The Arabian Nights: Play vs. Film Experience

There were many aspects of The Arabian Nights that caused it to be vastly different than watching a film version of the story. First, I think that seeing the play was a better experience, because it was in your face more so than a movie would be. I think this was largely due to the fact that the stage it was performed on was a three-quarter thrust stage. If it were a proscenium stage, I’m sure it would have felt more detached, much like a film does.

One specific aspect that made the play feel engaging to the audience was the presence of live music. Just like being at a concert, the audience could feel the music, and feel the experience of hearing it live rather than through a secondhand source. This added to the ‘in your face’ feel I mentioned earlier. Also adding to that feeling were the lanterns that were hanging above the stage and part of the audience. They weren’t hanging over where I was sitting, but if I was sitting one more row up, they would’ve been. I thought that was pretty cool, because it made the audience feel like they were more involved in the staging a little bit, and it also added to the ambiance in the room. One thing that was mentioned in the class discussion, but that I didn’t personally experience, was that from a certain section of the audience, you could feel the fire from the fire-breathing.

One of the main things that made watching the play different was the feeling of interactivity that was pretty apparent. It was mostly evident only during the storytelling portions of the show, but the actors almost presented their stories in a way that made it feel like they were talking directly to the audience. That is certainly something that you don’t experience in movie, unless it’s something like Shakespeare, because some of the soliloquies are presented directly to the camera. Anyway, I thought that it was really cool that it felt like the audience was being included in the storytelling process.

Another aspect that made the live play interesting was the improve scene. If you were to see the play multiple times, you’d get a different experience each time during that particular section. If you were to see a movie multiple times, you’d get the same movie, because it is pre-recorded a certain way.

But, there are also a couple of ways that the play experience is similar to the movie experience. For example, during my performance, a cell phone went off. It actually went off twice. That kind of thing happens all the time in the movie theater. Also you almost always have those pain in the ass people sitting in your vicinity who never shut up for anything during any kind of activity that requires an audience. We had some of those both during this performance as well as during Godspell. Last night at the Nickelback concert, we had an obnoxious whistler guy who seemed to know everybody in the freaking audience. It happens everywhere, one of those universal audience things.

Overall, both forms of drama have their merits, but I actually liked this style of play a lot because of the ‘in your face’ factor.

Godspell: Audience Response

We arrived at the theatre fairly early, so there was a lot of talking going on amongst the people that would eventually make up the audience. When we got into the theater, the energy of the crowd was pretty high, even for the older people. There was even a girl next to us that was singing random songs. The theatre filled up pretty quickly, and then the show started.

Throughout the show, the audience remained really into it. Even my dad was pretty into, which is a victory for theatre. The audience clapped along when they were prompted to clap, and even sometimes when they weren’t. This type of response didn’t really surprise me that much, as other shows I’ve gone to have had people who clap along and participate when prompted.

What did surprise me, however, was intermission. First, it surprised me because I’d never seen anything like that before. Second, I was surprised by how many people just jumped right on up and went onstage and interacted.

Free juice aside, it was a really cool experience. I mostly played a passive role, choosing to observe rather than participate, but it was still fun to watch. In my opinion, the best part was watching the reactions of the smaller kids as the interacted with the cast. It was cute how they got all excited about getting autographs and giving hugs. I guess it just seemed different to me because I’d never seen anything quite like it before.

After everyone was full of juice and intermission was over, the second half of the play proceeded pretty much the same as the first half did. The audience was still really into the show and they were still clapping along and enjoying themselves.

When the show ended, there wasn’t a butt left in any of the seats, as everyone was giving a standing ovation.

As fast as the theatre filled up, it cleared. I did hear some people talking about trying to see the cast in the lobby afterward, and the overall mood of the crowd was pretty upbeat.

My parents and I discussed the play both while leaving the News Journal Center and at Popeye’s afterward for dinner. My dad liked it a lot¾ again, a victory for theatre¾ and said that it was really funny. My mom also liked it, telling us how she used to have to sing some of the same songs when she was in catholic private school. Personally, I’m not a really super religious person or anything, but I still understood the context of the play and really enjoyed it. Overall, it was a really good experience.

Using what I learned from Chapter 2 in the textbook, I feel that some of the audience traditions and conventions were broken through this production. For example, the audience got to clap and participate a little, instead of having to remain stoic and passive throughout the play. Also, these “rules” were broken when the audience was allowed to come onstage and have juice during intermission, which is something that usually doesn’t happen. But the whole thing worked really well and, I would say, enhanced the whole experience.

Ensemble and Collaborative Creation: Pig Iron Theatre Company

Collaborative or Ensemble Creation (also known as Derived Theatre) is a form of theatre where the productions are created by a group of people (which usually includes the performers) rather than a writer or writers.

Pig Iron Theatre Company

Pig Iron Theatre Company has been creating ensemble productions for fifteen years. Since 1995, they have produced 23 original works.

Pig Iron’s mission statement is to "create original performance works which test and break the boundaries of dance, drama, clown, puppetry, music, and text; to experiment with form while staying accessible; to develop a physical, theatrical performance technique that draws from many performance traditions; to re-imagine "classics" with both irreverence and a desire to make them relevant; and to reach out to new audiences by redefining theatre as an interdisciplinary art form; to form and maintain an international ensemble of theatre artists that are flexible and forward-thinking; and to pose the difficult questions of our difficult times."

I would describe Pig Iron’s body of work as eclectic. Not a lot of plays involve things like interactive sets and shadow puppet dessert-theatre.

I found short descriptions of each of the plays after our presentation. Here’s a brief list of that:

The Tragedy of Joan of Arc (1998) was a recounting of Joan of Arc’s story, billed as “Greek chorus meets red-nosed clown.”

Mission to Mercury (2000) was “a cabaret-ballet inspired by the rock band Queen.”

Come to My Awesome Fiesta, It’s Going to be Awesome, Okay? (2008) was a “skewed coming-of-age party” that pulled inspiration from quinceñera parties.

Yeah, it’s a really short list…

In addition to the main productions, Pig Iron also does an annual cabaret fundraiser, called “For the Love of Pig Iron.”

Additionally, on their website right now, they’re advertising the Pig Iron Summer Session 2010, a three-week intensive in physical theatre.

Through my research for this project, I think that seeing a Pig Iron production would be pretty cool. Probably highly unusual, but still pretty cool.

Works Cited

"Devised Theatre -." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 26 Jan. 2010. Web.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaborative_creation.
Pig Iron Theatre Company. Web. http://pigiron.org.
"Pig Iron Theatre Company -." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 21 Oct. 2009. Web.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_Iron_Theatre_Company.

Puppets: Popular Types of Puppets and Ventriloquism

Wikipedia names 24 different types of puppets, but here I’m going to cover a few of the more well-known and recognized types, as well as a few cultural types that were mentioned in the textbook.

Popular Types of Puppets
Hand Puppets

Also known as glove puppets, hand puppets are named for their method of control by the puppeteer, the hand.


A clip of The Shari Lewis Show. This show was my vice when I was little…



Punch and Judy was a popular show that consisted of a sequence of short scenes, featuring Punch and his wife, Judy.

Marionettes



A marionette is a puppet that is controlled by either wires or strings on a control bar from above. The puppeteer is called a manipulator.



I thought that this was a particularly good clip because it showcases a variety of different marionettes and the different tricks they can do.

Rod Puppets

Rod puppets gain motion through wooden or wire rods. The rods are attached to the puppet’s arms, and most rod puppets are depicted from the waist up, with the “lower extremities” covered by the stage or dangling freely over the side.


A typical rod puppet, with a good view of the rods that control its arms.

Shadow Puppets

This was one of the types I wasn’t familiar with. Shadow puppetry is Asian in origin, and these shows are created using a cut-out figure held between a source of light and a translucent screen. Focus is also really important when it comes to effect, by either moving the puppet or the light source in and out of focus.


I liked this picture because it showed every aspect of shadow puppetry: the “stage”, the puppet, and the puppeteer.

Muppets

Arguably the most recognized type of puppet in our society, the Muppets are the creation of Jim Henson. The term has even expanded to describe puppets that are similar in style to the original. Muppets are specialized types of hand and rod puppets.


Bohemian Rhapsody, via Muppets…’nuff said.

Vietnamese Water Puppets

Another form I wasn’t familiar with, water puppetry is believed to have originated in the 11th century in Vietnam.



The puppets are made out of wood and then lacquered. Water puppetry performance occurs in one of three venues: on traditional ponds in villages that have been set up with a stage, on a portable tank for traveling performers, or a theater built specifically for this purpose.

Ventriloquism
Originally, ventriloquism was a religious practice. Ventriloquism is Latin for “to speak from the stomach”, and ventriloquists were though to be able to interpret the dead. Ventriloquism became a form of entertainment around the 19th century, after it became linked to witchcraft.

Today, ventriloquism is incredibly popular.


Comedian ventriloquist, Jeff Dunham


America’s Got Talent winner, Terry Fator.

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Works Cited

"Hand puppet - Rod Puppets." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 18 Feb. 2010. Web.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_puppet#Rod_Puppets.
Jeff Dunham on the Letterman Show. Perf. Jeff Dunham. YouTube. 11 June 2009. Web.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohUYy__8ANg.
"Marionette -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 22 Feb. 2010. Web.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marionette.
"The Muppets -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 18 Feb. 2010. Web.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muppet.
The Muppets: Bohemian Rhapsody. YouTube. 23 Nov. 2009. Web.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgbNymZ7vqY&feature=related.
"Punch and Judy -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 21 Feb. 2010. Web.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punch_and_Judy.
"Puppet -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 16 Feb. 2010. Web.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puppets.
Scott Land Marionettes. YouTube. 02 May 2006. Web. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDY0iHRsU4E&feature=PlayList&p=46BDB7164F4C5729&index=.
"Shadow play -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 19 Feb. 2010. Web.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_puppet.
The Shari Lewis Show - Lamb Chop - Hush Puppy - Charlie Horse - Shari Lewis. Perf. Shari Lewis. YouTube. 06 May 2009. Web. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VybhWrWs4W8.
Terry Fator: Live from Las Vegas (CLIP). Perf. Terry Fator. YouTube. 25 Aug. 2009. Web.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnTSHUI8wNY.
"Ventriloquism -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 20 Feb. 2010. Web.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ventriloquism.
"Water puppetry -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 06 Feb. 2010. Web.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_Puppet.