Reflection

In the past three days, we conceived our own theatre play. I am doing the Glass Menagerie in the class because to cover up my flaws in the Lit & Performance class, I decided to work on this play. Since I have already read this book before; it is easier for me to do this as well. For my theme, I want to emphasize the conflict between the family. To illustrate the annoying of Amanda rather than any other characters. When I start to think about it, the hardest technical theatre probably will be lighting. First of all, due to the various terms in the lighting, different lights had different names. It’s hard for me to differentiate the types of lighting. For example, there is floodlights, soft lights, profile spots and beam lights. In focus spots, it has Fresnel spots, PC spots. In profile spots, there is fixed beam profile spots, zoom profile spots. zoom profiles vs. fixed beam profiles, Axial profile spots. As you can see, there is different lighting for specific lights. As a result, it’s very likely to mix all of those names.  Also, in different areas of the stage, there will be different lighting areas. There are many positions that the directors can choose to light, in order to show the role of characters. However, there is still a lot of directions, and positions for the director to illuminate. Lighting director can choose to light from the front, or lighting from the back and sides. Yet, the director can put it up to the top, showing the usual of a play; he can also put it to the bottom so that to show the enormity of the characters. In addition, the director needs to choose the color of the light as well, determining which light works better to emphasize the character’s personality. Plus, the director has to think about the costumes for the character as well, so the lighting color must be suitable and match with the scene and also the color of the costumes. Therefore, lighting for me will be the hardest in the technical theatre. Moreover, props can be hard to decide as well because my playsets in the 1920s, the props can only be in that time period. The telephone that Amanda is using. The radio that is playing in the room. As a result, the director should be familiar with the 1920s’ props and the room designs. However, I was born in 21 century, so I don’t really know what to put. Furthermore, the music for the Glass Menagerie will be hard to define. I, personally, want to have the classic music or the music can connect to the time period. Yet, for a director, I should listen to the music, deciding which music should I use or put on. It’s not good for me just to put the modern music because the realistic I want to convey to the audiences. As a result, I have to hear different music from that time period to ensure the background that is all related.

In every single theatre play, the directors can encounter many difficulties. In my opinion, the obstacle can be the theme is so shallow, so there is no much connections or understanding part for the audiences. Additionally, the theme can be deep, but the directors didn’t use any of the technical theatres to display well to the audiences. For example, the director didn’t put enough efforts in lighting. If The Glass Menagerie happened in black box, the essential problem will be the lighting limited, there is no spotlights that can follow the people. Also, because of the areas of the black box. How narrow the stage is, the props might not be able to fit into the stage. Yet, if it was in the theatre inthe round, there will be no problem like that. However, in theatre in the round, there is no curtain, so the actors couldn’t cover up with the curtain. In normal broadway theatre, the curtain can come down as the crews can move the props or the sets away, yet, in this situation, a blackout is the only way that the scene change can happen in theatre in the round. Audience might get bored when they are waiting in the seats. Ultimately, there is not only advantages of using theatre in the round, but there is also disadvantages of using theatre in the round.