Time in Theater

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf", a play featuring seven women, and the tales they tell which are all related to different periods in time. The paper examines how the women recount aspects of their lives primarily as memory, showing that they are bound with time to the degree that they are remembering it and acting it out for the audience once more, while being free enough from time to bring all memories into the performance present. The paper also compares other expressionist plays such as "The Lesson" by Eugene Ionesco and "Endgame" by Samuel Beckett to Shange's work.

From the Paper:

"Realism and expressionism are matters of point of view and resulting style. Realism looks at the world as it appears objectively, while expressionism is a reaction against current ideas of realism. The inner psychology of the mind is considered a more important reality than the external reality depicted by earlier playwrights, and indeed the inner reality may be the only reality. Expressionist drama is often more theatrical in shaping a reality that exists only on stage as a deliberate representation of the inner mental states of characters. The two trends can exist in some degree at the same time in a given play--The Zoo Story is realistic in some respects but expressionistic in the way it isolates these two individuals in a seeming limbo so that they are not really in a park near a zoo but are instead types battling over mental states, attitudes, and visions of society. Expressionist drama tends to place the individual against a dehumanizing society. This theme can be explored in realist drama as well, but the staging in expressionist drama takes the action from the real world and builds an image of the inner mental state of the individual as a staging ground for the action."

More papers on Time in Theater:

• Term Paper # 53126 : "Postmodernism in Theater"
• Comparison Essay # 68613 : "Women in Theater"
• Research Paper # 95493 : "Theater of the Middle Ages"

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