I need Help for My Humanity Homework!

This week it’s all about performing arts, and that really means trying to see or hear something in performance. I don’t know how many of you will have had the chance to go to the theater and see a play performed live, or a musical, opera or any kind of dance show, but if you haven’t (or can’t), then you will need to revert to the internet for recorded performances. 

First of all, you should think about any performances you have seen in the light of what you have learned about the foundations of the modern theater. Find out about their history, who wrote and/or produced/directed them, and where they have been performed. Next, write a full review (including the factors listed below) of one particular performance you have seen: if you haven’t had the chance to go to a live show, perhaps you have seen a play on TV, or even a movie in which a play is featured (Shakespeare in Love is a good example of this). If you have no prior experience whatsoever, then please watch one of these online examples, or choose one of your own favorite videos:

· Amateur production of Euripides’ “Bacchae”

· Elizabethan theater reconstruction

· Reduced Shakespeare Company: Hamlet

· Live comedy sketch

· Restoration Comedy (atrocious quality, but the content is good!)

· An extract from Wagner’s Lohengrin

· The Lion King (old original stage version!)

· Michael Flatley and Jean Butler in Riverdance

· The Kirov Ballet performing a dance from the Nutcracker Suite

· Some excerpts from a Japanese Kabuki performance in Berlin.

Study Chapters 5-7 of Bishop’s Beginner’s Guide, and then write your review to include the following factors:

1. What genre of performance was it? (for a description of some categories, see Beginner’s Guide, 73, 85-87 and 99)

2. Where did you see it, and what degree of value is attributed to the performance by that venue? (Beginner’s Guide, 69-70) [i.e., does it make a difference if you saw this on Broadway or in your High School hall?]

3. Was the plot convincing, and did it feature all or any of Bishop’s conventions? (Beginner’s Guide, 64) If you are describing a dance performance, was there any indication of a storyline or theme?

4. How much did the theater itself and the staging contribute to the believability of the performance? (Beginner’s Guide, 65)

5. Was there interaction between the actors and the audience? Did the response of the other audience members influence your feelings?

6. Did you enjoy it???

Bishop, P.E. A Beginner’s Guide to the Humanities (3rd Edn.). Upper Saddle River, NJ. Prentice Hall, 2011.