Dr. Szlyk's Blog for ENGL 190

Monday, July 11, 2011

Videos of Death of a Salesman

The picture above is from the original 1949 performance of Death of a Salesman. Lee J. Cobb was Willy, Arthur Kennedy was Biff, and Cameron Mitchell played Happy. Cobb later appeared in CBS' 1966 movie for television.

See this link for a picture from that later production:

http://www.broadwaydigitalarchive.com/catalog/view/33

The 1985 Death of a Salesman is harder to find, so I will send you a few other versions, starting with a 1951 version that Arthur Miller did *not* approve of!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVYlGsrSB4o

Avery Brooks starred in a 2008 production at Oberlin College. (He and the director Justin Emeka are both Oberlin alums.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPnEFZJafjE

Starting with this YouTube, Brooks and Emeka discuss the production:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC4UUhUZRX8

In 2009, Charles S. Dutton played Willy in Yale Rep's version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJNaEDrtjug

Brian Dennehy played Willy in 2000. This TV movie appeared on Showtime, another of our premium channels:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brdbM9YSCq4

These pictures are from a 2005 production, also starring Dennehy. This production was staged at London's Lyric Theater. I think that my sister-in-law may have seen either this version or an earlier one at the Goodman Theater in Chicago.

David Mamet argues that Death of a Salesman is a Jewish play:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2005/may/07/theatre.davidmamet

This version from 1996 is British and appeared on the BBC:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnTqlxajQ5Q

DC's own Arena Stage also had a version of Death of a Salesman as part of an Arthur Miller festival in 2008:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nYKpvtYPG4

The Ensemble Theater's 2008 version is here. (This company is Australian.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSFXnXJrNqM&feature=related

I'll close with the Raven Theater Company's 2008/9 version. This company is based in Chicago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAkKa0X73mw&feature=related

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Final Study Guide for EN 230 -- Spring 2011

Below is the poster from the recent production starring Claire Danes.

And here are the plays that will be on the objective final (5/12):

We'll start with Pygmalion (with 1938 film and 1964 film of My Fair Lady):

http://worldlit2.multiply.com/journal/item/189/Links_for_331_--_Pygmalion

Kelsey Grammar has recently performed the role of Prof. Higgins. Kelli O'Hara was Eliza.

Next is Miss Julie. The picture below is from NYC company Theater Trouve's production from 2005.

http://worldlit2.multiply.com/journal/item/190

We returned to American drama with Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire.

For the video clips, see this link:

http://worldlit2.multiply.com/journal/item/191

For the reviews, see this link:

http://worldlit2.multiply.com/journal/item/194/Recent_Reviews_of_Streetcar

The picture below is from Andre Previn's operatic version of the play. The performance below was in Turin.

We returned to European drama with Ibsen's Hedda Gabler.

For the video clips, see this link:

http://worldlit2.multiply.com/journal/item/192/Hedda_Gabler

For the reviews, see this one:

http://worldlit2.multiply.com/journal/item/193/Reviews_of_Recent_Productions_of_Hedda_Gabler

Here is an image from German director Thomas Schaubuhne's production of this play.

Trifles is our one play written by a woman.

http://worldlit2.multiply.com/journal/item/196/Trifles

Iowa Western Community College used this picture as inspiration for its production of Trifles.

We'll conclude with Waiting for Godot. Here are a few links for you:

http://worldlit2.multiply.com/journal/item/198

http://worldlit2.multiply.com/journal/item/61/Waiting_for_Godot_at_the_Warehouse_Theater

All student presentations will be included on the objective final as well. Aviva's presentation was on symbolism in A Streetcar Named Desire. Leyla's presentation was on the deus ex machina in drama. Below is a picture of the goddess Athena with Orestes in the Oresteia, one of the plays mentioned in Leyla's presentation.

Nadia's presentation on the actor's perspective and Stephen's perspective on Master Harold. . . and the Boys will also be on the final as will be any presentations done on May 12.

Below is a picture from an Oregon performance of Living Out, the play that Nadia starred in.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Waiting for Godot

Here are some versions of Waiting for Godot over the years. The first was performed at Purdue University by The Classical Theater of Harlem.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1NL9OvbwNc&feature=fvsr

For more about this company, see this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvJC_ULKC2M&feature=related

This television text version is from 1987, so it was done while Samuel Beckett was still alive. In fact, it was filmed in Paris where he lived. (By the way, although Beckett was born in Ireland and his first language was English, Waiting for Godot, like all of his works, was written in French. Beckett was his own translator.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMz1-Kgz_DI

This next version is from 2001 and appeared on the UK's Channel 4 (as opposed to the BBC).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDjgThErfIM

Recently Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Patrick Stewart appeared in Waiting for Godot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmiYSBJ54Io&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu_4z0AGgKo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anez-ch-OAE&feature=related

Was it a tragedy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dm96MZS48lA&feature=related

Or a comedy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktSU8As66LE&feature=related

The version below appears to be in Spanish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90IIzQ7gIR0&feature=related

Interestingly, I can find many versions in Spanish but none in French!

A Taiwanese troupe recently performed Godot in Paris.

Read more about this performance!

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2011/04/28/2003501839

For more about McKellen and Stewart's version, see the links below. Let's start with some articles from McKellen's own site:

http://www.mckellen.com/stage/godot/081031.htm

http://www.mckellen.com/stage/godot/index.htm

The Guardian's Michael Billington's review is below:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2009/may/07/waiting-for-godot-theatre-review

The Observer's Susannah Clapp disagrees:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/may/10/waiting-for-godot-haymarket?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487

Bill Irwin and Nathan Lane performed Waiting for Godot in NYC:

http://theater.nytimes.com/2009/05/01/theater/reviews/01godo.html

Neil Genzlinger reviews The Classical Theater of Harlem's Waiting for Godot. This version is set in New Orleans after Katrina.

http://theater.nytimes.com/2006/06/03/theater/reviews/03godo.html

Master Harold. . . and the Boys

I'm not sure if we are going to get to this play, but I thought that I'd post this entry while I'm up. The picture above is from a 2003 performance with Danny Glover as Sam. As you may have noticed in our book, Glover played Willie in the play's 1982 world premiere.

Recently, a film version was made of this play. At one point, Glover was to appear in it, but he was replaced by Ving Rhames.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS1Pl9VTZ_4

This year this play was performed at the University of Northern Alabama:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PC8NcGKJGvU

The version below is from Canada:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQOjFs1CyDE

Here you may watch more extended scenes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0fERVCMxtk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDRcx0N5IgE

Here is a link to a performance of another of Athol Fugard's plays:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoTJUKt_HzU&feature=related

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Trifles

With Susan Glaspell's Trifles, we are examining women in modern drama with the following twist: the play was written by a woman (see the picture of the playwright above).

Here is a brief biography of Ms. Glaspell:

http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap8/glaspell.html#bio

For more information about her early 20th c. milieu, see this web site:

http://www.provincetownplayhouse.com/history.html

Minneapolis' Theater Unbound staged Trifles in 2005. A scene from that production is pictured below:

LSU has staged this play as well. Note that this video is of a rehearsal and that the sound quality may not be great:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFUaCXvIjY4

John G. Bilotta and John F. McGrew have created an opera based on Glaspell's play:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTIZ5TL1vaQ

Here are excerpts from film versions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpNuw0vFU5E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9EPnf1WXSE&feature=related

This picture is from a version staged at NYC's Ontological-Hysterical Theater:

Woo-hoo...here are some videos!

http://www.twoheadedcalf.org/shows/trifles/trifles.html

Let's look for a few reviews. Unfortunately, many of the videos available are school projects.

Ah, here is Matthew A. Everett's review of Theater Unbound's production:

http://www.matthewaeverett.com/columns/detail.php?articleID=483

Alexis Soloski of The Village Voice reviews The Ontological-Hysteric Theater production:

http://www.villagevoice.com/2010-02-09/theater/on-the-creepy-feminist-drama-trifles/

Ken Jaworowski of the NY Times weighs in here:

http://theater.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/theater/reviews/02trifles.html?emc=e

A student-directed performance at Illinois' North Central College is discussed here:

http://northcentralcollege.edu/x46996.xml

For more reviews of other plays by Glaspell, see this site from Seton Hall:

http://academic.shu.edu/glaspell/Performances/performances.htm

The Santa Barbara Theater of the Air has created a podcast of Trifles:

http://theatre-of-the-air.com/WordPress/archives/4256

Right now a community college in Ohio is working on a version of Trifles. Curiously enough, this school has just finished staging Pygmalion!

We'll conclude with a picture of the original 1916 production in NYC:

Monday, April 25, 2011

Subjective Final in EN 230

The picture above is from a Finnish production of Miss Julie.

Below are your prompts for the final. Please choose one for your two to five page essay. You may revise your midterm if you include at least two plays from the second half of the semester (Pygmalion and after).

Question #1:

Consider the plays that we've read and seen so far this semester (including Living Out, "Soul Gone Home," and Master Harold…and the Boys). What do they tell us about modern and contemporary drama? (Modern drama includes "Soul Gone Home," Death of a Salesman, The Good Person of Szechuan, Pygmalion, Miss Julie, Streetcar, Hedda Gabler, Trifles, and Waiting for Godot. Contemporary drama includes Fences, Angels in America, M. Butterfly, Living Out, and Master Harold.) What do these plays have in common? How are they distinct from other, earlier plays such as Oedipus Rex or Shakespeare's plays? How have the plays from the first half of the semester differed from those in the second half? How has your opinion evolved? Consider performance as well as the text of plays. Be sure to mention at least two plays from the second half as well as one from the first half.

Question #2:

What does performance add to the plays that we've read? How does performance limit these plays? How have watching the various clips helped you understand our plays? Discuss the differences between film/TV and stage versions. Can a play still be worth reading if it is never performed? Why? Why not? Consider the argument made in the following 2007 essay from the City Paper: http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/34341/test-case-scenarios Also, consider the reviews I’ve posted at Multiply. These reviews may be glowing; they may be jeering. Finally, how much can a director change a play before he/she has distorted it? Be sure to mention at least two plays from the second half as well as one from the first half.

Question #3:

Discuss the depiction of men and women in the plays we have read and seen. Does it make a difference when a play was written? Or whether a play is written by a man, a woman, or someone who is from a minority group? Does it make a difference whether the woman is at the center of the play or on the periphery? Consider the role that history, culture, and even genre (comedy, tragedy) play in defining what appropriate masculinity and femininity are. Consider how a director may change or frame a play. Also, consider your viewpoint as a 21st century man or woman. Be sure to mention at least two plays from the second half as well as one from the first half.

Question #4:

Does realism have a place on the stage? Why? Why not? Support your argument with examples from your reading and viewing. Note how a play may change from production to production. Be sure to mention at least two plays from the second half as well as one from the first half.

Good luck!