Theatre essays

Henrik Ibsen’s theatre production 'A Doll’s House' is a literary masterpiece that captivates the audience through its complex plot that follows a struggling marriage that is riddled with dishonesty and the main character’s journey to self-discovery and empowerment. The production of 'A Doll’s House' follows the story of a young married couple, Torvald and Nora Helmer, as Nora Helmer struggles to keep the secrets of her past from arising and destroying her perfect life with her family. Nora finds herself...

Imagine yourself sitting in a fairly dark and crowded room. There are hundreds of seats occupied by people around you. A stage lies in front of you, filled with actors, lights, music, and different sound effects to set the mood of the play. A combination of these accommodations has let viewers grasp the performance actors have been portraying. However, it hasn’t always been easy to enjoy these theatrical performances. Times have changed since ancient Athenian theater, however, that’s not to...

Are you planning to watch a movie this weekend? When I think of watching a movie, the first thing that comes to my mind is whether to go to a movie theater or watch it online at home. There is no doubt that watching movies in a cinema has its charm. The big screen, enthusiastic people, wonderful sound, and overall immersive experience are the price you pay. However, there are also some disadvantages, such as spending a lot of money...

If you are a movie crack, at that point, we are certain that you don't miss new blockbuster movies by any possibility. Also, nothing beats the mystery of watching another movie discharge while slumping on a couch with your lady love, or family. Watching HD film online is a way increasingly agreeable and cost-sparing at that point, watching it in a theater. However, there's no uncertainty that some movie cracks despite everything like watching movies more at home than in...

In September 2019, I was on a Greyhound bus from DC heading to New York City for the first time. I remembered the butterflies feeling of excitement in my stomach when I spotted the Big Apple getting closer and bigger with every passing second. “Ding” – an email pops up on my phone notifying me that I have just won a lottery ticket for Tootsie, my very first Broadway musical. My eyes were tearing up because there are no words...

Musicals are a popular form of visual arts with over 11 million people attending a show on broadway last year. They are a performance where people tell a story with the aid of singing, dancing, and acting. Musicals can transport you across the world, you could spend an Arabian night in Agrahba in the musical Aladdin, spend a day under the sea with Ursula the witch in The Little Mermaid or even visit New York in the 1700s when Alexander...

Medieval and Renaissance Theatrical Costumes were directly influenced by the societal economy, religion, and social class. Theater productions and costumes also had a significant impact on society during these periods. During both the Medieval and Renaissance periods costumes were most important in providing information about the story, the character presented and the social status of the actors. Costumes used during theatrical productions of the Medieval and the Renaissance time periods were an integral part of the overall production and created...

Essence of Realism Realism in drama is an artistic movement that started around the 1870s and continued up to the 20th century. The theatre of Realism simply examines the real and common problems of people. In addition, it centers on human manners__ what individuals do and why in certain social contexts. The theatre of Realism in England, during the late 19th century, functioned as a mirror reflecting to the audience and showing the true self of individuals when challenged with...

Musical theater is a way for you to express yourself and show off what you can do. Performing at times can become difficult for some because this field requires you to have a lot of skill and have space to get out of your comfort zone. I had the opportunity to talk to a musical theater instructor that works in this field and her name is Karla Hartley. Hartley told me the reason she chooses this career was because,' The...

This essay intends to discuss my understanding of modernism in theatre in relation to Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. The modernism movement began in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Developments in society particularly western, and the growth of industrial societies along with city growth sparked the onset of modernism. The events that took place during World War I and the horror witnessed by many strengthened the cause. Modernism brought a fresh...

Theatre as a Mirror of Human Existence and Its Evolution “A drama is considered to be all-inclusive. It embraces all types of topics and represents all kinds of natures, as it is intended for all classes of people”. Thus, it is a mirror of human existence intended to be presented on the stage. But as Victor Hugo says, ‘If the mirror is an ordinary one, it produces a poor, faithful but colorless image; it must therefore be a focusing mirror.’(Ramamurti,...

Greek theatre incorporates a wide variety of performance techniques for example mask work, song, exaggerated physicality, and chorus work. Masks were an extremely prominent feature within Greek theatre as they allowed the large audiences to recognize the emotions of the characters making the entire performance understandable and engaging. The masks were used to distinguish sex, age, and social status they also were made with small microphones within the mask which would amplify the actor’s speech allowing vast audiences to hear...

Henrik Johan Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen was a Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is referred to as the 'father of modern drama.' Henrik Ibsen was born in 1828, in Skien, Norway. In 1862, he was exiled to Italy, where he wrote the tragedy “Brand”. In 1868, Ibsen moved to Germany, where he wrote one of his most famous works: the play “A Doll's House”. He was a practitioner of...

This term I had the privilege to take a theatre class, one of the things I am really passionate about. In this paper I am going to talk about 2 plays that were very dear to me, that moved me, and that touched me - Boycott Esther and Be More Chill. Philadelphia-based playwright Emily Acker clearly understands the premise of her new play, “Boycott Esther,” now in a smooth Azuka Theatre world premiere, because she lived it. The Weinstein Co....

Theatre has elements common to movies; scripts, sets, lighting, costumes, production, direction, actors, audiences, and storyboards. With the appearance of films in the early twentieth century, theatre and movies are probably the most innovative and popular forms of making films. In theatre, the act of perception is encountered, and the enjoyment of creativity and presentation, contributes to the making of the play. The most evident differences between theatre and movies are the awareness of performance that just can’t be replicated...

Human life is ultimately purposeless, to cope with this confrontation, we employ an array of distractions, in futile attempts to dispute this harsh truth. The Theatre of the Absurd emerged after World War II and found artists struggling to find meaning amongst man’s self-induced devastation (TED-Ed, 2018). “Waiting For Godot” (1955) is a grim tableau, enshrined as a turning point in the Theatre of the Absurd. Samuel Beckett’s tragi-comedy had the most strikingly profound impact on theatrical productions, commencing the...

Since the very birth of theatre and religion, each institutions has attempted to interpret and give meaning to human existence. Indeed, it is no small leap to contend that they have always been linked, and that, together, they belong to the very roots of Western culture itself. Ancient Greek drama was integral to religious festivals, where the Attic gods were honoured on-stage in both comedy and tragedy alike. Hundreds of years later, Medieval morality plays pitted personifications of good and...

After World War 2 there was a rise in political tension, societal changes and the decline of religious faith. As a result, a theatrical shift took place in which playwrights moved away from the objective aim of realism theatrical approach to explore the subjective attitudes and inner conflict that plagued people following World War 2. Theatre of the Absurd arose from the existentialist philosophy, with the purpose of exposing the lack of meaning in the everyday life of the society...

Shakespeare is known for his remarkable plays and is often regarded as one of the greatest playwrights of his time as well as today. Enclosed in his anthology of historical plays, he referred to many historical documents to gather the information he needed. But in reality, Shakespeare dramatized many of these historical events, which also included the addition of certain fictitious events, scenes, and dialogues as well as the removal of certain historical accounts to add a greater dramatic effect...

“‘I am too intelligent, too demanding, and too resourceful for anyone to be able to take charge of me entirely. No one knows me or loves me completely. I have only myself’ -Simone de Beauvoir” (Good Reads). In the play, “A Doll’s House” by Hendrik Ibsen, main character Nora seems to have felt exactly this way when she decided to leave behind her husband, children, and while family to go start her own life. “A Doll’s House” starts out with...

Realism is a literary movement (1865 -1915), aimed to reflect the reality in literature, most of writers in this period were not romantics or transcendentalists, they are realists. This period was very cruel and unforgiving anyone because of the influence of the civil war. Thus, people were pessimist about their future, so the idealism of the romantics and philosophy of transcendentalists became old and unrelated to many readers. Henrik Ibsen was one of the realist writers, he referred to the...

Realism is defined as a literary and intellectual movement began in France in the 1850s, rejected Romanticism, try to portray contemporary subjects as in its truth and accuracy. Poets and novelists changed the traditional style of literary works based on imagination and metaphors to study life with its real events and people with their daily problems by recording what they see around them. The realist writer shows in their works all the details of ordinary life as if it depicts...

Realism appeared in the last half of the 19th century as an experiment to make theater more useful to society. It is often used in literary works that represent the lives of middle-class people especially after world war. It is not like romanticism or idealism because writers and readers suffered of the same issues, so the realistic works based on real elements to simulate readers, such as using characters with normal features and known names with limited abilities living in...

Realism is a literary movement that occurred in 20th century, focused on the events that happened in this period. Some writers consider it as reaction against Romanticism which was focused more on imagination because it is formed from factors resulting from world wars, so realism reflects the real life of the society, and discusses the present issues not in the past or fantasy. Realistic literary works focused more on the characters than the plot to be similar to normal people’...

In literature, realism movement started around (1865- 1914), emerged in France. It is a literary and intellectual movement aimed to describe reality in literary works, it tends to present elements of the story accurately, such as: setting, characters, themes, etc., to make them realistic without any reference to fiction such as Imagination or figurative language. Also, realism movement is considered the opposite of romanticism and idealism because it shows lives of people with all their flaws and tragedies, especially because...

The Term 'Realism' was appeared in the 1850s includes works about working class life, ordinary people and their activities. It is used to represent events, actions, and characters as they actually are. Realism in literature is considered opposites to idealization or romanticism, it aims to get people aware of the social condition of the lower class, because no one talks about the situation of low class and their problems. Thus, literature is the only means that helps them to overcome...

Henrik Ibsen mainly expresses the theme of Power in his novel: A Doll’s House. This novel was written in the 19th century, and the story was set in Norway. The purpose of choosing this setting is a women’s place in society. Men were the ones who have the power and not the wives. Henrik Ibsen portrayed this problem by concocting a metaphoric story about it. However, the female characters, in A Doll’s House, were the ones who actually have the...

Introduction to Symbolism in A Doll's House Ibsen's life and inspirations, along with the context of his writing during the 1800s was summarised during the Interactive Oral. Initially, I was only aware of the unequal treatment of women in terms of occupation restrictions. However, through learning about the domineering position by men over women in a traditional marriage during the 1800s, I now understand why the public outcry for A Doll's House and its push for censorship was so significant....

A Doll’s House, written by Henrik Ibsen, demonstrates the repressed life of women in the 19th century. Nora faced many challenges throughout the play that made her come to terms with the awful life she had been living ever since she was a child. In order to fix the problem, Nora decided to leave her family to start a new life instead of commiting suicide. The is a big step and possibly a huge mistake. She has to take into...

A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen highlights on the 'moral laws' of the two individuals in the overall population during this time. Strikingly, Ibsen made the play in the nineteenth century, a period overpowered by sexual direction irregularity whereby women were dynamically presented to moment employments in the overall population (Ghafourinia, Fatemeh and Jamili, Leila). The maker moderate partner agrees that women in the system had occupations to fulfill yet did not disregard to highlight that they should be proportionate...