wordwhacker

I usually like to post before we have any class discussion on a play, since talking about it usually makes me feel like anything I say about it afterward is just repeating the juicier bits of the class discussion. I'm pretty much running aground. Drats. I'd like to have *something* of significance to say, but let's face it, this week is a trainwreck of papers and last minute fumblings.

So maybe I'll just dedicate today to reading others' blogs and, hopefully, compiling yet another edition of the "LOL Blog" awards.

This one gets an honourable mention, because I can relate:

I will stop for now and work on various essays, all of which will contribute to my eventual nervous breakdown.

This whole entry is awesome and raging and generally entertaining, but this sentence completely cracked me up:

People arguing with Littlejohn about how religion is meaningless or worthless and going on about how they only have religious experiences when they climb to the tops of hills. They are having a hard time applying religious theory to their hill climbing escapades or whatever the hell the topic is that week.

And here we have the heart of the matter with School for Scandal:

Also, it’s probably worth mentioning that Maria is the most boring character in the play, which must, by process of elimination, make her the most pure.

(I'm at work right now, but once I'm home tonight I'll update with some highlights for the paper that was handed in on this play.)

[EDIT:] Phew! Finally:

The School for Scandal was written in the later years of the theatre's reign, a full forty years after the Licensing Act of 1737 that eliminated political satire and moved Drury Lane, as a "legitimate" theatre, to produce mostly Elizabethan classics . The play is comparable to the "comedy of manners" after Jeremy Collier's written affront on the lewdness of the stage in 1698 . The play is set in homes, foyers, picture rooms and libraries, all relatively intimate and domestic locations; the comedy is derived largely from Sheridan's wit and the play's "screen scene" which plays on the deception of various characters as others are hidden in the room. It is difficult to conceive of this kind of intimate play achieving success in Sheridan's massive rebuilt Drury Lane theatre in the 1790's. Indeed, Drury Lane in the 1800's moved to a more "spectacle-driven" performance.

The choice to create a "theatre in a box" for this oral presentation came from an interest in examining and attempting to reproduce – to some extent, at least – the production values that existed in the second incarnation of Drury Lane Theatre. To this end, wings were employed and used to enter and exit "actors" from the stage; screens were used to create different back-drops for different scenes. The "backstage" area behind the screen was used to store the "props" and was a waiting area for characters as well. Unfortunately it was impossible to incorporate a proscenium arch into the model theatre, as this would have impacted the ability to manipulate the "marionettes" on-stage. The usefulness of the stage's apron becomes apparent in this presentation, as it significantly increases visibility, especially at wide angles from the stage. The "theatre in a box" could not be constructed to scale, but it should serve as a rough approximation of the stage as seen from the higher galleries.

I'm sad, the term is almost over. I mean, I'm also glad. I'm sglad. You know how it goes.