Friday was a wonderful day filled with lots of pep (E-I-G-H-T 08!!!) and riddles, but, sadly, no Rhinoceros. Since Laz wasn't there and we didn't get a chance to start discussing the performance we saw on Thursday night, I figured we could start discussing it on here.
I thought the performance did a great job of eliminating the "fourth wall" between the actors and the audience. This was accomplished through the mention of one of Ionesco's plays by Jean when suggesting to Berenger that he make himself more cultured. The smallness of the theater, and the way Berenger addressed the audience in Act Three served this purpose as well. Additionally, Berenger's used a script throughout the entire performance, bringing attention to himself as an actor and making the audience very aware that what they were watching was in fact a scripted, artificial play. Ionesco strived to ensure that the audience never lost themselves in the play, that they were grounded in the fact that what they were watching was not reality, and that the play should not be used to escape their lives. The elimination of the "fourth wall" makes the play a part of your "real life," making it just as real as what you do before or after the play.
Another idea for Berenger's use of the script is that it shows that we are all puppets. We are all conformists. There is no original thought. We say and think the things that society tells us to. Berenger acts and speaks like the town drunkard because that is what is expected of him, and we all play out the stereotypes assigned to us.
I think the performance of the show illustrated the idea of "collective consciousness" really well. During the first act, the parallel dialogue between Jean and Berenger and the Old Gentleman and the Logician, with some overlapping lines completely the same, first brings light to the existence of a collective consciousness, which will become increasingly more apparent and important throughout the remainder of the show.
I had a lot of fun, and I think it was definitely helpful to see it done on stage. Favorite part of the show: Jean. <3
Comments and/or other ideas?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
I really didn't like the whole breaking down the fourth wall idea and the use of alienation in the play. I mean, as you said, they are useful tools to show that the play is a social commentary rather than a means of entertainment, surely what Ionesco intended. But I think the immersion of yourself into a play is an important part of performing plays. Breaking the fourth wall and the use of alienation just didn't suit my taste.
I also didn't really like the actors. They didn't seem to know their lines too well and there were a lot of awkward pauses where there shouldn't have been. Probably why they focus mainly on puppet shows rather than actual plays.
Speaking of, the puppets were my favorite part of the play. They provided a nice relief from the actors and they were actually quite funny.
Special effects were cool and pretty well done but the inherent lack of rhinoceroses really turned me off.
All in all though it provided a nice way to visualize the play and put some order to the lines we read.
I was talking to Matt about the "not knowing the lines" thing and I think it's more that the director wanted Berenger to be more alienated, as he was the only one using the script.
BTW, Chen, "script" Berenger was holding - I'm pretty sure it was blank. :)
I just...wrote a whole post and it deleted itself. Let me try to recap what I had written.
My favorite part of the play was when Berenger turned the page of his script, and the rest was blank. The entire play, he had used this script. The loss of it seemed to be a loss of security for him. There no longer was a clear end... life had just been cut. It almost seemed as if he should have turned into a rhino then, because they don't have any language.
There were a couple of lines in the play that stuck a cord more when they were seen in production. The scene where the logician tried to explain why cats had two paws, or six, or none, etc, reminded me distinctly of Marxism. Towards the end of that discussion, the logician said something along the lines of, "Now one cat has six paws, and one has none. That isn't just! And justice is the cornerstone of freedom". The line was something like that. Anyway, that reminded me of the idea that we all must be completely equal for life to be fair. I thought that maybe this was a way to make fun of communist ideas?
@Dan
The script had stuff in it till the last scene. The last 20 pages or so of the script was blank.
@Anisha
I'm not entirely sure, but I think the line was supposed to be "Justice is the cornerstone of logic."
They weren't discussing freedom I think.
The copy we have has no mention of freedom, but rather a Justice = Logic type deal.
So Berenger didn't know his lines?
He did know his lines
He was just reading the script for the alienation effect.
Then who were you referring to when you said "They didn't seem to know their lines"? I didn't really enjoy the play, but I thought the actors knew their lines.
I agree with Albert, I dislike the breaking down of the fourth wall. It made me feel uncomfortable when Berenger spoke directly to the audience in Act III. Despite my dislike for this tactic, I thought that the breaking down of the fourth wall was very effective in getting the Absurdist point across. Like Albert said, it makes you remember that this is not real and it keeps you from fully immersing yourself in the play.
Berenger's use of the script obviously alienates him from the rest of the cast. I think it shows that he is less sure of his actions than the other characters and is depending on another source to make his decisions for him. Once he reaches the blank pages at the end of the play, Berenger realizes he no longer has anything to fall back on and can only depend on himself to find the meaning in his life.
Albert, I didn't think that the other actors were as bad as you perceived them to be. I actually think that the awkward pauses and no knowing the lines added to the "lost" effect that Ionesco aimed for. The bad acting could represent how humans stumble through life, searching for a meaning but perhaps never finding it... but that's just a theory.
Of course my favorite part was Jean, but Berenger's soliloquy at the end of the play was a close second. His performance was really excellent and had me completely engrossed. When reading the play I didn't get that sense of intesity that seeing the lines acted out gave me. Also, the use of the shadow puppets in the first act was a really cool/unexpected choice. They allowed the audience to put most of its focus on Berenger and Jean's discussion, but they were still effective in showing the background activities that complicate life and make it more absurd.
Post a Comment