BCTheatricalism

Theatricalism Assignments

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 film maker revised Beckett's instructions given in the text to suit the medium of film and how does that change your reception of the play?

The first and main difference is that of the spotlights. Because film work is a close up medium it is important to adapt things that on the stage would have been necessary for a more distant medium to suit the closer visions. Instead of spotlights to indicate which person attention should be paid to the camera instead frames only one person at a time except for a few unison shots at the beginning and end. In the film version the camera work is very chopped up and flicks back and forth from different angles to disorient the viewer. The costumes are also slightly differentiated in the film version because without making the two women look different it would be nearly impossible to tell them apart with such limited perspective. There are also no blackouts in the film version. In a theater version a black out would successfully envelop the viewer in darkness and cause them to feel rather disoriented. On television, however, a blackout would serve only to disrupt the connection that is being made and cause no such disorientation as the viewer is not enveloped by the film version as they would be in the theater.

List of Theatricalism Characteristics Theatricalism is generally characterized by nonrealism, which is the pursuit of fantastical and abstract appearance in defiance of reality, and usually attempts to act in a disturbing, challenging, and thought provoking manner.

Original and abstract sets which appeal more to the psychological nature of the play and defy any strict adherence to realistic or lifelike sets. Sets might feature any number of provocative or representation styles of lighting and shape.

Presentational staging allows actors to fill in the details left out of the sets with their movements, speech, and style utilized instead of concrete props or costume or setting.