Professor Thompson
Acting 1101
10 October 2014
Big Love: Emotion in Entity
Prior to any and all discussion regarding the Brooklyn college production of Big Love, allow me to express that I now consider Charles L. Mee an excellent playwright. I had (and to some extent, still do) notions about such a drastic artistic interpretation of what it is to love; I felt that anyone who could, through any medium, explain the application of said concept within the institution of marriage had completely confused themselves. After witnessing the performance, I felt that I had misunderstood for so long what it can mean to love; one can want, one can lust in intent to love, one can fear to love- all in or out of, with or against time …show more content…
The action from scene to scene to scene was very well rehearsed. In the chapter on action from Costantin Stanislavski An Actor Prepares, it is states that ‘all action within the theatre must have an inner justification, be coherent, logical, and real’ (Stanislavski 46). I truly believed that child-like wonder was at work regarding interaction in performances by Carolyn Coppedge, Nazli Sarpkaya, Stephanie King, and company. I believe these acting mechanisms were effective in communication underlined messages: having freedom of choice in one’s life, wanting love, desire, and so forth. They briefly reminded me of free form exercises done in class where we reacted to invisible mediums that were of meaning. As for costumes, the dresses didn’t exactly provide the impression of escaped brides; I felt that King as Thyona made the most of her character and was free of any boundaries they may have presented; I was able to see her as more than a runaway bride. The art of if is something I postulate as having been necessary to so robustly support a character of Thyona’s standing. Stanislavski writes that when posed with a situation within given circumstance, one must answer to its call whole-heartedly; an actor is overall persuaded to fulfill the demands of an if (Stanislavski 46-48). King definitely answered this call, and in doing so, was one of two actors that caught the most attention. The other was Richard McDonald as Constantine; McDonald’s vibrant energy paralleled King’s in deliverance of role. To once again refer to the super objective, the inner grasp and through line of action are essential to the creative process involved in reaching said objective (Stanislavski 279). McDonald’s undertone in Constantine’s monologue regarding the nature and poor predisposition of man supplemented Thyona’s attitude and conceptions regarding the same nature. McDonald’s ‘through line’ succumbed to no tendency in reaching the