Type a 1500 word essay focusing on your reaction to the play: CYRANO OF BERGERAC production in a specific video provided by me (not any video). The essay must evaluate the quality of the production. Please note:
the assignment is a Reaction Paper, not a research paper. Your observations, descriptions and opinions about the details of the play and the production of the play are essential. Make sure to back up statements of opinion or observations with descriptive examples drawn from the show to illustrate what lead you to your conclusions. The three main questions to consider are:
1. What was the playwright trying to say about life?
a. What universal human needs were the characters struggling to accomplish?
b. What is the problem that needs to be solved?
c. Who is the protagonist that tries to solve the problem?
d. What is the central conflict?
e. What is the main action? (What is the main character trying to do?)
2. What impact does the play have on you and your life?
a. How does the play affect you emotionally? Intellectually? Philosophically?
b. What does it make you experience that you might not have experienced?
c. Did it reinforce the way you already think? Feel? Act? Behave? Believe? Conduct your life?
d. Did it change the way you think? Feel? Act? Behave? Believe? Conduct your life?
3. Two thirds of the paper should be devoted this final question: Did the playwright’s collaborative artists and craftspeople help you understand and enjoy the play or prevent you from doing so?
a. Choose at least four actors. Include their full names and the names of the characters they played. Evaluate their work using the following questions based on your observations and opinions:
i. Were the actors believable as the characters they were playing?
ii. Did they speak loud enough and intelligibly enough to be understood?
iii. Did you identify/empathize with one (or more) of the characters?
iv. Did they draw you into the play or were you aware they were “acting?”
b. Evaluate the director’s work: Was the production unified in its vision? Did it flow seamlessly from one point to the next? Was the casting on point?
c. How did the design elements (Lights, sound, costumes, scenery) affect the production?
i. Provide your opinions/observations about the success or failure of each design
element listed above.
ii. Back each of those opinions and observations up with at least two detailed
descriptive examples from the production.
Remember these are not “yes/no” questions, but “why or why not” questions. Don’t waste space/words detailing the plot or the story. About one third of the paper should discuss questions one and two. Two thirds of the paper should contain detailed, descriptive examples from the elements of the production that either helped you understand and enjoy the play or got in the way of your
understanding and enjoyment and why or why not.
