[bookshare-discuss] Re: drama from a blind perspective
- From: Ann Parsons <akp@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2009 12:31:49 -0500
Hi all,
Those are all good plays. "Our Town" is a classic drama. "By the Skin
Of Our Teeth" is a farce. It is always better to see plays enacted
rather than to read them. The only thing better than that is to go to
live theater with audio description! We're fortunate here in Rochester
that our resident theater company at GEVA offers this service. On one
Sunday during the run of each play, you can go and get a receiver and
earphone and hear somebody in the lighting booth describing what is
going on. It's fabulous!
I grew up going to the theater. Both my parents were actors at one
point in their lives, and I have attended professional shows, high
school shows and elementary school shows. I have been to theaters in
London and London, Ont. and the Shaw Festival, but nothing compares to
a live show with audio description. Happy reading. I hope you'll
have the opportunity to see more live theater. There's nothing like it!
Ann P.
Original message:
Recently bookshare has started producing dramatic pieces for their
collection, which got me thinking about drama from a blind person's
perspective.
I must admit that my exposure to drama has been limited and not
necessarily productive. As a junior high and high school student I was
exposed to the usual slate of plays (i.e. Shakespeare's Macbeth and
Julius Caesar, Oscar Wilde's "the importance of being Earnest" (why any
self-respecting teacher would impose that drabble on their students is
beyond me), and "she stoops to conquer" (was that Malory?). But, I
wasn't impressed.
During my senior year, however, we had to read "Othello" which I
thought was interesting. However, following our close examination of
this play(sometimes it seemed ad nausea), our instructor took us to see
it performed by the University of Texas drama department. The
instructor was able to get us front row seats because no one else
wanted to crane their neck to see the stage, but from my perspective I
loved it because I could tell where each player was on the stage.
However, I had just settled down, perhaps to sleep <smile> when two
characters in the play got into a sword fight right in front of me, and
one of them died two feet away from me. I unconsciously reacted by
throwing up my arms to help the poor fellow, and, I heard the dead
actor quietly snicker at my reaction. So, I knew then, I could be moved
by a dramatic performance.
A couple of days ago I downloaded "three plays" by Thornton Wilder. The
plays in this collection are: "OUR TOWN", "THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH" and
"THE MATCHMAKER". I was particularly interested in reading "our town"
ever since I had heard a radio dramatization of it by Orson Wells a few
years ago. However, I wasn't prepared for the richness of theatrical
descriptions this play provided. While reading the play, I could place
each character on the stage, imagine the various settings in the play
(main street, a house, a graveyard etc.). In other words, this play
came to life for me. For example, the play begins,
"ACT I
No curtain.
No scenery.
The audience, arriving, sees an empty stage in half-light.
Presently the stage manager, hat on and pipe in mouth,
enters and begins placing a table and three chairs downstage
left, and a table and three chairs downstage right. He also
places a low bench at the corner of what will be the Webb
house, left.
"Left" and "right" are from the point of view of the actor
facing the audience. "Up" is toward the back wall.
As the house lights go down he has finished setting the stage
and leaning against the right proscenium pillar watches the
late arrivals in the audience.
When the auditorium is in complete darkness he speaks:". This is much
better than Mr. Shakespeare's "exeunt stage right".
So, I guess I'm saying thanks to Bookshare for providing this wonderful
experience, and I invite any of you who think they hate dramatic
performances to try once more with Mr. Wilder's "three plays".
Thanks,
Bob
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful,
committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is
the only thing that ever has."--Margaret Mead
--
Ann K. Parsons
Portal Tutoring
EMAIL: akp@xxxxxxxxxxxx
web site: http://www.portaltutoring.info
blog:
http://www.samobile.net/users/akp/blog
Skype: Putertutor
"All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost."
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