thea101 - 2/10/13 - penelope
(read 84-97)
- amazing set
- good levels
- expected more comedy
- not as edgy as expected
- lots of real flame
- darker than expected
- irish comedy is not the same comedy we expect
- monologues were too long
- the toilet
- nice that the stage could be abused/trashed
- definitely enjoyable
- wasn’t in the right head space
- bbq didn’t burst into flame and was supposed to
- quinn being murdered was great
- *reminded of the merchant of venice?
- odysseus and penelope were like gods
- ‘suitably dingy’
- balance of light and dark
- monologues showed characters for who they were in a way
- monologues were necessary
- actors did a good job portraying characters
- penelope was a very good actress - crying at the end
- internal vs external struggle
- changed between men focusing on penelope to men vs men
- emotional rollercoaster
- not expected
- bad sight lines
- couldn’t see penelope
- amazing set design, but didn’t take the space into account
- bad blocking
- should ave been irish actors due to the manner of speaking
- men are all bastards
- quinn was most rounded
- jfk bit
- good acoustics
- don’t know why penelope was drawn to the men
- burns was in general really fucked up
- very annoyed with the characters
- expecting it to be a lot funnier
- open to a lot of critical points - time period? why are they in a pool?
- WANTED them to have the accents
- overlooked that penelope was a person
- trying to win the prize of Penelope
- more about the competition
- about how competition could break down a person
- what the cost of a competition is
- burns realizes too late what the cost was
- realized that he could actually feel something for someone (murray)
- driving factor was the impending doom of odysseus returning
- deconstruction of four very evil/flawed people
- four incorrect views of women
- dunn: blaming problems on women, sex
- fitz: need
- quinn: invested in the idea of being evil
- burns: invested in the idea of being good
- distinguish between story plot and idea
- question is how clear were those portrayed
- real time on stage
- very late point of attack
- very little side story
- central action is clear
- human nature
- need overlaid with selfish need and aggression
- desperation
- humour
- irritating
- displaced frantic energy
- every character almost didn’t know what to do when the spotlight hit them
- building tension
- despair
- why the fuck didn’t penelope know that odysseus was returning
- dramatic/overdramatic
- surreal
- in limbo
- study of the human condition
- finally talking about what they actually feel rather than bullshit
- psychological
- no realistic relationship with time
- relationship with the source text is more fluid and not realistic
- there will be violence - the set tells us that
- anachronisms
- mix of genres
- post modern
- mixes high art with low art
- she is a god to them
- they’re trapped
- food is all real food
- spotlight
- symbolic use of light on penelope
- the sound is part of the world of the play
- no power and yet everything works
- where is the spotlight coming from?
- how did they know when penelope was watching?
- cheating a bit with the lights
- things that appear on stage and what are they supposed to represent
- hyper realism
- metaphorical use of realism in a symbolic way
- highly detailed set
- less detailed gestures
- elements of realism
- elements of abstract/surreal
- comedy spliced with philosophical/poetic pieces
- absurdist
- what is the story that the play is telling?
- was the story told clearly?
- how clear is everything portrayed?
- what are the conventions?
- how do all these conventions go together?
- characters: were they interesting?
- were they believable?
- SHOULD they have been believable?
- what does the play want us to think?
- what are the rules?
- were they distinguishable?
- were each of them contributing something?
- think about the main idea of the play?
- acting?
- lighting design?
- set?
- ideas and the connections?
- how do you want to organize everything?
