The Importance Of Live Performance Of Plays

There are many reasons it is important to actually attend live performances of plays as part of a course in dramatic literature. The script and text of the play is only the mean; the interpretation of the director and producer of a play through the acting, the stage, and all the mise-en-scene elements is the end. The live performance of a play brings the writing to life and is meant to incorporate all the senses of the audience. I learned how to pick apart all of these elements in viewing plays this semester and how to compare what my imagination created from reading the literature to how it was visualized and performed on stage. Being able to actually see all of the theatrical elements come together made the analysis realizable after visualizing all the aspects.

Theatre is still relevant in the 21st century. It transcends what a book can accomplish by creating a visual and artistic picture from words on a page. The audience can still receive the playwright’s message even though it requires them to leave their homes to view a performance. Granted it isn’t as flexible as seeing a film or movie in the privacy of ones home, but one is able to see a performance in action that no one has ever seen exactly the same way before. One could say that the playwright sets the ground rules and the producer and director takes those rules and expresses them to their own end and how they see fit. You get to see a story unfold through many people’s eyes, not just the one who wrote it. The play is a living breathing artistic form that is open not only to the interpretation of the viewer and the audience but also to the cast and the producer.

Brechtian theatre has one overarching goal in mind, to remind the audience continually that they are watch...

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...ally murder. Shepard creates an extremely disastrous and nightmarish life for this family that is very surreal. Death deals with more relevant problems such as Willy’s flawed perceptions of the American Dream, and Biff and Happy’s unsuccessful job situations. This is summed up in Linda’s speech regarding Willie: “I don't say he's a great man. Willie Loman never made a lot of money. His name was never in the paper. He's not the finest character that ever lived. But he's a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid. He's not to be allowed to fall in his grave like an old dog. Attention, attention must finally be paid to such a person.” Both however show the imperfections that were prevalent in the days that they were written, and exemplify familial issues that are even relevant for the audience to discuss and examine to this day.