Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Questions for 7/16 -- EN 190 Summer II 2012

 
In the picture above from the 2000 revival, Ben is in white.  

Good evening :)

I'm glad that we were able to have lively discussion tonight--and to watch some of the other versions of DoaS.  Here is a link to the entry with the various videos that we saw:


The latest version is here:  http://www.broadway.com/shows/death-salesman/

You may also be interested in reading various reviews:

Here are reviews of the recent version:

And these are links to the theories we went over:
Also, here is a link to a page with information about Erikson's theory of development:

You may also find Kohlberg's theory interesting as well:

Michael Morrison provides a Christian perspective on development:

Finally, here are a few questions for you.

Where does the 1985 version of DoaS differ from Miller's text?  Why is this difference important?  How does it help you understand the play more fully?

Where do the other versions that we looked at differ from Miller's text?

Where are they similar to his text?

Take a look at the 1951 version of DoaS.  How does it differ from the 1985 version?

What surprised you about reading the reviews?  How do opinions vary?

What role does Linda play in DoaS?  Why?  Is it positive or negative?

Discuss the more recent portrayals of her character.

Why do the Woman and Ben wear white in the 1985 version?

How do the various theories we discussed help you understand DoaS?

How might doing research on history, economics, gender, or the theater help you understand DoaS more?

How might a female director interpret DoaS?

How did the discussion help you understand DoaS?

What would you have liked to contribute if you had had more time?

Which question would you like to expand for the paper?

Moving on to Trifles, our next reading....

how do the men and women view each other?

why do the women handle the evidence the way that they do?

how is Glaspell's vision specifically feminine or feminist?

what role does setting play in Trifles?

how is Trifles' world different from our own?  how is it similar?

is this play worth continuing to stage?

I'm interested in seeing what you think of it!

Dr. Szlyk
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Questions for 7/12 -- EN 190 Summer II 2012


The picture above is from the 2012 revival of Death of a Salesman.  Don't know why it's in black and white, though.  
Good evening :)

I'm glad to see that we finished up today's class with a lively discussion of Biff's response to his father's betrayal.  Feel free to explore this topic further in your journal and perhaps even in your extended response.  Remember that as long as you can support your argument through the text and performance, you can make your point, no matter what it is.

For Thursday, let's finish up Death of a Salesman.

Also, here is a link to a page with information about Erikson's theory of development:

You may also find Kohlberg's theory interesting as well:

Michael Morrison provides a Christian perspective on development:

How would you apply any of these theories to the characters in Death of a Salesman?  (Note that Miller was not Christian.)

Now that more and more of you are on Multiply, I thought I'd include some questions that are connected to my past entries:

Here is my entry on Miller's life and career:
You may also find this interview to be interesting:

What light does this information shed on DoaS?  on Miller's characters? on his intentions for his play?  or on Miller himself?

For more information about DoaS' time and place, see this entry:
You may enjoy reading about modern-day Brooklyn:

How does this information help you understand DoaS, its characters, and its story in more depth?  

What does it mean for DoaS to be set in Brooklyn?

If you were to adapt DoaS so that it was set in 2012, what would you change?  why?

Take a look at other versions of DoaS:
The latest version is here:  http://www.broadway.com/shows/death-salesman/
How are they different from the 1985 version?  How are they similar?  Which version deserves to be made into a full-length movie for PBS or HBO?

What light do they shed on your understanding of DoaS?

How much should directors change plays?  Why?  Why not?

To be fair, you ought to look at the reviews, too:


When do critics believe that a production is successful?  When do they believe that it is a failure?  Are these critics fair?  Why?  Why not?

And here is the link to the entry on the Beijing production:


What surprised you about this production?  Why?  

What is the difference between generic and universal?

Finally, I am a little concerned about attendance.  Attendance is important!


I'm looking forward to seeing what you have to say!

Dr. Szlyk
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First Set of Questions (Summer II 2012)



Good evening :)

I enjoyed meeting everyone tonight and look forward to working with you this summer!  Hope you are enjoying the cooler weather, too.

I've just sent you invitations.  Check your spam folders if you do not see your invitation right away.  MC has a particularly good spam filter. 

Also, here is the link to information about Unexpected Stage Company's production of Trifles:

If we can get at least ten people, each ticket will be only $7.  And the director assures me that there is enough parking.

Which date works better for you:  Saturday July 28 at 7:30 or Saturday August 4 at 7:30?

Finally, here are questions for your journal:

-- Based on what you've seen so far in the 1985 version of Death of a Salesman, what seems to be the central idea of this production?  Why?

-- How has watching this DVD helped you read Miller's play?

-- How has watching this DVD helped you understand Willy's character, his relationship to the rest of his family, or his life & times?

-- How has reading Miller's play helped you think about the DVD? 

-- What seems to be the play's theme?

-- How have Miller's stage directions helped you understand his play and/or Willy and his family?

-- How would you "diagnose" Willy?  Why?  Can we diagnose a fictional character?  Why?  Why not?  Should we?  (Note that psychoanalytic criticism is only one type of criticism.)
 
-- But as promised, here is a link to Erikson's stages of development.  
http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/erikson.htm
Use these stages of development to talk about Willy, Linda, Biff, and Happy.  Feel free to talk about Charlie and Bernard as well.
Or is Carol Gilligan's theory more appropriate to Linda?
http://www.stolaf.edu/people/huff/classes/handbook/Gilligan.html

-- Discuss the body language in the film.  How does it help you understand Miller's play more?

-- Discuss the DVD as a film.  How does the director use elements of film to get his points across?

-- How does "the grayness of life" pertain to DoaS?

-- How is DoaS a timeless play?

-- How is it a timely play?

-- How is this play a historical curiosity?

Perhaps one of these questions will lead to your first expanded journal entry!

See you tomorrow,

Dr. Szlyk
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Friday, May 4, 2012

Study Guide for Final -- pt. 2 -- EN 230 -- Spring 2012

Above is a picture of American artist Bob Rauschenberg's Radioactive I (1964).  It is initiating us into the more avant-garde section of the semester.  As you may remember, Rauschenberg's work inspired contemporary playwright Charles Mee's bobrauschenbergamerica, and Anne Bogart whose books I've reviewed directed the play's premiere.



And here are some links to videos that we've seen in class:

Below are links to the performances that we saw, starting with Hedda.

Here is the review of the production:

Let's look at Charles Mee's bobrauschenbergamerica:

Next is Suzan-Lori Parks' The America Play:

Finally, we have a scene from Tarell McCraney's Brother/Sister Plays, the ones that I consider more enjoyable to read.

What do the playwrights and directors seem to be trying to do in these plays?

See this blog entry.  
http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2012/apr/19/noises-off-theatre-safe-risks
Are we trying to make drama and theater too safe?  Should we embrace productions like Hedda?

The picture below is from the NYC production of Marcus, or the Secret of Sweet.



Yikes!  I forgot Trifles.  The link to my entry on this play is below:


Here are links to the movie versions that we saw:


Below are theatrical versions of this play:

If only there had been a video of the 2005 production at Theatre Unbound!


Let's move on to Brecht and The Good Person of Szechuan:

Here is the definition of the alienation effect:
http://faculty.washington.edu/cbehler/glossary/alienationeffect.html

See this link for more about epic theater:
http://pages.cs.brandeis.edu/~jamesf/goodwoman/brecht_epic_theater.html

Let's start with our clips from The Threepenny Opera (words, Brecht; music, Weill)


Below is a poster for the 1931 film version of Brecht and Weill's play.


Mother Courage is another of Brecht's plays.  Recently Tony Kushner translated it.  Meryl Streep has starred in a production that used his translation.


Here is a song from Mother Courage (but from a different production and translation):

On to the Good Person of Szechuan!

Below is a picture from a 2010 production staged in Berlin, Germany.


Here is a trailer (much music, no words) from this production:

We'll finish up with Waiting for Godot.


See this link for my Multiply entry on this play:

Here is a link to Beckett's Film with Buster Keaton:
(and here is a film with Keaton:

These are the links to versions of Waiting for Godot:


How has watching these videos helped you with Waiting for Godot?

Here are some clips of other plays by Beckett:

And here is an entry on The Metamorphoses:

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Thursday, April 26, 2012

Study Guide for Final -- EN 230 -- pt. 1

We may not be able to watch the 2008 production of The Good Soul of Szechuan, but the picture above is of Jane Horrocks' performance as Shui Ta.

The plays that will be on the objective final include the following:  Pygmalion (play & film), The Taming of the Shrew (performance only), Hedda Gabler, Trifles, The Good Person of Szechuan, Waiting for Godot, and The Metamorphoses (performance only). 

Let's start with The Taming of the Shrew.

Here is the Globe Theater's quick summary of The Taming of the Shrew:
The Summary of Taming of the Shrew
This drama is one of the great comedy plays by William Shakespeare. The play starts with the Induction where a trick is played by a nobleman on the drunkard Christopher Sly who arranges for an acting troupe to perform a play called The Taming of the Shrew...

The beautiful and gentle Bianca has no shortage of admirers (Lucentio, Gremio and Hortensio) but her father insists that she will not marry until her shrewish sister, Katharina, is betrothed. Bianca's suitors persuade fortune-seeker Petruchio to court her. The suitors pay for any costs involved and there is also the goal of Katharina's dowry. Petruchio marries Katharina and he carries Katharina off to his country house with his servant Grumio. Petruchio intends to browbeat Katharina into submission and he denies her food, sleep and her new clothes, whilst continuously singing her praises. Katharina is tamed. They return to Padua where Lucentio has won Bianca. At a banquet they wager on who has the most obedient wife. Each wife is issued with commands but only Katharina obeys and promptly lectures everyone on the importance of wifely submission.

Here is the trailer for the movie version of The Taming of the Shrew:

You may watch more of this movie here:

To compare, here are links to stage versions:

This link is more informative:

 

Let's move on to Pygmalion (play and film).

We'll start with what's on Multiply:

Here is a link to the 1938 film starring Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller:
Do you think that this play from 1913 is still worth staging today?   




Next up is Hedda Gabler.  Earlier this year I saw a production of Ibsen's play, but until I write up my review, the picture above and this entry will have to do:

This entry has various links to versions of this play:


We watched several scenes from the 1981 Yorkshire Television production starring Diana Rigg.


The end is more compelling:

Below are links to the 1970s version with Glenda Jackson and Patrick Stewart.







Stage actor Janet Suzman played Hedda to Ian McKellan's Tesman:






More recently, there has been the Broadway production starring Mary Louise Parker.


and  the University of Washington's production of Hedda:


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Thursday, April 19, 2012

Final Prompts for EN 230 -- Spring 2012


Below are the prompts for your take home part of the final.  Please choose one prompt and use the questions to create an essay with an introduction, thesis statement, body paragraphs, and conclusion.  This essay may be from two to five pages.

Question #1:

Consider the plays that we've read and seen so far this semester (including Pygmalion and Trifles).  What do they tell us about modern and contemporary drama?  (Modern drama includes "Soul Gone Home," Trifles, Pygmalion, Hedda Gabler, The Good Person of Szechuan, Waiting for Godot, Death of a Salesman, and A Streetcar Named Desire.  Contemporary drama includes Fences, Angels in America, The Metamorphoses, and M. Butterfly.)  What do these plays have in common?  How are they distinct from other, earlier plays such as The Taming of the Shrew or other plays by Shakespeare?  Or from the newer plays I showed or referred to?  Consider performance as well as the text of plays.  If you are revising your midterm, be sure to include two plays from the second half of the semester.

Below are links to some plays that may be postmodern:

First is Charles Mee's bobrauschenbergamerica:

Next is Suzan-Lori Parks' The America Play:

Finally, we have a scene from Tarell McCraney's Brother/Sister Plays, the ones that I consider more enjoyable to read.

And here are aspects of the postmodern:


Question #2:

What does performance add to the plays that we've read?  How does performance limit these plays?  How does poor or critically panned performance (like Mary Louise Parker's Hedda Gabler) affect these plays?  How have watching the various clips helped you understand our plays?  Discuss the differences between film/TV and stage versions, and feel free to consider versions we did not see in class.  Can a play still be worth reading if it is never performed?  Why?  Why not?   Which of our plays are still worth performing?  Why?  Why not?  (Consider venues as well.)

Here are some articles from the Guardian's theater blog:


http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2012/mar/16/noises-off-theatre-faithful-texts

Consider the differences between drama (play text) and theater (performance).

Question #3:

How is American modern and contemporary drama similar to European modern drama like Hedda Gabler, Pygmalion, Waiting for Godot, or The Good Person of Szechuan?  How is it different?  Which themes, characters, plot, language, and setting seem to be particularly American?  Which stagings seem to be particularly American?  Why?  What do European plays add to the mix?  Consider plays like M. Butterfly, Waiting for Godot, or The Good Person of Szechuan that are more cosmopolitan.

Question #4:

How are women represented in modern drama?  Although The Taming of the Shrew is not modern, feel free to bring in what you noticed while watching the performance at MC.  Consider the work of female directors as well as actors and playwrights.  Here are some interesting articles from the Guardian's theater blog on women playwrights:
How might a female playwright work with characters like Hedda Gabler, Linda Loman, Blanche duBois, Stella Kowalski, and so on?
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Saturday, March 10, 2012

Study Guide for Midterm -- pt. 2 -- EN 230 -- Spring 2012

Doesn't Prior look like he is studying?!

Let's start with links to the Multiply entries on Angels in America:




See this link for the HBO version of Kushner's play:


These are key scenes:



How do you feel about historical characters appearing on stage?  How does Kushner handle the task of incorporating historical figures in his fictional play?  Consider these accounts of the Rosenbergs' story:

Here is Harper with "Mr. Lies," played by the same actor who plays the nurse Belize.

On to M. Butterfly!

This play is David Henry Hwang's reworking of the opera Madame Butterfly.  Here are some scenes from this opera by Puccini.

Well, let's start with Maria Callas although we don't have video of her performances:


These versions are live-action:

Here are some reviews of the film M. Butterfly.  Do you believe that these critics have understood the film?  Have they understood the play?  How do they help you to understand the film and its context better?  Each is from 1993, when the film was made




On the other hand, here are reviews of the play.  How do they help you understand it more fully?  Which elements of the play do the reviewers focus on?  How do they deal with Gallimard's not knowing that Song is male?  Or with Hwang's cultural politics?  Note that only the first review is from the 1980s.  The other two are from the 2000s.




Here are the theatrical versions that I wanted to show.  Which elements of Hwang's play do they emphasize?  Which do they gloss over?  
 

See this link for reviews of M. Butterfly:


Finally, we will move on to A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams' 1947 play.  Critic Robert Brustein argues that Williams is the only great modern playwright in America.



What do you make of the play's ending....and the change that was made to the film?  Here is a little information about the Hays Code.  


Consider that the Hays Code applied to film, not theater.  How might a code of censorship affect film?  How might it affect the ways that plays could be adapted to film?  Or the way that audiences would respond to plays and films?

Let's look at the 1994 version of Streetcar with Jessica Lange and Alec Baldwin:

Or at the 1985 version with Ann-Margaret and Treat Williams (thank you, Dongpei!)

These are theatrical versions of Streetcar.


What seems to change as we move to the theater?  

Finally, here is a link to the video we watched at the end of class:

See this link for an entry on reviews of Streetcar:

More video clips are here:


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