Journal #1 - My Live Theatre Experience
Friday, March 15, 2019
Last week I worked on improving my live theatre watching experience. As I mentioned in the last couple projects, when I was young, my parents took me to the small local theatre in my hometown to watch stories about legends and folklore performed on stage. A typical Vietnamese drama I watched concentrates on makeup, vibrant colors, mesmerizing costumes and impressive stage setting, due to the fact that the majority of its audience are children.
Watching onstage comedies and funny political sketches was also a big part of our family - a tradition that we have always kept as a reliever at the end of a hard-working day as we casually gathered in our living room, watched and discussed these plays. They taught me the basics of performing theatre,
informed me about national issues and reminded me that the ultimate purpose of doing theatre is that to deliver an important message.
There were also times when my parents took me and my brother to watch live plays, which were rather exciting occasions as we got to dress up and go to the big city’s center. “Ngày Xửa Ngày Xưa” (Once Upon a Time) is a series of musical performances attended for children, featuring massive stage transformations and colorful, vibrant costumes. However, I expect that these experiences won't help or influence greatly on my production of Master Harold... and the Boys due to the difference in primary sentiments (unless I decide to turn the play into a children-targeted play) and the time gap since I spectated them - if I want to analyze them in-depth, I would have to rewatch them all again which may result in unproductivity without a clear outcome/purpose.
It was when I moved to high school in the U.S. that my theatre watching experience started to expand. In 10th grade I watched Twelve Angry Jurors (Reginald Rose) and Death by Design (Rob Urbinati) which are both produced by our theatre instructor and performed by our school's students on a large stage. Not grandiose, for me they were definitely great introductions to American culture and provide me with clear frameworks of how drama and comedy work with basic lighting and set (which is the main principle of Master Harold... and the Boys to an extent). Since then, I have observed numerous student-produced in class/projects and professional productions on Digital Theatre Plus. Casanova (directed by Kenneth Tindall) and All My Sons (Arthur Miller, directed by Howard Davies) are two productions I watched, both of which can be found on Digital Theatre Plus.
CASANOVA - Lighting- and music-focused, some elements on dancing
ALL MY SONS - Acting-focused, some elements of music and lighting
Watching onstage comedies and funny political sketches was also a big part of our family - a tradition that we have always kept as a reliever at the end of a hard-working day as we casually gathered in our living room, watched and discussed these plays. They taught me the basics of performing theatre,
informed me about national issues and reminded me that the ultimate purpose of doing theatre is that to deliver an important message.
There were also times when my parents took me and my brother to watch live plays, which were rather exciting occasions as we got to dress up and go to the big city’s center. “Ngày Xửa Ngày Xưa” (Once Upon a Time) is a series of musical performances attended for children, featuring massive stage transformations and colorful, vibrant costumes. However, I expect that these experiences won't help or influence greatly on my production of Master Harold... and the Boys due to the difference in primary sentiments (unless I decide to turn the play into a children-targeted play) and the time gap since I spectated them - if I want to analyze them in-depth, I would have to rewatch them all again which may result in unproductivity without a clear outcome/purpose.
It was when I moved to high school in the U.S. that my theatre watching experience started to expand. In 10th grade I watched Twelve Angry Jurors (Reginald Rose) and Death by Design (Rob Urbinati) which are both produced by our theatre instructor and performed by our school's students on a large stage. Not grandiose, for me they were definitely great introductions to American culture and provide me with clear frameworks of how drama and comedy work with basic lighting and set (which is the main principle of Master Harold... and the Boys to an extent). Since then, I have observed numerous student-produced in class/projects and professional productions on Digital Theatre Plus. Casanova (directed by Kenneth Tindall) and All My Sons (Arthur Miller, directed by Howard Davies) are two productions I watched, both of which can be found on Digital Theatre Plus.
CASANOVA - Lighting- and music-focused, some elements on dancing
- Dark, mysterious atmosphere that fits the time period
- Light shines behind the important character and part of set - i.e. the priest leader, the path towards the enlightenment
- Dancers’ faces always lit
- Music correlates with emotions which correlates with the elegance of the dance
- Minimalistic stage which gives plenty of space for dancers to move around
- Circular blackout to focus on a person. I can use this for when a character's monologue
- Amber light to express playfulness/surreality
ALL MY SONS - Acting-focused, some elements of music and lighting
- Starts with a storm - dark and ominous - set the mood for the play
- Background playful music that describes the start of the plot. This is similar to Master Harold... and the Boys
- Voice - tone of the character Frank sets the funny, lighthearted for the show's beginning
- Bright light from an angle representing the sun
- Things that don't matter much in the immediate moment - hidden in the dark
- Eyes staring into the air during stories/flashbacks
- Sound effects "Mom! Mom!" - child from the past. This hit me very hard and can be used to enhance the sentiment of the scene
