sando
HSC IS EVIL
- Joined
- Oct 31, 2005
- Messages
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- HSC
- 2006
Thanks actors for gathering here today. I just called this short meeting to explain to you my interpretation of the play King Lear and how I wish you to perform it.
A central theme that can be found in the play King Lear is political authority. In my interpretation the play will focus on how chaos is created when authority is disregarded or given away as King Lear has. My personal interpretation can be strongly compared with that of a power struggle view, as used by….
When King Lear gives away his authority, all control in Britain is lost and there is anarchy. Every character is fighting for their own power, which leads to disputes ending in gruesome death.
My interpretation will emphasise the struggle for power in the royal family, and visually show, how, not one character, has seized power for the entire play. Abuse and misuse of authority are the key reasons behind the failure and downfall of many characters.
Ok, actors, I’d like all of you to turn to Act 3, Scene 7 in your copies of King Lear.
The setting will take place in a relatively empty, dark, predominantly black, depressing room, only filled with a table and chairs and dimly lighted to create a bleak emotion.
Scene 7 is the start of heated discussions between Cornwall, Regan, Gonerill, and Edmund, trying to decide what to do with Gloucester. Even this can be looked as a power struggle, with each character pushing for their idea to be used, but ultimately seeking strength over someone else. Cornwall actually uses Gonerill’s idea of “pluck out his eyes”, which could question Cornwall’s loyalty to Regan, or that Gonerill holds greater influence over Cornwall.
Cornwall would dress in silver royal gowns giving an impression of high class.
Gonerill would be taller in height than Albany to assert that for the majority of the play she possesses greater power and influence.
Regan would dress in emerald green to forecast her with envy of Gonerill leaving with Edmund.
Oswald would be an insignificant character and talk with no confidence to show that he has no power over anyone in the room.
Gloucester would dress in white rags, with the white colour conveying his innocence
Servants---
Although scene 7 is filled with bloody onstage violence, my interpretation would focus more on what each actor is saying rather than their actions. This is because authority and power, or lack of it, is also strongly displayed through each word spoken.
Betrayal is a motif, appearing several times in the play. Betrayal shows the wickedness in the political realms. The social order is inverted; the young now have greater power and are cruel to the elderly.
Cornwall does not have the authority to kill Gloucester but he ignores this factor and says “Our power shall do a curtsy to our wrath, which men may blame but no control”. Because the dramatic and vivid effects of violence are taken out of my play, I need Cornwall to speak this line so viciously and hastily that it makes the audience gasp with trauma. This will evidently add to Cornwall’s authority and makes him the dominant male in the room over the weak Gloucester.
A central theme that can be found in the play King Lear is political authority. In my interpretation the play will focus on how chaos is created when authority is disregarded or given away as King Lear has. My personal interpretation can be strongly compared with that of a power struggle view, as used by….
When King Lear gives away his authority, all control in Britain is lost and there is anarchy. Every character is fighting for their own power, which leads to disputes ending in gruesome death.
My interpretation will emphasise the struggle for power in the royal family, and visually show, how, not one character, has seized power for the entire play. Abuse and misuse of authority are the key reasons behind the failure and downfall of many characters.
Ok, actors, I’d like all of you to turn to Act 3, Scene 7 in your copies of King Lear.
The setting will take place in a relatively empty, dark, predominantly black, depressing room, only filled with a table and chairs and dimly lighted to create a bleak emotion.
Scene 7 is the start of heated discussions between Cornwall, Regan, Gonerill, and Edmund, trying to decide what to do with Gloucester. Even this can be looked as a power struggle, with each character pushing for their idea to be used, but ultimately seeking strength over someone else. Cornwall actually uses Gonerill’s idea of “pluck out his eyes”, which could question Cornwall’s loyalty to Regan, or that Gonerill holds greater influence over Cornwall.
Cornwall would dress in silver royal gowns giving an impression of high class.
Gonerill would be taller in height than Albany to assert that for the majority of the play she possesses greater power and influence.
Regan would dress in emerald green to forecast her with envy of Gonerill leaving with Edmund.
Oswald would be an insignificant character and talk with no confidence to show that he has no power over anyone in the room.
Gloucester would dress in white rags, with the white colour conveying his innocence
Servants---
Although scene 7 is filled with bloody onstage violence, my interpretation would focus more on what each actor is saying rather than their actions. This is because authority and power, or lack of it, is also strongly displayed through each word spoken.
Betrayal is a motif, appearing several times in the play. Betrayal shows the wickedness in the political realms. The social order is inverted; the young now have greater power and are cruel to the elderly.
Cornwall does not have the authority to kill Gloucester but he ignores this factor and says “Our power shall do a curtsy to our wrath, which men may blame but no control”. Because the dramatic and vivid effects of violence are taken out of my play, I need Cornwall to speak this line so viciously and hastily that it makes the audience gasp with trauma. This will evidently add to Cornwall’s authority and makes him the dominant male in the room over the weak Gloucester.
