Kent Thompson

            After reading “An interview with Kent Thompson” I must admit I was surprised at the amount of planning that went into “moments” in the play.  Specifically, Kent mentions creating senses of intense romance between Othello and Desdemona as well as racially stigmatizing society.  I guess because I don’t have that much experience with theatre, when I read a play I just look at the lines on the page I sort of assume that if anyone who can act rattles them off  that the end result is drama.  Sorry if that makes sound naïve, but I have very little idea how anyone would go about creating an emotion (besides through the elements of production of course.)

            Another thing that I found interesting that Kent Thompson revealed in his interview was his decision to stage Othello on the smaller stage.  Another one of my misconceived notions of theartre I guess is that a director would want to automatically stage the show at the largest venue so he could sell more tickets, make more money, and perhaps buy those sweet renasaince costumes he’s always wanted.  Nevertheless, I gotta admit I respect the man’s choice, who wouldn’t prefer to see a show in a more intimate setting?... I guess that this makes theatre misconception number three, but I would have never anticipated that making the customer happy actually makes business sense… Clearly years of working retail have left me jaded.

Modern Tragedy

In my opinion the ancient Greek’s position, as expressed by Aristotle, on tragedy and their emphasis on structure is extremely limiting as compared to modern forms of theatre and literature.  Specifically, the “contained” nature of to the Greek tragedy is interesting compared to modern drama, which perhaps to the downfall of many contemporary pieces of theatre, leaves room for the possibility of a sequel.  Furthermore the importance of plot over characters is hardly relatable to the present day where many pieces of prose spend more time with character development than with plot structure.  Whether this situation is preferable remains uncertain, however it is nearly impossible to imagine a tragic play whose characters are undeveloped or nonexistent, as this is what connects us to the chain of events being preformed and helps convey emotion.  However, what is the most alienating about Aristotle’s opinion on tragedy is his discussion of the appropriate selection of characters for the art form.  In particular his view of women as being unsuitable, as their as acts of braveness were considered tasteless in the society of the ancient Greeks is hard to fathom and seems quite offensive to a modern woman.

             

Author Miller’s “ Tragedy of the Common Man” is much more accessible to me, seeing as he viewed the common person as being just as capable of displaying tragedy as the kings were.  Miller’s conception of tragedy also appears to be much more free-flowing than the Greek structure, making it all-around more relatable to the present day.

[I did not wish to appear ignorant to Greek society and the institutional framework responsible for differences in structure/characters.  Instead it was my aim to diagnose to what extent these structural guidelines were adaptable to the present day.]

Medea

            Although, both Death of a Salesman and Medea were both considered tragedies by convention, these two plays left me with very different sets of emotions after reading them.  When I read Death of a Salesman I was sad when Willy ultimately took his own life.  I disagreed with many of his decisions and recognized his flaws, but, in the end, I was able to sympathize with Willy.  Conversely, Medea’s character, although treated badly by Jason and stranded far away from her home took actions that are unforgivable, even in the sense of a reader-character dynamic.  The hatefulness, which seemed to resonate from Medea made the play hard to read and my lack of empathy for the main character left me extremely unsettled upon completing the play.

            In effect, Medea seems to have no real protagonist; Jason breaks Medea’s heart, so Medea commits murder and infanticide to break his, but no one is able to take responsibility or show remorse for their actions.  Instead of conveying sadness, Medea highlights disturbing and selfish aspects of human nature.  And although what Madea does is not typical of what most of us would consider human nature, perhaps Euripides hoped it would demonstrate the willingness of those who feel they have been wrong to defy the conventions of moral behavior in search of revenge.