Fulmer,+Beryl

BF realism

bfactdirect

In debate, there is usually a question that is posed for debaters to answer. It is stated in the form of a resolution. So is the following question in which you may take either the affirmative or the negative position."Resolved, directing is a more important art and craft than acting.”

In modern theater, directors have the primary responsibility for the interpretation of the play and creates the stage action and unifies all the elements of the production1. It is the job of the actor, however, to create the dramatic story on the stage through words and gestures2. Both are undeniably important to the production, but since the audience only ever interacts directly with the actors, that component is the more important of the two.

The position of the director is comparatively new in the history of the theater3, but actors have been there from its beginning. The only things absolutely necessary to the theater are the actor, a playing space, and an audience4. The whole point of the theater is the performance, so anything else, no matter how vital a contribution, is secondary to this end. The director’s role is that of a unifier or the author of the stage action, uniting all the sundry components of the performance into a cohesive and meaningful whole5. While this is critical, particularly in large modern productions that contain a broad variety of elements, the director does not directly affect the audience through the performance. Only the actor can present the story to the audience.

Although the director may manage every aspect of a production, from the design of the sets and costumes to the gestures and movements being performed, the onus of the performance is ultimately on the actor alone.

WORD COUNT: 238

1--Arnold. //Creative Spirit//, p. 492 2--Arnold. //Creative Spirit//, p. 491 3--Arnold. //Creative Spirit//, p. 136 4--Arnold. //Creative Spirit//, p. 111 5--Arnold. //Creative Spirit//, p. 135

Your text offers suggestion on two basic approaches to acting, ie. the internal and the external. Chose either one and take the scene between Emily and George as your reference point and develop a fragment of "inner monologue" OR tactic concerning interpretation underlying a short section from the scene. I suggest the men choose to deal with George and the women choose to deal with Emily, although if you wish you may choose to develop an "inner monologue" or "external tactic" for either character. You may use up to 500 words for this module, given the complexity of the requirement. Be sure you let me know exactly which section of dialogue you plan to use for developing your answer.

While the external acting approach is involved with “conscious choices about how language is spoken, which physical details to emphasize, and how emotional content is to be expressed”1, the internal approach relies more on creating a sense of identification between the character and the actor2 to fill in the “what thoughts occur behind or between the character’s lines”1.

The character Emily from Thornton Wilder’s //Our Town// offers considerable opportunity to interpret subtext. Wilder provides some himself in the stage directions, but there are still substantial rom for interpretation. For instance, it is obvious from the beginning of the conversation between George and Emily that they are interested in each other romantically even thought they don’t explicitly say so. For instance, when Emily delivers her diatribe against George Wilder helpfully notes that she should find it difficult and George’s reaction should be hurt3. Emily is upset that George has grown apart from her because of his involvement in baseball but she cares about him and does not want to upset him. She is “on the verge of tears”3 because it upsets her that she’s upsetting him, but also because the conversation is bringing up her buried resentment at being abandoned (her resentment is obvious from previous stage directions instructing her to speak “coolly”4 and then “coldly”3, indicating a distance between them--from this alone it could seem that she is the one who inserted the distance between them, but Wilder describes her as being “shy and embarrassed” around George4, suggesting that she is uncertain regarding their separation and would rather it were not an issue).

The subtext hidden within Emily’s dialogue offers a rich opportunities expand upon facets of the character’s personality. Actors employing the internal approach to acting can mine these implications for material to enrich the characters and their own performances.

WORD COUNT: 307

1--Arnold. //Creative Spirit,// p. 126 2--Arnold. //Creative Spirit//, p. 125 3--Wilder. //Our Town//, p. 51 4--Wilder. //Our Town//, p. 50

Contrast and compare the role and purpose of secular drama and theatre as an expression of the communities from which it arose and for which it has served with that of religious and ritual drama and theatre.

(GOOD WORK DESPITE SOME MINOR PROBLEMS) Secular and religious drama arose from very different circumstances and played very different rolls (ROLES) in their respective communities. (AWKWARD FIRST SENTENCE) Secular theater was a largely independent enterprise while religious theater (DEPENDED?) extensively on cooperation within communities.

Secular theater, such as that during Elizabethan times, was a professional endeavor, performed year-round by acting troupes who were sponsored by patronage1. The Renaissance created an intellectual and artistic interest in such intricate matters as the complexity of human motivation and focused on the characters’ individual, internal struggles2. In Christopher Marlowe’s //Doctor Faustus//, for instance, the titular (TITLE ROLE) character displays an inner turmoil between religious and secular ideas, mirroring the tensions that dominated that era2. The civil plays of the Beijing Opera similarly relied upon individual performance and reflected domestic and social situations3.(TWO GOOD ILLUSTRATIONS)

Conversely, religious and ritual theater tended to be performed by amateur volunteers and so only took place at certain times of year when it wouldn’t interrupt the normal life of the community1. (GOOD) The medieval mystery cycles were initiated by the Catholic Church in order to make religious teaching more accessible to the European population, which was largely illiterate, and so focused on biblical events4. These performances were community endeavors and were produced through the combined efforts of various guilds4. Unlike in Elizabethan theater, where emphasis on individualism produced well-known playwrights such as William Shakespeare, medieval playwrights were anonymous.

Individualistic ideas in society led to the development of secular theater while religious drama was a more collective endeavor.

WORD COUNT: 244

1--Arnold. //Creative Spirit//, p. 26 2--Arnold. //Creative Spirit//, p. 27 3--Arnold. //Creative Spirit//, p. 33 4--Arnold. //Creative Spirit//, p. 19