Williams,+Neil

Hey I'm Neil I like to listen to music, play and watch soccer, and play fifa. I went to Lassiter High School and was born in Connecticut

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Assignment 3: Due 9/26

In performing, the director focuses and controls much of the artistic direction that a work takes. The two distinct film adaptions of the Shakespeare play Henry V, directed by Olivier and Branaugh, draw from the time period and the director’s decision greatly in their interpretation of the written text. The Olivier version, released in 1944, is intended to bolster the spirits of the English during the world war going on at the time, while the Branaugh adaption, which was released during the English war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands, carries influence from Branaugh’s disparaging views of that separate conflict. From the films, Olivier’s attempt to glorify battle in order to assist the English in defeating the German’s is apparent, as is Branaugh’s bitterness with a conflict that many of the time viewed as unnecessary.

Text Even from the selection of text used from the two directors, the tone and the course of action in the play can be seen to be affected considerably. Comparing Branaugh’s and Olivier’s respective versions, Branaugh noticeably stripped down many of the lines that glorify violence and support nationalistic tendencies in both camps. On the other hand, Olivier cut many lines showing the darker side of war.

Setting/Costumes Overall, the Branaugh adaption can be noted for having a much darker lighting, creating a significantly grimmer atmosphere. From there, it can also be seen that the battle that the English and French find themselves about to fight looks decidedly more deadly than in the Olivier version, from the muddy look of the ground to the foliage in the background. The costumes also reflect the atmosphere that was partially created by the lighting and setting. In Olivier’s version, the soldiers are wearing colorful garb that seems more ornamental than practical in real circumstance, glorifying the pomp of war again. Branaugh decides, instead, to cast the soldiers in more common clothes that seem to add another dimension to his realistic portrayal of the hardships of war. Only Henry V is colorfully clad, perhaps showing the insistence of leaders in driving the common people into battle.

Acting Olivier quickly pans over the French’s lines in the first scene in order to not develop their characters or any of the pathos behind their originally scripted lines. This, even off the bat, makes them second to the English in importance. After this, the English line is shown to be an intimate camp where Henry makes a rousing speech calling his “brothers” to arms, and they respond with enthusiasm. From that point on, it is clear the English carry the charisma in this adaption. However, in Branaugh’s adaption, a more even portrayal of the French and English side is attempted. To start, the French are allowed to develop their characters with lines and when the emissary comes, it is he who is mounted and Henry on the ground. The English also respond to Henry’s speech with grimmer, muted determination, rather than the enthusiasm present in Olivier’s version.

Assignment 2 1) The time period in which the action Joe Turner’s Come and Gone is set completely brims with the racial tensions that dominated the American landscape of the era. The decades following the end of the Civil War saw a diaspora of emancipated blacks flocking northwards to escape the oppression that still strongly existed in the South. Each character in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone is, in their own way, dealing with the lasting of effects of slavery. At the center of play, Harold Loomis confronts his own bitter conflicts of identity after being unjustly held in the South by a man named Joe Turner. It is not until the final scene of the play, after Loomis confronts Martha and realizes he can be an independent man that starts to “shine” and reconcile the troubles of his past. The black characters of the play also encountered racism routinely in their daily lives. For example, Jeremy attempted to refuse to cave into racism when he quit his job after the white man demanded part of Jeremy’s wages back from him. This encounter leads Jeremy into a quest for greater freedom still, believing “There’s a big road out there. I can get my guitar and always find me another place to stay”. Jeremy exhibits that he will always try to escape the constrictions of racism and flee to where he feels comfortable. The road, to Jeremy, represents freedom, and as long as it exists, it also represents the hope of a new life for him and his people. Additionally, Selig, the only white character in the play, provides a show of the power that the white men can exert of the blacks. Selig reveals he is from a long line of slave finders, and he continues the work by finding Blacks for other Blacks, effectively displaying how blacks still are living at the whim of the whites.

Assignment 1

1) The Balinese, while exploring more serious topics with shadow puppetry, such as the making of holy water, still include presentations of outrageous characters that serve as a form of comic relief during the performance. First of all, while in other cultures the clown figure can be portrayed through the use of distorted faces or silly costumes, in Balinese theatrical tradition the use of shadow puppets does not allow for the use of different costumes or a variety of comical expressions because there are no visible actors in the viewing area. Instead, the clown seems to compensate for this with odd shapes in the construction of the actual physical form of the puppet. Clowns are easily distinguished from the rest of the puppets based these physical characteristics. The puppeteer then uses his own variation in voices to give the clown puppets a distinct comical style in their interaction with the rest of the cast of puppets.

2) As with most stories told in other cultures, there seems to always be an element of comedy that is a vital part of the richness in the fable. The comedic portion of a theatrical performance adds to the depth of the performance because it allows for a greater reflection of human life by reflecting a broader spectrum of human relationships. Since theater is in itself a reflection of human life, the inclusion of comedy within it only seems to be natural. The use of comedic elements in the puppeteer’s show also allows the performance to appeal to the audience in a more engaging way.