[bookshare-discuss] Re: drama from a blind perspective
- From: "Sharon" <mt281820@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2009 10:13:39 -0500
Oh no. You wouldn't have been able to tell unless you knew the play really
really well.
Sharon
-----Original Message-----
From: Bob [mailto:rwiley@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Sunday, January 25, 2009 9:47 AM
To: bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Re: drama from a blind perspective
Right you are Sharon.
I have another brief story about blindness and dramatic performances.
Shortly after my divorce following twenty-five years of marriage, I
invited a blind lady to attend a performance of Romeo and Juliet put on by a
local college. Needless to say, I was rather anxious and wanted to make a
good appearance to this young lady.
When the play started things were fine. I figured out who was who and so
forth. However, in the second and subsequent acts my savoir fair began to
crumble. I found I was mixing Juliet's nurse up with her mother, and the
priest and one of his cousins sounded exactly alike. My date kept turning to
me and asking "who is that talking" and I tried to pretend I knew, but I
didn't. Nine times out of ten my guesses were wrong.
After the play was over we met the director, and when she found out our
difficulty, she started to laugh. It seems that they were short on
performers, so most of them doubled up as people with small parts.
I'm still trying to find out how my savoir fair turned out to be egg on my
face instead.
Bob
----- Original Message -----
From: Sharon
To: bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Sunday, January 25, 2009 8:16 AM
Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Re: drama from a blind perspective
That's really funny about the sword fight. I think for some of us, it
gets really real feeling, because we forget it's only a play. This was
dramatically brought home to me once when I went to see Gandhi in a theater.
I know I'm spelling that wrong, but do not have time to look up the correct
spelling. Anyway, every time the club came down, I thought I'd be next. It
was done in surround sound. For days, I kept hearing the club, and I can
still hear it today in my head if I think about it. I cannot go see movies
with gun shots because I almost cannot stop diving under my seat to try to
get away from the gun in surround sound. Someone explained to me that
sighted people know it's not real because they see the stage, or they see
the screen, and at least on the screen, everyone looks bigger than humans
would normally look. Anyone with sight can certainly clarify this if I've
got it wrong. I like drama in the movies or plays, but I like to read the
play before I go and see it, because then I'm provided with all the
description, just like in audio described movies.
Sharon
-----Original Message-----
From: Bob [mailto:rwiley@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Sunday, January 25, 2009 7:17 AM
To: bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bookshare-discuss] drama from a blind perspective
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
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