* lesson 1. Director and All (Playwright -- part I. Script)
Meyerhold tended to divide each act into "bits" (kuski), in a manner quite foreign to traditional theater as practiced, for instance, at the Moscow Art Theater. There, segments of a play were rehearsed separately, but in performance blended in order to produce the effect of smooth continuity. By contrast, Meyerhold staged each small episode so that it was clearly distinguishable from the others. Each "bit" had its own title, was sometimes played as a separate scene with a pause before and after, was sometimes introduced by music, and sometimes had its own setting, "none of this specified by the author, be it understood." (55-56) [ The Theater of Meyerhold and Brecht
Book by Katherine Bliss Eaton; Greenwood Press, 1985 ]
* stage direction --
Part of the script of a play that tells the actors how they are to move or to speak their lines. Enter, exit, and exeunt are stage directions.
Do plays need "directions"? They ask for it!
They written in such a way. To be performed. Director is the one who sees it first.
1. Creative preparation :
a. Receptivity to and evocation of images
b. Response to world of playwright
2. Audience appeal :
a. Theatrical credibility
b. Degree of audience involvement
c. Compulsion
d. Audience gratification
e. Structural characteristics
3. Potential dramatic values :
a. Mood
b. Mood variations
c. Theme
d. Character
e. Plot
f. Dialogue
5. Focus and configuration of the play :
a. Relative dominance of dramatic values
b. Type of play
c. Style of play
6. Over-all image
I would start with the "overall image"... I don't know how much the breakdown could help you to fall in love. It's justifications.
(From Quintessence of Dust: The Mystical Meaning of Hamlet by Kenneth Chan)
The opening scene in a Shakespearean play usually introduces the area of concern that the play addresses. In Hamlet, the opening scene dramatically evokes the mystery world we are all in, the thinly veiled situation of every man, caught between the mundane world of the senses and the wider spiritual world just a shade beyond. We are treading on a divide, stranded on a wall separating the seen and the vast unseen. On the bleak battlements of a cold windswept night, the setting of the opening scene, we may be keenly aware of the divide. This mystery world is the play's area of concern.
The exposition in Shakespeare's plays also sets the tone and mood of the play. In Hamlet, it evokes an aura of mystery and a confrontation with the unknown. From the beginning, this sense of suspense and underlying mystery pervades the entire play.
The action begins at midnight, on the stark platform of the castle wall.
Barnardo Who's there?
Francisco Nay, answer me. Stand and unfold yourself.
Barnardo Long live the King!
Francisco Barnardo?
Barnardo He.
Significantly, Barnardo, the relieving guard, wrongly issues the first challenge, suggesting an atmosphere of mistrust.
Francisco You come most carefully upon your hour.
Barnardo 'Tis now struck twelve. Get thee to bed, Francisco.
Francisco For this relief, much thanks. 'Tis bitter cold,
And I am sick at heart.
In a few lines, Shakespeare brilliantly establishes the tone of uncertainty and apprehension, and he maintains this tone throughout the play.
