Dude, that’s like, So Meta
By Meryl Juergens, Dramaturg/Assistant Director
Adaptation can take us anywhere along the creative spectrum, from Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera to the quintessential early 2000’s film Ten Things I Hate About You. In the best instances, adaptation not only changes a story, but also builds it up for the better, bringing in new light to unexplored parts of the journey. This is exactly what Aaron Posner has done in writing his play, Stupid F*cking Bird- referred to as a “sort of” adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull. You’ve probably heard of Chekhov, no matter where you stand in terms of theatre appreciation. Born in Tanarog, Russia, in 1860, the man was a practicing medical doctor most of his life, a prolific writer of short stories, and one of the playwrights that helped bring true, compelling realism to the stage in an age where the melodrama was flourishing. Within the canon of theatrical literature, he’s seen by many as a revolutionary of his time. As with most adaptations, fundamental differences exist between The Seagull and Stupid Fucking Bird- or SFB for short. Posner moves the action from 1890’s Russia to contemporary USA (SFB was first produced in 2013), cuts down on length, erases unnecessary
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The Seagull does this, but only to a short extent- there is a small play performed within the play, and there is talk about the relevance of theatre and art to modern life. In contrast, SFB is a veritable motherload of meta. The characters know that they’re characters, and that they happen to be performing for you. They even know that they’re specifically in an adaptation- in our specific production vision, we like to see it as our characters taking the story into their own hands to retell it. The audience see two overlapping worlds: the reality the characters face in the plot of the play, and the constructed reality of a theatrical
In the Heat of the Night It is quite common for award winning books to be transformed into a movie. Readers are sparked with excitement, only to be disappointed by the results. They do not find themselves being able to have the same experience the felt whilst reading the text. They are let down and not satisfied by what the movie produced for them. There are also times when people assume that these films will always be identical to its book version so they refrain from actually reading the book.
When a story becomes popular, there is usually a movie or video adaptation. The movie and story are usually very different from each other in terms of tone or mood but are the same in terms of story and message. The movie can add on to the original story as well to go more in depth about the story or message. This is the case with Kurt Vonnegut’s story,“Harrison Bergeron”. This short story received a short video adaptation about the original story.
The scenes consist of the many techniques mentioned above, there are two main characters are shown and the play is set in contrasting between the past and the present. There are two real locations that are the TV studio and Melbourne hotel, however the interplay of the techniques in the scenes works together to create a wartime setting. The audience awareness is developed through the historical information from each scene. Theatrical devices a re combined to create various features and have a great dramatic impact. The structure promotes the audience to watch the play because the structure of this storyboard is contrasted between the past and present that will attract audience attention, as it is an historical play set between different times.
Good morning, I am going to start with a quote from the book of Romeo and Juliet, from Friar Lawrence: ‘So soon forsaken? young men's love then lies Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes.’ I am talking about Friar Lawrence who is the priest in the play of Romeo and Juliet. I find this character very interesting, firstly because Friar is a wise and very smart but can change personality to a person who is smoking and drinking beer, he is a very strange type of character. The second reason is that he is is able to see into people’s heads and tell what their emotions are just by talking to them.
This play does just that. It looks deeper than just an entertaining night at the theatre it encourages conversation and debate. It forces people to discuss the uncomfortable topics and increases understanding of unfamiliar situations. I watched the audience cringe and become uncomfortable, I saw the characters bring us together and tear us apart, but most of all I felt a connection, an understanding with my fellow audience members when we all walked out together still saddens by the events that had taken place. If your are looking for an intriguing night filled with a roller coaster of emotion that leads to a deeper understand of your fellow humans than this is the show for
It is truly fascinating to see how two plays that could have been written in the same century (although the chances are low) by different playwrights differ or have similar traits. It is well known that drama has seemed to grow wherever men have gained the piquing interest to know- the facts, the reasons, and the cause. However, as does men change and evolve, so does drama. So what is the next “new” way to capture an audience and express the feelings locked in every writer 's’ heart? Everyman was written in during the medieval times which means between 5th to 15th century, beginning with the fall of the western Roman Empire to around the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery.
Oxford dictionary defines the word “play” in relation to theatre as “a dramatic composition which is represented or performed in a theatrical performance or film” . Also known as drama, a play is principally meant to be performed on stage rather than be read as it brings a more active form of presentation. It also “provides an extra dimension of dynamism as the readers can visualise the characters enacting the dialogue and action of the play while the audience can see the actors perform live on stage” (Tutorial notes-Unit 1, 2017). As a short story or novel, a play especially tragedy, according to Aristotle (384-322 BC) contained six vital elements. It includes (in order of importance)
In the short story “The Landlady,” by Roald Dahl and the short film, “Tales of the Unexpected” series, Billy Weaver goes to Bath, England where he meets an old landlady. Screenwriters change an author's work because they want to expand their ideas from a book into a movie. In both the story and short film there are many similarities to be found. For example, the story and short film the characters motives are the same.
Every Film Adaptation is Not Necessarily Faithful Throughout history, philosophers wrote thoughtful poems and sophisticated plays; plays sought to challenge the intellectual minds of those who would read them. Inevitably, as time progressed, people found ways to stage the plays for entertainment. When staging the play, whether it would be literal actors reciting lines on a stage or a movie with the reenactment of the play, the director always faces the problem of fidelity of the adaptation and how true their adaptation has to be to the original source. Fidelity in the terms of film refers to the authenticity and familiar similarities an adaptation has to its original source.
What Can “Forrest Gump” (1994) Teach Us About Scriptwriting? Forrest Gump (1994), an American comedy-drama film based on the novel by Winston Groom, with the screenplay adapted by Eric Roth, tells the story of a mentally disabled and very kind-hearted child that comes to lead an extraordinary life. The movie revolves around the irony that the protagonist, Forrest Gump, even though the most simple-minded character in the film, becomes the most successful, as his talents involve him in US history's most prominent historical events between the 50's and 80's. The storyline is very character-driven and resembles a ‘vignette into one's life' as opposed to having a traditional story structure. This is seen through the feather motif and the well-known
This creates an initial interest in the audience, but Arthur Miller has to continue to add new and exciting material to keep the audience interested. The author takes an authorial intrusion to better
“Imagination no longer has a function”, says Emile Zola in his essay, ‘Naturalism in the Theatre’. Many of the ideas which Zola has discussed in this essay have been taken up by modern theatre, both in theory and practice. Modern theatre, for instance, is aware of the fact that analysis and not synthesis should be the basis for theatrical production. It is with this theory at the back of his mind that Bertolt Brecht has discussed theatre’s role as an educator only if the elements associated with spectacle are removed from theatre.
The film then goes on to ridicule hollywood, as “there is no business like it.” One gets to choose each and every detail, right down to the type of kitten used in a terrorist scene. The is shows how lush, gaudy and medaling the life of a hollywood correspondent can be. The writers of the film, purposely mock hollywood through Stanley Motts as he is a producer who “(wants) the credit.” He is willing to “play with his life” just to be recognised.
To add on, some people might say “theater is not a necessity in life”. So what? Theater just gets taken away, which is too heartbreaking to understand when it’s not within people’s grasps. Theater might not be an essential for survival, but the importance of this argument is that it can improve in the educational system. And isn’t that what it is all about?