Being someone who comes from a theater background, this chapter was very interesting to me. Chapter 7 takes me back to an experience my sophomore year of highschool where my theater director told us we would be writing our own one-act play for competition. (Insert my freak out here)
The elements, "plot, character, and theme" (page 111), were what we first started with. We had to pick an idea, just as the Gardner book says you have to do when writing about a play.
On page 113, it is said that "drama is a livin art," I completely agree and I believe the best way to read about a play is to play it out in your head as you go along. Give some life to the words.
STAGE DIRECTIONS. A huge thing in theater and according to page 114, a huge thing in play analysis. "What kind of physical movement, blocking, or choreography would you see on stage?"
Overall, this is one of my favorite chapters and makes it clear that I'm writing my research paper on the right topic.
Since plays are a visual art, I personally believe reading it aloud and/or playing it out in your head as you go is the best way to go about it. That way you can really experience the play the way it was meant to, visually.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was young, I used to print out scripts of movies, video games, and TV episodes and bring them with me. Watching the movies first really helped me learn how to picture literature in my head and when I began to read about plays, it all began to come together. Plays have a lot of visual appeal even if we cannot see it in front of us. To be able to experience a play first hand is a learning experience.
ReplyDeleteI think that plays are amazing pieces of literature. I am also from a theatre background and have had similar experiences. My theatre department had to create our own skits and plays for various school functions. We would have to analyze other plays in order to come up with an idea for our own.
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