A couple of years ago, I was flipping through The Shakespeare Book when I came across The Rape of Lucrece. This was the first Shakespearean non-sonnet poem I had encountered, and the brief descriptions left me curious for deeper understanding. As the solo piece project rolled around, having already chosen Michael Chekhov as my theorist, I began searching for an acting piece. Most of my ideas for a theatrical piece were coming from William Shakespeare’s works, when I remembered this poem that I had never further researched. After reading through a quick summary, I decided that I would read through the entire poem and begin selecting snippets to stitch together, as this was the piece I would be performing. The main reason I decided to go with …show more content…
For my solo piece, I decided that the best onstage factors to use in order to convey the atmosphere were lighting, costume, hair, makeup, and props.. The lighting would be the largest factor, outside of receiving and radiation, to enhance the atmosphere onstage. I chose to keep everything plain, including the lighting as a basic light shining in the general center stage area where the performance would take place, leaving the rest of the stage in darkness. To showcase the state of Lucrece following the rape, but also not to place the piece in a set time, I decided on wearing a plain white nightgown and remaining barefoot with my hair (loosely braided or down and ruffled?). As for makeup, I based my look off of Cosette from the Les Misérables 2012 movie. The decisions in appearance were made to be realistic and connect back to the tragic stillness of the atmosphere. Finally, the onstage set was to be kept simple and match the darkness of the stage and shadows with a simple two (boxes/chair?) as a bed and a plain white sheet lying on …show more content…
Spending time with the script, reviewing and rehearsing, eventually led to realizations of where the script and character seemed to be receiving or radiating more than the other. The majority of the selection is receiving, as Lucrece pulls in from the circumstances and atmosphere in order to outwardly convey her emotions. There are more pauses surrounding receiving sections, during which the atmosphere is in control, urging the actor, me, to react naturally and freshly with each performance. These sections have been marked by a blue highlighter. Orange highlighter indicates sections of radiation, where the emotion precedes and follows physical movements. Radiation happens more often with stronger emotions such as anger. Whenever I jolt or disturb the atmosphere is when I am radiating, but the atmosphere always pulls me back into its tragic air, thus
Williams, Carolyn. "‘Silence, like a Lucrece knife: Shakespeare and the Meanings of Rape." Yearbook of English Studies 23 (1993): 93-110.
Clark, W.G., and W. Aldis Wirhgt, eds. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Vol 2. USA: Nd. 2 vols.
Shakespeare brings this story alive with exciting dramatic scenes that capture the audience’s attention.
In countries all over the globe the name William Shakespeare brings to mind literary genius, a character so famed in eloquence and creativity that none other comes close to him in prestige. Yet for centuries scholars, students and readers have argued a very fundamental question: whether or not the plays and poems attribute to William...
Department of English. UFH East London Campus, Semester 2, 2004. 2. Shakespeare, William. The Tempest.
...Don Nardo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Excerpted from Stories from Shakespeare. N. p.: E. P. Dutton, 1956.
5 Dec. 2012. Carroll, Camden. Shakespeare Quarterly, Vol. 78, No. 1. 15, No. 1 -. 2 (Spring, 1964), pp. 113-114. 247-255
Clark, W.G., and W. Aldis Wirhgt, eds. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Vol 2. USA: Nd. 2 vols.
... About You_.” Shakespeare Bulletin: A Journal of Performance Criticism and Scholarship 22.2 (2004): 45-66. Expanded Academic ASAP. Westfield State College Library, MA. 15 April 2005. 15 April 2005.
Arguments: A) The ratio in Shaw should not be overulled because; a.i) CJ French in Wurridjal V Commonwealth [2009], stated [70] that the courts take a cautionary approach to overruling cases. Such an approach requires examination of factors. These factors include; if the decision is done in isolation, if the decision affirms the stream of authority and if the overruling would disrupt the law. A.ii)
James, D.G. (Excerpt from a series of lectures delivered in 1965 at University College, London.) The Shakespeare Criticism Volume 8. Gale Research Inc., Detroit. 1989: 429-434.
By using just the right combination of words, or by coming up with just the right image, Shakespeare wrote many passages and entire plays that were so powerful, moving, tragic, comedic, and romantic that many are still being memorized and performed today, almost four centuries later. But the greatness of Shakespeare’s ability lies not so much in the basic themes of his works but in the creativity he used to write these stories of love, power, greed, discrimination, hatred, and tragedy.
Scott, Mark W. Shakespearean Criticism: Volume 133, Excerpts from the Criticism of William Shakespeare's Plays and Poetry, from the First Published Appraisals to Current Evaluations. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1987. Print.
The impeccable style and craft of Shakespeare’s writing has always been looked upon with great respect, and it continues to serve as an inspiration to writers and thinkers today even as it did when it was being first performed in London. Shakespeare’s modern audience, however, is far less diverse than the one for which he originally wrote. Due to the antiquity of his language, Shakespeare’s modern readership consists mostly of students and intellectuals, whereas in Shakespeare’s own time, his plays were performed in playhouses packed with everyone from royalty to peasants. Because of this, Shakespeare was forced to write on many different levels, the most sophisticated of which appealed to his more elite audience members, while the more straightforward and often more crude of which appealed to his less educated viewers, and the most universal of which still appeals to us.
Shakespeare got much recognition in his own time, but in the 17th century, poets and authors began to consider him as the supreme dramatist and poet of all times of the English language. In fact, even today, no one can match his works or perform as well as he did. No other plays have been performed as many times as Shakespeare’s. Several critics of theatre try to focus on the language of Shakespeare and to take out excerpts from the literary text and make it their own resulting in various persons, poets, authors, psychoanalysts, psychologists and philosophers.