It was already a small stage, but they also piled musical instruments and projectors and all of that, so I had no idea how a live action play could be done in this venue. I really thought a band concert was later that day so they setup all the equipment not knowing there was going to be a play going on. Then I found out it was going to be puppets, so my first thought was Kermit the frog. I decided to try to keep an open mind, and in fact I was pleasantly surprised.
First off, I really enjoyed their use of music in this play. I thought they creatively used many different percussion instruments and interesting techniques on the big clarinet(not sure if it was a bassoon or what). Their use of volume was also very impressive, giving emotion and a clear narrative to this non-verbal show. In addition to this, the story they showed was very riveting. The creative use of the projectors and puppets added an unexpectedly interesting aspect. Being able to see what was going on essentially behind the scenes made it so their was no dull moments in the show. This held true for me besides the part about the author which I found was not very interesting.
Overall this show was a creative and stimulating story telling experience, and I'm glad I went.
I agree with you on the music part of the play. I thought that the musicians were able to help convey emotion through the music to help the audience understand what's going on. I also appreciated the volume of the music because it made the experience more immersive to the audience.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the music as well. I think they also used unique instruments and the way they were played were unique as well. They created so many sounds that intrigued me to figure out which instrument was playing which, frankly, ended up a bit distracting at times.
ReplyDeleteI've been sitting at my computer now for a few minutes just reading people's reactions to Frankenstein. I've been fascinated by the strange descriptions of this show. All of these posts reminded me of one of the most important aspects of the literature that we've been reading: It's okay to baffle or overwhelm an audience as a means of having them lose themselves in the world and show them a larger purpose. In many of the novels we have read so far this year, the author doesn't not give you information but just gives you parts, broken up like the multimedia presentation of Frankenstein. This makes the audience pay close attention, not knowing quite what will happen next and letting the reader or observer have to stop analyzing everything they are seeing and just experience it. This is so effective when then leading readers to conclusions as the audience is so wanting of more knowledge that just witnessing more of the story is a gift. I'm excited to hear more about this performance of Frankenstein in class and see what elements of storytelling that it incorporated and what we can use from it to analyze literature.
ReplyDeleteThe sound design and music was my favorite part of the play. I think that the tension you could see on the musicians faces in a moment of drama added a new element that I had never experienced before. I also loved that they used the same themes for some characters to add to certain peoples characteristics.
ReplyDelete