It’s the end of the semester already, and boy has the time flown by.
This class has introduced me to a world beyond our own, to a world of film and culture and diversity.
The performances ranged from extremely interesting to extremely boring. Like the gradients we did in the hall, that’s how the performances went-they all have their position on the gradient scale.
The three performances from tech day were by far the most impacting and emotional. Although we were supposed to choose only one performance that impacted us the most, I really group these three together because of their length and presentation.
It all started with the Indian Wants the Bronx-our very first performance. And what an experience it was. It was a really great play. The actors were all amazing, and they were all very enthusiastic about their parts in the play. As I watched the play, there were so many questions floating around in my head, and I couldn’t answer a single one. Where was the man’s son? Where were they that no one was around? Would it have mattered if anyone was around? Why were they mistreating that poor Indian man? The play showed the negative effects of boredom and peer pressure. When given plenty of time and nothing to do, humans tend to become destructive, to themselves, their surrounding, and in this case to another human being. The barbary of Murph and Joey shows the destruction and corruption of the human mind when reduced to boredom. It also shows the negative way in which Murph pressured Joey into mistreating the Indian and the way that Joey grew accustomed to the maltreatment and continued it on his own. This play, as well as the other two that day showed the cruel savagery of the human race.
The second play that day was What Strong Fences Make, and what strong fences don’t make is sense. Just kidding. Kind of. At the beginning of the play, I didn’t really understand it, but that seemed to be the theme of the three plays. To question the plot, the characters, and everything. There was a sense of the unknown in each play, and a sense of curiosity that filled the viewers as we watched. After each play everything started to make more sense. In this specific play, the two men had been childhood friends, and now Itzhak was a suicide bomber, ready to kill his old friend, Uri, in order to avenge the death of his children. That was so powerful and emotional, that it really intrigued me. Although the sound in the theater wasn’t the best quality, and I original disliked the play very much, looking back on it, it was definitely one of the most appealing to watch.
Beirut Rocks, like the others, wasn’t a very long play, and there wasn’t much to it, but the message behind it was powerful. This performance impacted me the most because of the harsh realities it presented. There were many ethnic and racial issues and prejudices presented. During wartime, it is common for people to begin developing extremely ethnocentric views and to demean other cultural groups. The Jewish group was put down by the Muslim girl, Nasa, who threatened to burn down Benji’s house. Nasa was then accused of concealing a bomb under her clothing and was violated in clear view of men, which was very sacrilegious to her and went against all her values.
I group these three plays together because of their relation to each other and the common themes they share. The three performances highlight the way people crack under pressure and begin to act differently than they would normally act. In all three plays, the characters are presented with conflicts, and because they are unsure how to solve them, they resort to methods that, to a sane person outside the situation, would deem crazy.
Now, although I wouldn’t say we really saw any BAD performances, but I believe that the least successful performance was definitely Ralph Lemon’s. The piece was at first, very confusing and not a single person could make sense of it. Unless every viewer got to meet Ralph Lemon and hear his ideas and reasons after watching the performance, then the performance was a complete and utter failure.
The performance was full of strange movements, useless words, and confusing ideas. What was the point, really? After talking to Ralph Lemon, we found out that there was no point-it was all an experiment. Well, I guess he got his results…they probably weren’t the ones he wanted though, because everyone hated it after seeing it.
However, at this point, I really want to say that this piece also comments on the same theme as the three Israel Horowitz plays: the human mind and how it works. Ralph Lemon’s piece tries to show the audience a new way of thinking, an alternative, different way to look at something. But we don’t know what that something is. There are just too many downsides to his “experiment” to have made viewing his piece really enjoyable.
