Post Modernist Plays notes

Austin - Accidental Death of an Anarchist by Dario Fo 1917

•  Originally written in Italian
• About an anarchist who fell or was thrown from a fourth floor window
• He was blamed for bombing

• Maniac: is interrogated (He impersonates many professions) and is a judge. He Manipulates the police. He is Clever
• Elements of Surprise
• What is truth, what is not?

·       Includes paradox

• Made not to answer questions, but to question answers

·       Redefining the past

• Realism

·       Reflect realistic corrupt society

• Left open ended. There’s no linear ending
• Written for more than art's sake

George -History Boys by Alan Bennett

• Takes place in an English private school in Britain
• 1950's Feeling even though it is based in the 80s
• About the scandals in a school
• Verbatum Theatre
• Non-Linear Theatre
• Language changes from English to French
• Theatre of Difference (Homosexuality)

Joel - Stuff Happens by David Hare (he grew up in Sussex England, isn’t new to play writing) 2005

• Various Topics (politics, war and moral issues, making decision)
• Comedy

·       A LOT OF STUFF HAPPENS

• Shady boundaries
• Tension (Bush vs. Blair)

·       Big name characters (Osama Bin Laden, Bush, Blair)

• Verbatim Theatre
• Based off real politics
• Dangerous Theatre
• Non-Linear Theatre
• Disconnect between actor and audience
• Live narration

·       Interjection of Song: Amazing Grace

• Global Theatre (deals with worldwide issues)

Reca - Angels in America by Tony Kushner 1983

• Follows the lives of homosexual men
•  Struggle with aids, drugs, fitting in, society
• Huge impact on shaping contemporary theatre in terms of sexuality
• Extremely appropriate, still, in today’s theatre
• Dangerous Theatre - gory, gruesome
• 7 hours long
• A lot of repetition
• Altered states of mind
• Dying of aids = heavenly visions
• Raw and honest to life. Nothing is censored

Andy- Arcadia

• ·      Starts in 1809 and then shifts to the present.
• ·      There’s a character in the play that is mentioned throughout the whole play. Lord Byron (British poet). Play is based around him but he never appears.
• ·      Large table in the middle
• ·      Props aren’t removed throughout time periods
• ·      Juxtaposition / non linear theatre
• ·      Extreme symbolism
• ·      Contradictory strategy (art and science) (classism and romanticism)
• ·      QUOTE!!
• ·      Parallism
• ·      Pacing is very important
• ·      Theatre of priority – adding a song or a dance of some sort.

Virginia Wolf – the hours

Annie – the accidental death of an anarchist

• ·      Maniac is a joker type character
• ·      Po-mo – the maniac
• ·      Realism
• ·      Dangerous theatre – questions politics
• ·      Hyperbolised window : window

Justin – Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmer (tony for directing)

• ·      Intro speech
• ·      She’s from Lincoln Nebraska but also moved around between London
• ·      The looking glass Theatre Company
• ·      Play adapted from poem. Based on the free translation of the poem
• ·      How do humans react to change?
• ·      Different characters
• ·      Nonlinear theatre
• ·      Dangerous theatre- incest nudity
• ·      Re contextualism – distance between immersing in the play
• ·      Anthropomolism
• ·      Art for art’s sake
• ·      Songs, poetry
• ·      Props have multiple uses
• ·      Simple set: only a Chandelier and pool of water
• ·      Repetition

Peter – Eurydice

• ·      Greek tale
• ·      Story about Eurydice based in a more modern way
• ·      Dreamlike – nothing seem linear, aspect of remembering versus forgetting and how important things are to us and whether we forget it or not
• ·      Relief
• ·      Music to tell emotion
• ·      Non-linear – skips between scenes
• ·      Non naturalistic – characters are stones that speak
• ·      Altered states of mind – amnesia, state of knowing who you are. World of dead vs world of living
• ·      Play for art’s sake – written for set design
• ·      Blue for death because it isn’t aggressive, it’s sad
• ·      All about music

Georgia – flu season

• ·      6 characters
• ·      no one has names
• ·      Play within a play
• ·      Storyline in a mental hospital
• ·      Prologue: Hopeful, innocent, romantic dreams. Epilogue: cynical
• ·      Non-linear : a lot of stopping/starting
• ·      Art for art’s sake – language use very thoughtful and artful
• ·      Symbol: snow

Sammy – accidental death. Dario Fo – radio comedian, political playwright. He’s been arrested, trial, beaten for his political ‘openness’

• ·      Use of unnamed characters
• ·      Change in perspective – character of the maniac changes his voice
• ·      Reversed narrative – as it progresses you learn more about the play
• ·      Maniac – impersonated character who the audience is unclear about
• ·      Addresses political corruption
• ·      Play was released at a time when this actually happened
• ·      Verbatim – through the lens of a fallible character
• ·      Non art for art’s sake – wanted to show corruption through theatre
• ·      Maniac – the chaos, random in a scenario
• ·      Colours for the different characters that the maniac plays
• ·      Symbol – chalk outline. You have no idea what was inside of the outline