How Effectively Did the Social, Cultural, Historical, Political Context of This Piece Communicate to the Audience?

A short play is usually filled with a theatrical energy of diverse anthologies. The time allotted may be only ten or fifteen minutes, so it must be able to capture and engage the audience with some dramatic tension, exciting action, or witty humor. Just as in a short story, a great deal of the explanation and background is left for the reader or viewer to discover on their own. Because all the details are not explicitly stated, each viewer interprets the action in their own way and each experience is unique from someone else viewing the same play. Conflict is the main aspect that drives any work of literature, and plays usually consist of some form of conflict. In “Playwriting 101:

Brecht’s political theatre stems from his political views towards communism and the upper class society. Theatre that comments on political issues within society. Brecht began to have a dislike for the capitalist society he was brought up in and wanted more of an equal approach to the world and the people around him. With epic theatre, Brecht wanted it to be both didactic (able to teach others) and dialectic (able to create discussions and ideas). The audience at no time during an epic play can be seen to be in a trance or take what they see on stage for granted. Our performance is reflective of Brecht and his Epic and Political theatre as we address many political topics such as Marxism and the divides between classes and the corruption of the government. We have props such as protest signs and banners to communicate Brecht’s political theatre to the audience. In the first episode, Brown’s Boys, there is a scene where MPs choke and die after ignoring the recession and protesters emerge into the audience chanting that ‘politics is dead’ and ‘they don’t really care about us’ while holding banners saying, ‘politics is dead’ and ‘Gordon Clown’. This was done as it represented politics and the fact the seriousness of the situation was ignored; showing how quickly the issues with the recession spiralled out of control and became something that even the higher up in society were unable

Specific indicators of insanity tend to be partially blurred; therefore, the reasoning behind an admission into a mental hospital is also not

The Insanity defense is mentioned as confusing to the psychiatric and legal concept. Furthermore, it is explained that the word “insane” is more of a legal word, then a medical term, and therefor to prove a person or a criminal insane, one must find the mental condition, of a criminal, severely impaired to the point of losing one’s free will. A psychiatrist may be or may not able to determine such illness, and a jury’s decision solely based on a psychiatrists’ opinion may be grounded on unreliable evidence. Retrieved from; West's Encyclopedia of American Law, edition 2 (2008).

The word insane is a legal term. Because research has identified many different mental illnesses of varying severities, it is now too simplistic to describe a severely mentally ill person merely as insane. The federal law states that insanity is a fair defense if " at the time of the commission of the acts constituting the offense, the defendants as a result of sever mental disease or defect was unable to appreciate the nature and quality of the wrongfulness of his acts"(Knowles). The American

(Asokan) When the someone’s mind become so distorted that they could not could not understand the crime they have committed, they would be declared insanity and not be held accountable for the crime they have committed. A mental disease alone is not enough to get the insanity defense to work. There must be proof of the mental disease manifesting itself so much that it affects the mind, emotions, and behavior. The actual term “insanity or insane” is not a medical term. It is more of a legal term to describe the state someone was in when involved in a crime. Justice Tracy, a 13th century judge in King Edward’s court, first formulated the foundation of an insanity defense when he instructed the jury that it must acquit by reason of insanity. (Asokan) With the Wild Beast Test as the first test to determine if someone was declared insane, the jury were left to determine if the person on trial understood their actions no better than a baby or a wild beast. If someone were ever found to meet this limitation, they would never be accountable for what they have done. As time progressed the case of R vs Madfield came about. In this case the Good and Evil Test was created. Instead of the traditional “wild

"Nowadays the plays' meaning is usually blurred by the fact that the actor plays to the audiences hearts. The figures portrayed are foisted on the audience and are falsified in the process. Contrary to present custom they ought to be presented quite coldly, classically and objectively. For they are not matter for empathy; they are there to be understood and politely added

In the article On Being Sane in Insane Places, the problem is trying to figure out if sane people can be distinguished from the insane and what is or is not normal. This article talks about an experiment that was done to see if sane people were detected from the insane or not and how it was conducted. It states that “normality is distinct enough that it can be recognized wherever it occurs, for it is carried within a person.” This article will prove if this theory is correct or not and how the information for the answer was gathered.

shall firstly do a summery of the play and give a basic image of what

The director sets up scenery that resonates well with the context of the play. The lighting also fits with the play as it brings out the themes clearly. Also, the costumes used, helps to reflect the time during which the play was developed, thus bringing the information about the historical context of the play.

“To some extent insanity is a form of conformity; people are always selling the idea that people who have mental illness are suffering. But it’s really not so simple…I think mental illness or madness can be an escape also” (qtd. in “John Forbes Nash”). To many “normal” people, the terms “insanity” or “madness” portray a negative connotation-- the unfortunate ones “suffer” from mental illness. However, brilliant mathematician and Nobel laureate John Forbes Nash, who has paranoid schizophrenia, cherishes his unique condition as a means of retreat from the brutalities of reality (“John Forbes Nash”). Since ancient times, people have observed the link between madness and creative genius. Indeed, research has proven that the two conditions of

Theme – the reason behind why the playwright wrote the play. “Patterns of life”, a slice of reality.

For this project I began by researching the term concept musicals. On many websites there seemed to be controversy as to what exactly this form of theater was. Although there are many variations, all sources seem to accept that concept musicals distracted from the narrative and don’t promote the plot. Also, there were sources that didn't believe Harold prince was the true founder of concept musicals and that he rather found inspiration from other directors such as Bertolt Brecht. Focusing on the theory, I found it important to know the types of musicals. This was because with the ability to compare and contrast these forms I would be able to truly understand what made this

The project that I am analysing is Project 3: Contempory Music Theatre. This project detailed that we create and perform “a piece of contemporary music theatre which will utilize live performance skills across the different media of the genre.” (BAPA Level 4, 2016) The devised performance should be based on making something ordinary, extraordinary by using the different aspects of Contempory Music Theatre. I will focus on analysing how my duo used improvisation and collaboration to create our piece effectively and how professional practitioners use these creative devices.

The topioc that I want to learn more about during this project is the process of stagecraft. Stagecraft includes constructing and rigging scenery, hanging and focusing of lighting, design and procurement of costumes, makeup, procurement of props, stage management, and recording and mixing of sound. So what I want to learn is both the process in how they decide what they will be constucting and how they accutually make it. I decided on this because I believe if the play's stage looks like where they are suppose to be more and more both the actors and the audience will be more immerse themselves into the play. I will be focusing more on plays that center around