Assignment Question
You may choose any play other than the four plays analyzed in class (i.e. you may not choose The Importance of Being Earnest, Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them, Fat Ham, or Sagittarius Ponderosa). the play is the first step. The outcome of your analysis will take one of three forms: A conventional essay, in which you put forth an argument about the play, supported by findings grounded explicitly in the application of play analysis techniques and concepts introduced in this course. A staging paper (described in detail below) An actorly analysis (described in detail below) In all cases, your chosen play must be carefully cited throughout your paper and included in a list of Works Cited in accordance with MLA guidelines. Any other cited sources (including Backwards and Forwards, “EF’s Visit to a Small Planet,” or other secondary readings) should also be included in the list of Works Cited. Staging paper The staging paper will offer a detailed description and explanation of how you would stage a short excerpt from your selected play. This paper will articulate your directorial vision for the selected excerpt, supported by analysis of the play as a whole. You must describe in detail all of the choices you would make in directing the scene and clearly explain why these choices have been made, supporting your arguments with the application of specific play analysis techniques. Be sure to address the interpretive implications of the choices you describe. How would these choices contribute to the overall meaning(s) generated by the play? Note this is not a conventional essay and needn’t be structured like one. You may choose to describe the scene in detail as it unfolds chronologically; or you may choose to write distinct paragraphs on different aspects of your staging (i.e casting; performance/acting; blocking; set; costumes; lighting; and/or sound), clearly and thoroughly describing how these elements will inform specific moments in the scene. What is essential is that you engage closely with the text, provide a clear and detailed account of your vision for the scene, and support your vision through the application of specific play analysis techniques introduced in this course. To aid in the illustration and explanation of your vision, you may find it helpful to to attach supplementary materials such as diagrams, photographs, music, or fabric swatches. Actorly analysis “You can begin acting…Laertes only if you have traced his dominoes” -David Ball, Backwards and Forwards 18 For this paper, students are tasked with carefully reading a play as if preparing for the role of one particular character. This type of reading will involve: Observing closely every moment when the selected character is onstage, speaking or silent, throughout the play. Be sure to consider not only what a character does or says, but also what they do not do or say, what they witness, and what their actions (or reactions—both verbal and nonverbal) might mean. Tracing the dominoes of action that carry the selected character through the play. Learning all you can about the selected character from the text, including both external and internal traits. How old are they? How do they move, speak, or dress? What do others say about the character, and can this be trusted? This may involve confronting contradictory evidence and assessing multiple possibilities. Following Ball’s advice in Backwards and Forwards, you must test details provided in description against what is revealed about the character in and through their actions. Heeding the warnings of both Ball and Fuchs: To understand how a character functions within the play, you must first get to know the particular features of the play’s structure/world. In a formal paper, discuss the implications of this analysis for an actor’s performance. Drawing explicitly on your analysis of the text, describe choices you would make, as an actor, in terms of physicality, vocal delivery, or other aspects of your interpretation of the role. Identify moments in the play that are key to your interpretation of the character. Clearly describe the choices an actor might make in playing these moments and why, supporting your arguments with the explicit application of play analysis techniques learned in this course. Be sure to address the interpretive implications of the choices you identify. How would these choices contribute to the overall meaning(s) generated by the play?
A Final Note on this the thorough and relevant application of concepts and techniques for play analysis: The expectation is that you will demonstrate thorough application of relevant techniques and concepts for play analysis introduced this term. If this, for you, means drawing primarily on Ball, that is no problem; just keep in mind that if your paper attends in some way to an idea that very obviously relates to another (non-Ball) concept then that would not be entirely thorough. The classic example of this might be someone whose predominantly Fuchsian analysis emphasizes an undeniably theatrical moment but fails to identify it as such or apply any of Ball’s thinking about Things Theatrical, despite the obvious applicability or relevance. An inverse case might be someone relying primarily on Ball whose paper whose discussion of stasis and intrusion (including what changes) suggests or invites consideration of what changes for the audience but who does not apply Fuchs’ more pertinent “what changes” questions to advance this analysis fully.
