How actual productions should be used in the essay (1 Viewer)

[Tim035]

I've seen a lot of essays under the resources section of this site devoting up to a whole A4 typed page in explaining how a spefific production eg Peter Brooks present King Lear and the speific themes/values raised in that Spefific Production.

The way our class was taught King Lear however was that you should concentrate on your own reading of the play as well as two other readings and mention other productions in a consise manner to simply support or contrast the reading.

How should specific productions of King Lear be used in an essay.. I so worried atm that I'm going to have to re-write my entire KL essay as well as establish and write my history and memory essay...

 

[*Fox*]

Other productions of King Lear should be used to support, or as an alternative for your view. E.g. you can say that you think the portrayal of Lear in the Richard Eyre production was closest to your view, whereas the Lear in Brooks' production was too cold and emotionless. The other productions should NEVER be used instead of having your own view. Also remember that these are only versions of the original text, and the original text (the cambridge script) must be referred to.

 

[Tim035]

Well I guess thats a bit comforting....
I'm still concerned though because all the standard package band 5/6 responces on the board of studies website go into a fair bit of detail on actual productions. And EVERY production I look at off resources goes into a lot more detail then I do in my essay in talking about HOW lots of different producers protrayed scenes in king lear, refering to specific camera angles, costumes and lighting they used.

I for example just say things like "Similar to Peter Brook's production in which King Lear is portrayed as angry and unheroic, a psychological interpretation would........."

 

[passion89]

In my class, we didn't do any productions. All we focused on were readings. A couple of weeks before the holidays I asked my teacher whether it was compulsory to have productions and she said no. Is this right?

 

[Ennaybur]

err pretty sure u need to do SOMEONE else's interp ..

hate dodgy teachers

 

[Tim035]

The funny thing is if you look at the actual syllabus dot points for this module they state how it COULD be realised in POSSIBLE productions.

 

[kami]

In my class, we didn't do any productions. All we focused on were readings. A couple of weeks before the holidays I asked my teacher whether it was compulsory to have productions and she said no. Is this right?

From what I recall you should be reffering to around two readings and productions in your response unless you are told otherwise.

As for how to use them, I did so in a manner similar to what LottoX outlines above - the core was direct analysis of King Lear with reference to the interpretations of various productions and the critical theories that support them.

 

[*Fox*]

Yes you can go into camera angles etc.. because they can show how the productions you are talking about support or contrast with your view. e.g. if you are saying that Cordelia is just as stubborn as Lear you could say that the production directed by richard eyre (sorry, favourite production so I always use it as an example) shows this by having Cordelia and Lear staring eachother down in act one scene one. I would say go into as much detail as you need with the productions in order to prove the point you are trying to make, just don't write your whole essay about them. For people like me who are not gifted with fast (legible) writing, I would say mention the other productions as briefly as you can while you are still getting your point across but without wasting time on them.

Personally I was told to talk about my own interpretation of the text whether the question mentions it or not,.

As for readings vs. productions. I always prefer productions, but all you will be asked for is an 'interpretation' of the text, and a reading is that. The freudian reading is a way of interpreting the play, just the same as a film version is. The only thing is that with readings you can't talk about techniques... and it's hard to end up with your own opinion which is not just copying one of the readings.. or that's what i found.

 

[moo_moo_molly]

OUr teacher didn't really go into productions either... He gave us some hand-outs on the Richard Eyre production but that was about it and we watched one of the movie productions. I don't know who it was done by though...