discussion-WedOct26

Discussion questions for Wednesday, October 26

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 * 1) Mordecai Gorelik begins his "Pictures and Platforms" chapter of //New Theatres for Old// by describing two very different types of stage productions. First, he shows us a familiar type of Broadway social problem play in which a run-down New York tenement is recreated (down to its mudstained curbs) through a stage set that is rich in its exact, accurate, and comprehensive detail. Then, just down the street, he shows us a performance of a traditional Chinese opera in which almost no attention is paid to the stage set, and in which make-up, costume, and props mean what they mean through accepted conventions rather than through illusion ("a fantastic richness unrelated to historic accuracy or reality" (49)). And he asks: "What becomes of our accepted beliefs about stage production as we watch this performance?" (50). Well? We're waiting?
 * 1) Gorelik builds his argument around a key distinction between what he calls "illusory" and "conventional" approaches to the theater. Where, in these terms (be sure to define each, briefly), would you categorize the three plays we've looked at so far: //Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992//, //How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying//, and //The Haunted House//? (It might help to keep in mind, as Gorelik does, that "in practice it is not possible to sort out these two methods so easily" (56))?