of the production was very smooth since one scene followed the other without delay and most likely because most of the performers wore the same costume; especially all eight students wore the same costume for the entire