From the moment I stepped into the theatre, I noticed that the entire stage was decorated with clocks and I could hear the ticking of the clock. These elements set the tone for the play about to happen. The audience was very quiet and seemed relaxed for the show. I cannot say that most of them were prepared for what they were about to see. As I sat down, the music began to play, and I was ready for whatever I was about to see.
The first play titled, “Sure Thing”, I was already astounded by the performances and the humor that was instilled in the play. The segment, by my understanding, was about two people who happened to meet at a café and strike up a conversation about everything from likes, dislikes, sexual preferences, and frustrations with getting a little privacy. What was very interesting about this segment was how it dealt with various versions of the conversation between the two and right when one actor said something a 'ding' could be heard and he or she would return to the previous statement and do a different spine on it. The next segment called “Words, Words, Words” featured three actors portraying monkeys kept in a cage or glass room being examined by humans, probably scientists examining their behavior to human inventions such as the typewriter, cigarettes, and paper. The next segment was titled “The Universal Language” where a conman attempts to sucker a woman into paying for a bogus new universal language class that could become the new language for the whole world to understand and speak. The following act was called “The Philadelphia” where a man stumbles into an alternate reality confused and angry as he is told by another man that he is in a “
After each segment, especially the funnier ones like “Sure Thing” and “The Philadelphia” received applause from the audience. Shortly after these segments, I could hear the commentary from the audience members behind me saying how funny it was and some who had no idea what they just saw. I told me that these plays while all different and the same, can be interpreted very differently by most people; it helped provide some insight on my own opinion of each segment. For a positive note, after each segment there was a famous song with a reference to time such as Quitedrive’s version
of “Time after Time”; I found that to be very modern and relevant to the over all theme of the play and that it deals with time.
Seeing a play is far different from watching a movie. A movie has ‘takes’ rather than a ‘one shot’ deal with all stage performances; so an actor can screw up on camera and just do it over again until they get it right. One mess up on stage can result in a disastrous performance and a terrible play. From the moment I entered the theatre I was told that I could sit anywhere I’d like; I figured I would sit somewhere where I could see the entire play and see everyone on stage with nothing interfering with my perspective; this is a major advantage that stage theatre has that film theatre lacks because no matter where you sit in a movie theatre, even though you might see it better or poorly than most, it is the same thing every time you watch it; it’s shot in the same perspective and the scenes move in the same way where theatre can be seen from almost any angle and no matter how many times you see that particular play, it is ‘always’ different every time you see it. In this sense, I appreciate theatre more than I appreciate film. In the end, I was left with a new idea of theatre, especially student theatre, and how I did in fact underestimate the atmosphere of theatre and its effect on me. I now look forward to viewing “Romeo and Juliet” next month and blogging about that experience. 
Works Cited
- "All In The Timing" Poster.
- "Word, Words, Words (3 monkeys)" All in the Timing Poster.
- "The Philadelphia" picture.
Wade,
ReplyDeleteNice response. Well done.
G