King Lear (1 Viewer)

[Elyse]

I'm sooo confused about king lear. are we suposed to study a specific theory, or general. we've been doing it generally. We're doing
Feminist theory
Marxist
psychoanalytical
king james 1 reading
and studying chaos in general.

is this what your schools are doing, or are you studying like a Peter Brooks production for his interpretation for example?

 

[Milly]

Okay... this is what we've been told at our school...

I think the main point is that we're meant to be able to talk about how the play is received in different contexts which is why you learn about readings like feminist, Marxist, yada yada... Our school did the feminist, new historicist and family drama readings.

We were told that you don't have to refer to previous productions like Peter Brook's (although we did watch them in class, and I assume the name-dropping would sound impressive), but you should be able to talk about how the different values can be shown through production techniques. It doesn't matter whether these techniques have already been used eg. in Brook, or are your own ideas. You can make up your own ideas for how to stage the play, as long as you can link them back to the values of the interpretation that you're talking about.

The way I've been structuring everything in my head is first to try and understand how the different readings pick up on different themes in the play, and then having a technique or two that I can whip out as an example. I think it's also good to be able to compare and contrast the different interpretations, eg. a very traditional interpretation would show Gonerill, Regan and Edmond in a very bad light, whereas a family drama interpretation would not necessarily condone their actions, but at least try and pick up on the reasons why they might have done such cruel things (eg. the bitterness they've felt about their fathers' favouritism towards their siblings, etc.) and level the playing field somewhat.

Hope that helps!!

 

[Weisy]

and furthermore...

tagtailing Mil's brilliant explanation...

you would then look at the fact that traditional and family drama interpretations view Edmond, Goneril and Regan's actions differently, and find different ways of bringing these views out in performance.

eg. - a family drama production could utilise a black box performing space and a colourful directional lighting tehnique to bringout both the intimacy and the emotion which comes through when the play is considered a story about family relationships. This emotion provides justification for the character's actions - ie. Goneril may be seen as disrespectful in a traditional reading because she chides her father, but in a family drama context we consider alternaTIVE explanations/justifications such as the fact that she is loved less than Cordelia by her father. Simple lighting on a particular character, especially on a bare stage is an extremely powerful and emotive tool. ie. green is traditionally associated with envy, crimson with love, bloodshed, anger and passion. Black box is intimate, which allows the audience to scrutinise and develop a more personla relationship with the actors.

As Milly says, it is all about how the many different ways people may view a text, be that in their own interpretation, or through a secondary viewing of someone else's through a production. Hence the readings, etc. are important, but shouldbe only the basis for ideas, and only a part of your overall study.

Weisy

 

[Milly]

Re: and furthermore...

Originally posted by Weisy
tagtailing Mil's brilliant explanation...

Haha... was that supposed to be ironic?

*LOL* AlternaTIVE Mr M would be proud.

 

[Arch-man]

We're been told to look at it like this:

Text - Context - Reception

Text = King Lear
Context = Context in which the production has been made
Reception = What effect is it meant to have on the audience (ie message, meanings, etc.)

 

[Morgues]

Re: and furthermore...

Originally posted by Weisy
tagtailing Mil's brilliant explanation...

you would then look at the fact that traditional and family drama interpretations view Edmond, Goneril and Regan's actions differently, and find different ways of bringing these views out in performance.

eg. - a family drama production could utilise a black box performing space and a colourful directional lighting tehnique to bringout both the intimacy and the emotion which comes through when the play is considered a story about family relationships. This emotion provides justification for the character's actions - ie. Goneril may be seen as disrespectful in a traditional reading because she chides her father, but in a family drama context we consider alternaTIVE explanations/justifications such as the fact that she is loved less than Cordelia by her father. Simple lighting on a particular character, especially on a bare stage is an extremely powerful and emotive tool. ie. green is traditionally associated with envy, crimson with love, bloodshed, anger and passion. Black box is intimate, which allows the audience to scrutinise and develop a more personla relationship with the actors.

As Milly says, it is all about how the many different ways people may view a text, be that in their own interpretation, or through a secondary viewing of someone else's through a production. Hence the readings, etc. are important, but shouldbe only the basis for ideas, and only a part of your overall study.

Weisy

where can we learn techniques like this? thats brilliant

 

[michellopi]

KING LEAR
In the trial i got 19/20 for and essay where the question was:

"Every director brings a different interpretation to King Lear" - Examine how TWO directors do this, with specific reference to power and abuse."

This is the checklist i use in general...


*Analyse three key scenes, (Usually good to track one charicter and have scenes from beginning middle and end, with detailed knowledge of one speech from each scene) with specific attention to language features (metaphors, similies) and then look at those scenes, with a "Directors view" and get at least 2 different types of shots to compare that correspond with your language features, *****if a question says "HOW" ****

E.G In Act one, Scene i, Lear uses the metaphor "To shake all cares and buisness from our age, conferring them on younger strenghs", this emphasises that he is ready to give up the throne to his three daughters, he even uses the hyperbolic "Old weak and infirm" to demonstrate how he percieves himself. (LEAR Interpretation one - ) In Peter Brook's - 1971 film adaptation, lear is filmed at a slightly upward angle to portray his dominance. ..

etc, you can also comment on costume music and casting

*Introduce the interpretation that the director(s) has used (Whatever siuts you) , and use the language features and film techniques to back up your argument.

eg, COrdelias aside speech, the rhetorical question "What, shall cordelia speak? Love and Be silent" is omitted from Brook's production to portray her as proud and thus reinforce the idea of an Aristotelian tragedy by showing COrdelias "Hubris" or charicter flaw, in this case in the form of excessive pride. Lear is filmed as dominant and overbeaing by the lack of sound and the huge coat he is wearing that tower over him. This shows Brook is directing an aristotelian tragedy as it shows a sense of great order, epitomised by the ironic "That furture strife may be prevented now", which obvioulst later goes into a state of chaos.

*Dont forget to incorporate the question, for example in this test, the emphasis was on power, so i talked about things like how it can corrupt, and how the loss of it can be devistating, etc. Heaps of people last year went into the HSC with a prepared answer and it did not go down well.

*Dont forget to minimise the amount of retelling the story, only say what is relevant to the scenes, and specifically speeches you are referring to, however, a detailed knowledge of the plot is essential. (It IS a critical study of text)

*Add your own perspective to the text, and have an idea of how you would direct it, the example given above is excellent.

 

[Weisy]

*pokes milly back*

I did alternaTIVE just for you...

why does everyone think I use subconscious irony?

I think we could all use a little of michellopi's very sound advice. It is sometimes very easy to forget to consider the whole picture when asked to critically study a text.

Weisy