Comedy of Errors

A picture of the set before the play began

1. Drayton Hall Theather is a proscenium theater, and it can seat up to 440 people. The set began as a puppet show window, and then changed to different places. Some parts of the set reminded me of Romeo and Juliet. There was a French cafe, a belly dancer house, a church, a house, and a balcony. The set changed to a jail towards the end of the play, and back to the other places at the end. All of the balconies and the vines coming down the walls reminded me of Romeo and Juliet. All of the actors and actresses had different color wigs on, which were all bright colors. There was blue, orange, green, pink, purple, and one actor had a rainbow colored wig. The clothes that they wore were also very bright and loud. I noticed that the belly dancers wore belly dancer costumes that were bright colors. The only costumes that did not stand out as much were the nun costumes.

Drayton Hall Seating Chart

http://www.cas.sc.edu/thea/facilities/Drayton%20Hall%20Floor%20Plan.jpg

2.  The Comedy of Errors was written by William Shakespeare. He wrote 38 plays and 154 sonnets. Most if his plays were comedies. William Shakespeare lived during the Renaissance Period.

William Shakespeare

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3. The Comedy of Errors begins with two sets of twins, which end up getting mixed up and switched at birth. There is  Antipholus of Syracuse, and his servant Dromio of Syracuse. There is Antipholus of Ephesus and his servant Dromio of Ephesus. Throughout the play, the characters get the brothers mixed up with each other since they are all identical twins. Adriana mistakes Antipholus from Syracuse for her husband and does not realize until the end of the play that she was talking to the wrong man. Her sister, Luciana, falls for Antipholus from Syracuse, and tries hiding it from her sister until she realized at the end that it wasn't her sister's husband after all. Each servant gets mistaken for the wrong one, and they both get beaten for no reason. The entire play was full of 'errors' and I can see why it is called The Comedy of Errors. At the end, everyone is revealed as their true selves and all of the characters realize that they had everyone mixed up. Each Dromio realizes that they have an identical twin brother, and the same with Antipholus.

Opera Art Event

Describe:

"The Phantom of the Opera" was originally a novel written by Gaston Leroux in the early 1900s. Since then, the novel has been turned into many movies and stage productions. The version that we watched is the 2004 film version, directed by Joel Schumacher. The writers of this version are Gaston Leroux and Andrew Lloyd Webber. This film could be classified as a drama, a musical, a romance, and a thriller.  Gerard Butler plays the phantom, and Emmy Rossum plays Christine. It was produced by Warner Brothers Pictures, and was filmed in London, England. The run time is 143 minutes.

Analyze:


The reason that the film can be classified in so many ways is because of the storyline. It is definitely a drama because of the events between Christine, Raoul, and the phantom. It could be described as a "love triangle" because Christine falls in love with Raoul, who she knows from her childhood, but the phantom is in love with her because he has given her the beautiful operatic voice that she has. She was told by her father before he passed away that an angel would be sent to her. The phantom is the angel that blessed her with the beautiful voice and he falls in love with her from spending time coaching her and singing with her. I felt that each main character was so realistic, it was hard to believe that what I was watching was not real! Christine shows toward the end that she is really confused about who she wants to marry and struggles with the issue throughout the movie. Raoul is shown to be the hero and the 'perfect mate' for Christine. The phantom is portrayed as an obsessive character, who will do anything to have Christine for himself. The actors and actresses in this movie had beautiful, operatic voices, as well as great acting skills. The way that the film was put together was definitely made to capture the audience's attention.

Interpret:

I felt that the film was full of emotions based on the skill of the actors and actresses. It seems that the writers of the film want the audience to stay on the edge of their seat the entire time. Although the film is an opera, the storyline was what kept me interested in watching the film. The songs were absolutely perfect for each scene, with songs about love, deceit, and emotions. I could feel my moods changing with every turn of the story! For example I would feel sad when the phantom was heartbroken, scared when he was mad, happy when Christin and Raoul were together, and anxious about what was going to happen in the end. Although it is a long film, I was anxious for the end because I could not wait to find out what the outcome would be between Christine, Raoul, and the phantom. I had no clue who was going to be together at the end, and was happy and surprised by the ending.

Evaluate:

I really enjoyed watching this film. I have never been interested in watching operas but this film definitely opened my eyes. The storyline combined with the beautiful music is what captured me from the beginning. I felt that the three main characters were all so different but they all came together nicely in the end. It was amazing to see the way my emotions were changing based on what was going on in the story.


Source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0293508/

Christine and the phantom

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Christine and Raoul

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Assignment #8

1. Opera is a form of art that includes all of the performing arts (music, theater, and dance). Most of the time there is an orchestra present, and operas are performed in buildings called opera houses. Opera is often seen as something that people either love or hate, and the audience is usually described as snooty and overdressed. It is also said that people that enjoy opera look down on the other performing arts. Another thing that has changed is that today people may attend pre-performance lectures so that will have an understanding of what the opera is about. However, people that attend operas today dress comfortably.  Light opera is a less demanding form of opera and includes spoken words; however, light opera still has an orchestra and opera singers.Musical theater includes music and dialogue and is less demanding of performers' singing voices.

Opera

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Light opera-Carousel

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Musical Theater- Les Miserables

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2. People are not born with an operatic voice, and usually do not acquire their peak performing operatic voice until they are 30 years old! 

3. "Madame Butterfly" is an opera by Puccini that premiered in 1904 in Milan, Italy. It began as a two act opera, but it is now three acts long. The first time that it premiered was in February 1904, and it was not very successful. However, Puccini decided to revise it and it premiered again in May of 1904, and was a huge success. Puccini based this opera on "Madame Butterfly", a short story by John Luther Long. People say that it is also based on events that were occurring during the 1890s in Nagasaki, Japan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madama_Butterfly

Madame Butterfly in Rome

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Assignment #7

1. A thrust stage extends into the audience on three sides.The audience can see three out of four sides of the acting. The thrust stage makes it difficult to change sets. A proscenium stage or 'proscenium arch', has a big opening or arch, and it looks as if the audience is 'spying on the actors'. The actors and actresses stand 'in front of the scenery'.

 

 

 

Proscenium stage

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Thrust stage

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2. The fly gallery is on the side of the stage and is used for raising and lowering backdrops and scenery.The scenery and backdrops are usually raised and lowered by pulling ropes, and there are several people in charge of this in the fly gallery.

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3. A scrim is a piece of fabric used in theater to create special effects. I have seen scrim used at concerts to show the shadow of an artist before they come on stage. It is a great way to get the audience excited and ready for the show to start! I have also seen scrim used in a play, The Glass Menagerie.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://thefastertimes.com/dance/files/2010/08/lallegro-scrim-elaine-mayson-300x200.jpg&imgrefurl=http://thefastertimes.com/dance/2010/08/09/photos-of-mark-morriss-lallegro-il-penseroso-ed-il-moderato-at-mostly-mozart/&usg=__8NoFUXpeRLmYpaVEfO7z5tqO5s0=&h=200&w=300&sz=15&hl=en&start=57&zoom=1&tbnid=vhm3pyz3CfgtsM:&tbnh=137&tbnw=187&ei=7ZqbTd2dEYywhQfzttDRBg&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dscrim%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D610%26tbm%3Disch0%2C1441&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=335&vpy=343&dur=100&hovh=160&hovw=240&tx=176&ty=107&oei=cZqbTbSxJsajtgeXh9y7Bw&page=4&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:13,s:57&biw=1280&bih=610Scrim