different reading in production---KING LEAR (1 Viewer)

[salpal]

our school has only been focussing on interpretations on KL. the hypothetical ones such as marxist, feminist, freudian......
but looking at peoples comments on this module i decided to watch a video on a production of KL to possibly improve my essay.
the only one available for me to watch was RICHARD EYRE'S BBC production.
my problem is that normally this would be viewed under a family drama type of interpretation, however, i need to try and relate this to a feminist interpretation (because that is the one i am most familiar with, along with the aristotelian reading). ive jotted down some points from the scenes that i watched that may illustrate that it could possibly be a feminist production.......

would it matter if i wrote it under the context of a feminist interpretation, even though it is mostly known as a family drama?

please answer....im stressed because i am unsure about king lear and i am scared......

 

[kieransgirl]

hmmm well u can write it up as anything u want as long as u have enough dramatic techniques in it to prove it. for example if the women appear strong and equal or better than men, u may be able to do it as a feminist production.
however, since u helped me ill help you out. peter brookes production is a feminist one. in act 1 scene 4 i think it is (was that when he goes to gonerils house?) he played up the unruliness of lears men so that it made goneril more justified in sending him out. it also made lear seem more crazy and uncontrollable to make it look like he was unfit to run the kingdom. i hope i helped :

 

[Leap]

The thing is, you don't necessarily have to talk about a production of King Lear - you don't need to know the BBC production if its too hard to relate it back to what you are familiar with.
In the exam, you can write about productions which you have seen, or which you have imagined. So instead of struggling to realate a feminist interpretation to the BBC production, it would probably be easier to imagine and make up your own feminist interpretation. Make notes on what sort of costuming, staging, lighting etc would be used in a feminist production.

 

[*~Dazed~*]

do we need to know interpretations/readings because we havent exactly learnt that.... we focused more on productions and themes..... so now im confused....

 

[Leap]

Yeah it is very confusing,
As far as I know, you should know
- 2 different productions and 2 scenes from those productions (explaining techniques such as costuming, lighting etc and how the director has interpreted this)
OR
- know 2 readings and have made up 2 scenes for each which would appear in a production that uses those readings. (Essentially, that is making up your own production to suit a reading).
This would mean, for example, instead of saying, "The 2003 bondi pavillion prduction of King Lear was a feminist production because..." and listing how that production lends itself to a feminist reading through costumes etc - instead of that you could make up your own saying, "In a contemporary feminist production, a director might choose to dress Goneril and Regan in cocktail dresses and stiletto heels..blah blah blah" (you can do this because the rubric says that the productions you have seen can be real or imagined )

Does that make sense?

do we need to know interpretations/readings because we havent exactly learnt that....

If you're talking about productions you have seen, then those are interpretations, because it is the director's interpretation of the play.
However, you do not necessarily have to link that interpretation to a specific reading. i.e in the example I used above, you do not have to say that the Bondi Pavillion production was a feminist production, (or had elements of feminism). However, I think you'd probably get more marks if you did.

 

[*~Dazed~*]

OMG THANK YOU leap! that clears up a lot!!!!!!
so when im talking about the productions i should just add some bullshit how its feminist or nihilistic or something? because at the moment i dont have that...

does it matter if its just mentioned really breifly (the 'reading' that is...) while im talking about costuming and shit... because i know some people who are fully focusing their entire essay on feminist or marxist or whatever

yeah im doing 2 productions in detail and mentioning another one through it.... hmm thats ok then.... i guess you could say that bondi was feminist in a way....
sorry im just thinking aloud..
ok thank you leap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ballerinabarbie]

yeah what i'm doing is talking about readings (aristotelian, family drama and communist) and relating each of these to particular productions (brooks, eyre/galvin- u wouldn't know it and kozintsev) but then also maybe adding in my own ideas on how particular scenes etc. could be staged

should i be referring to particular scenes to get a better mark??

 

[Leap]

should i be referring to particular scenes to get a better mark??

Probably, because it would show that you had in-depth knowledge of the play. You have to include quotes as well.
My teacher said to know 2 scenes for each production, but when I rang the HSC advice line the woman there said you shold prepare 4 incidents for each production. I'm assuming an 'incident' is not an entire scene though - more like an interpretation of 1 section or speech, i.e how Edmund's soliloquy is staged.

so when im talking about the productions i should just add some bullshit how its feminist or nihilistic or something? because at the moment i dont have that...

Yeah just throw it in somewhere, so long as you can justify it.

does it matter if its just mentioned really breifly (the 'reading' that is...) while im talking about costuming and shit... because i know some people who are fully focusing their entire essay on feminist or marxist or whatever

Either way is fine, as far as I know.

 

[Lundy]

I'm using one actual production (bondi) and one I've made up myself, to kind of say that "bondi did this but in order to emphasise the feminist reading in scene/character X more, another production might represent X in this way, etc etc"

Is that ok?