AHSU+ASSIGNMENT+5


 * ASSIGNMENT 5 **

Question 1. Imagine you were sitting in a small hall watching a production of the play you heard read in class. Then consider the filmed production found below. In what ways has the filmmaker revised Beckett's instructions given in the text to suit the medium of film and how does that change your reception of the play?

Beckett’s __The Play__ depicts three characters, two women and one man, trapped in urns and relaying their relationship among each other. In the script, Beckett specifies every detail of the play, from the placement of the urns, to the lighting. The characters must face forward at all times and display no emotions while talking in monotone voices unless otherwise noted. The focus of each character shifts with the shift of a spotlight on each of their faces.

To be adapted onto film, some changes were made to the original script, not only because of the medium in which the play is presented on, but also to keep the focus of the audience. First, the film contained a background that was not specified in the original script, which is reasonable. As a film, it would be odd to see a black screen with only three urns and heads. The background gave additional information on the predicament of the three characters. The production hints that these characters were subjected to punishment for their situation in their past life. They are doomed to repeat the sins they had committed among one another. The film places these doomed characters among other urns with heads in a barren wasteland to emphasize what could be a “circle” of hell in Dante’s inferno. All the “sinners” in this wasteland committed similar crimes and are punished for all eternity.

The characters are all buried in urns from the neck down as specified in the play, but instead of a light to focus on each character, a camera is used to focus on each character. Like a light that shifts from each character, the camera displays close-ups on each face. The film goes further by changing and adjusting camera angles and focuses on different parts of the head to emphasize certain phrases.

Another change in the script occurs when the characters are speaking simultaneously. Instead of having the three characters speak at the same time, the film adds the effect of several more indiscernible voices speaking like a crowd of people talking in low voices.

The change in the original script does change the audience’s reception of the play. Instead of leaving the play open to one’s own interpretation, the film provides a suggested path of interpretation that the audience is guided onto. Typically, it is more difficult to capture and maintain an audience’s attention on screen than it is in real life. Therefore, the supplementary background and constant camera angle changes were used to help keep the audience’s attention on each individual character in addition to keeping the audience’s focus on the screen instead of being distracted or bored.

Characteristics of Theatricalism:

Theatricalism can be defined as an interpretation of the human condition in concentrated images. It is created as a response to realism thus it is also known as non-realism.


 * __Stylized Acting:__ Especially vivid in the Sonnets, theatricalism focuses on stylized acting.
 * __Presentational Staging:__ Theatricalistic pieces do not present themselves as realistically as possible. __The play__ is a good representation of this characteristic. The characters are in urns, relaying an expressionless story over and over again.
 * __Imagination and imagery:__ Theatricalism requires the audience’s imagination, in contrast to realism in which most ideas have already been filled. Theatricalism focuses on bold, abstract images to represent an idea.
 * __Exaggeration:__ Theatrical pieces exaggerate movements and speech. Or, it will take an image and blow it out of proportion. In __Einstein on the Beach__ movement is exaggerated to be excruciatingly slow in some parts.
 * __Repetition__: As seen in __The play__, repetition is a common theme in many productions.