Essays and Research Papers on Theater

This 8 page report discusses the process of directing in theater using the examples from various productions of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia, and Tony Kushner’s Angels in America to illustrate the important nature of thoughtful or inspired direction. The simple fact is that many dramatic productions demand to be repeated and reinterpreted. The work itself, the actual ...

(5 pp) Tragedies in theater allow us to look at ourselves differently as we experience the visual tragedy of someone on the stage in front of us. In Ibsen's play Hedda Gabler, there is supposedly no one meaner than Hedda herself; the saddest part of this tragedy is that she is as ...

(5 pp) This particular interpretation of Euripides play Media is designed as what is loosely called "trunk theater." It allows bush or rural schools to experience the arts at minimal expense. There will certainly be more than one trunk, but the point is that the props will be minimal and interchangeable. ...

This 5 page report discusses “Arms and the Man” written in 1894 and fitting into a category of his work that George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) called “Plays Pleasant.” This report presents the argument that the play is primarily a condemnation of the glorification of the military yet also tells the story of a remarkably short-lived yet bloody military engagement ...

8 pages in length. Myriad productions have been created that revolved around Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard; however, time after time each rendering failed to present the play in the comedic style that Chekhov had originally intended. Curiously, even the playwright's own wife did not detect the comedic air to her husband's tale, ...

8 pages in length. The writer discusses the musical structure of Petrushka's four tableaus. Bibliography lists 10 sources.

(5pp). Today we toss psychiatric disorders at each other like we are throwing confetti on New Year's Eve. The phrase will be, I flew into 'manic,' or don't be 'obsessive,' or how'compulsive.' We think we know what all the terms mean. However for some it is not so easy to be ...

A 5 page paper discussing the issues of life and death contained within this play. Shortly before his death, Guildenstern notes, "There must have been a moment, at the beginning, where we could have said--no. But somehow we missed it." Of course Guildenstern's immediate concern is his own mortality and that of his friend Rosencrantz, but he ...

A 7 page research paper that examines French playwright Jean Giraudoux's "The Madwoman of Chaillot. The writer also relates the play to how Giraudoux's work fits into the genre of modern drama. Bibliography lists 7 sources.

(5 pp) Death of a Salesman gives different insights and different meanings to the American dream of success and shows what can happen when the dream is false, distorted or unfulfilled. The American dream was in serious trouble for Willy Loman and his family because of his fervent pursuit of success, wealth and status. ...

This 12 page report discusses Irish playwright Brian Friel’s work “Translations.” In it, he tells the story of the British to dominate all of Irish culture and heritage by translating and changing ancient Gaelic names of villages and towns into English. Many drama critics, social commentators, and literary historians have described it a “metaphor” or a parable of the ...

(5 pp) In the he late 1880s Strindberg began to experiment with free verse and created the great dramas The Father (1887), Miss Julie (1888), and Creditors (1888). The Father vividly expresses Strindberg's view of the war between the sexes, in which he saw man as victimized by woman. Miss Julie ...

(6 pp) After the Puritanism of Cromwell, the English "restored" Charles II to the throne (1640), who in turn restored theater to the English. These comedies mocked the manners of the aristocracy using witty dialogue, wicked humor and transparent stereotypes. The works of Etherege, Wycherley, Congreve, and Vanbrugh are discussed. Bibliography lists ...

A twenty-page paper which looks at the work of selected Russian and American dramatists during the period 1880 to 1980, and assesses the ways in which their work, both in terms of form and content, afforded a revolutionary perspective on the socio-cultural systems of the time. Bibliography lists 6 sources.

This 5 page paper examines the question of who really wrote the plays of Bertolt Brecht. Bibliography lists 4 sources.

(5 pp). This 1992 movie is an adaptation of David Mamet's Pulitizer Prize winning drama of almost the same name. It is an intense story of real estate potential and sales, after the end of President Reagan's administration. Times are tough - how tough are they -Monday night football looks ...

6 pages in length. The struggle to achieve; the desire to be accepted; the will to continue forward even when all previous efforts have manifested in failure – these are the elements that form a common bond between Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” and John Osborne’s “The Entertainer.” Clearly, the drive for ...

A 5 page paper which discusses the use of realism and fantasy in George Bernard Shaw's "Heartbreak House." The paper also discusses other works of Shaw's which present similar images bordering amidst realism and fantasy. Bibliography lists 6 sources.

A 5 page essay that summarizes and analyzes Eugene Ionesco's The Bald Soprano. The writer argues that the astounding dialogue in this play offers a hilarious parody of modern life that works at many levels. No additional sources cited.

A five page paper which looks at Bernard Pomerance’s play The Elephant Man, and the ways in which the character of John Merrick interacts with society in order to demonstrate the discrepancy between external preconceptions and inner reality, and the contrast between his own physical deformities and the way in which Victorian society is itself ...

(6 pp). The question posed for our discussion is how adultery leads to murder in Greek tragedies. Yet it seems that an important component has been left out of the equation: it is attitude on the part of the male, which leads to his murder, as much as does his breaking of his ...

A five page paper which looks at gender issues in the Medea of Euripides, in terms of convention in classical Greek drama, the character of Medea herself, and the ways in which patriarchal social codes mediated against the autonomy of women. Bibliography lists 5 sources

A five page paper which compares and contrasts the characters of Nora in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Hedda in Hedda Gabler, in terms of their personality, intellect and the way in which they perceive their lives and their relationships with others. Bibliography lists 2 sources.

This 5 page paper considers the role of community theatre and how we may understand it better by looking at interventionist theatre. The paper then consider three different production and discusses these in the same terms. The bibliography cites 5 sources.

This 5 page report discusses how one would create a movie to best portray the setting for Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House.” Set design, the director’s vision, and costuming are discussed in the context of the story. No additional sources listed.