- This topic has 2 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 7 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
During the presentation of Antigone, I was multitasking and trying to prep for finals, which means much of the story has left my head. I do however want to comment on the format of the play itself. I was extremely impressed by the translation of the work from a physical theatre production to an online zoom call. This worked much better than I had thought it would, as it managed to be immersive, despite only taking up the small screen of my computer. The captions were a nice addition, and helped me follow along when I heard something interesting. That touch of accessibility made me smile when I noticed it. The performers were so emotive and enthusiastic; when I first joined the call I jumped at the noise. It was impressive to say the least. I loved that the zoom names of the performers correlated with their characters because it created a necessary distinction. Without movement across a stage, costumes, and a physical environment, the characters were reduced to little windows. This makes it harder to be memorable, because unless you are paying strict attention, they are just faces flashing across the screen at their cues. I genuinely enjoyed identifying the characters by their zoom call names. As a whole, the cast commanded attention, even from their respective homes and devices. This production was very well composed and orchestrated; I would have loved seeing it in person.
I agree that I was pleasantly surprised at how much the host stressed turning on the captions and reading the transcript. It’s clear that a lot of meaning went into writing the lyrics of the songs and we were meant to digest them in order to fully understand the significance of Antigone in Ferguson.
Speaking of the performers, I was surprised to see Moses Ingram in the role of Antigone. I just made a blog post recommending The Queen’s Gambit, and Ingram is one of the actresses there too. I especially liked her performance and her way of delivering the lines.
Your point about the lack of movement unfortunately rings true. One of the most interesting parts of a play for me is how the actors make use of the stage, and how one stage gets transformed into many different scenes using props. On top of that, I could see some of the actors reading the script from their computers which brought down the authenticity a bit.Jane, I thought of you during the play when they mentioned Moses Ingram and The Queen’s Gambit. I thought that was perfect timing with your blog post. I watched with my friend who is a big fan of the show so she could also get to see Ingram’s performance. And, Zara, I agree with you; it is harder to pay attention to a play online, whereas if you were in person, you could actually be apart of the experience. The online play made me feel disconnected from the story and it was hard to keep up, even though I was not even doing anything else. The closed captions, however, were a great idea and I’m glad those were apart of the experience!
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
