Motherhood, Otello And The Theatre Experience :: essays research papers fc

The theatre experience can be explained as a measurement of satisfaction that a person attains after attending a theatrical performance. A positive theatre experience should be a truly cathartic event that evokes excitement and delight in the audience. A negative theatre experience, on the other hand, will have little to no impact on the audience and will most likely cause its members to be bored. Two theatrical presentations that provide contradicting theatre experiences are Otello and Motherhood, Madness and the State of the Universe. Otello, which is conducted by Richard Bradshaw, directed by Robin Phillips, written by Giuseppe Verdi (after William Shakespeare's play Othello) and was performed by The Canadian Opera Company on November 3, 2000 at the Hummingbird Centre in Toronto, Ontario, is a century old opera that tells the story of how the Moor of Venice, who has risen from slavery to a position of great power as a general of the Venetian army, falls victim to jealousy. Mother hood, Madness and the State of the Universe, which is written and performed by Kim Renders and was performed on October 13, 2000 in Lower Massey Hall at the University of Guelph, is a contemporary one-woman show which tells a satirical tale of marriage and parenthood via stories about Renders own children intertwined with historic accounts of her mother’s childhood. Three elements that influence how enjoyable a performance will be to an audience member are scenery, costumes and use of music. When compared on these bases, it is conclusive that Motherhood, Madness and the State of the Universe provides a theatre experience which is superior that of Otello. Scenery, by definition, is â€Å"the physical constructions that provide the specific acting environment for a play and that often indicate, by representation, the locale where a scene is set; the physical setting for a scene.† (Cohen, Theatre G-11). Modern scenery is either realistic as in Otello, or metamorphic as in Motherhood. Realistic scenery attempts to illustrate the details of a specific time and place in the real world, while metamorphic scenery favors visual images that insinuate the production’s intended mood and theme. The scenery in Otello depicts the inside of an elaborate castle with winding staircases (see figure 1, appendix A for the simplistic illustration). Desdemona’s bed, the tables, the goblets, etc. are all set pieces used on stage after having been extracted from rooms that would actually exist in a house.