...World Commedia dell' Arte Day (25/02/15) could not have been a more appropriate time to see The Royal Blood Bath. An Opera Regia performance from Commedia con Corinna, this time in collaboration with Werdna Theatre Productions. Corinna Di Niro or, more accurately, Dr. Corinna Di Niro, is the first person to gain a Ph.D. in Commedia dell’ Arte. Working alongside fellow actors Andrew Crupi, Mariana Dias & Jonny Lambert, they have formed a multi-cultural and talented foursome. My fellow drama students and ever so dramatic teacher watched the play at Concordia College in their ‘high class’ drama studio/stage. Dr. Di Niro stated the intention of preforming The Royal Blood Bath in Adelaide was to educate students and audience members on Opera Regia its self and also Commedia dell’ Arte as a whole. Her vast knowledge on the topic allows audience members to ask about anything and get a detailed answer. Another intention was to ‘promote’ Commedia dell’ Arte to keep it alive, vibrant and most importantly, relevant. The play is set in the Kingdome of Adelaide and is based around a royal family who were all on a murderous rampage. The play has everything from romance to tragic deaths, a true Opera Regia I must say. The play starts off on the funnier, more musical side of things with a hilarious ballade performed by the ever so talented Mr. Lambert. Incorporating modern themes but still keeping the classic Opera Regia style is what worked for me, not only could I relate to the modern aspects...
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...roles of an artist are as following: 1. Artists help us see the world in a new and innovative way, 2. Artists create a visual record of their time and place, 3. Artists make functional objects and structures more pleasurable by imbuing them with beauty and meaning, 4. Artists give form to the immaterial ideas and feelings. (Henry M. Sayre 2010) The cover illustration for Ray Bradbury's novel Fahrenheit 451 is very fascinating to me. It seems to be another version of The Man of La Mancha, except the man is covered in a newspaper that is on fire. Because the book is about censorship, the choice of covering the man in newspapers that are burning makes a lot of sense to the story. Joseph Mugnaini fulfills role number one, helping the viewer see the world in new and innovative ways by taking the idea of a knight (The Man of La Mancha) and changing his armor to newspaper. This idea is like taking an old iconic character, a knight, and putting a new spin on how one should interpret his role. Perhaps the knight is on fire because he is losing his battle, just like the main character in Bradbury's novel. In 1937, Pablo Picasso painted Guernica, oil on canvas. The Republican Spanish government commissioned the mural for the 1937 World Fair in Paris. Guernica is a large mural, twenty-six feet wide and eleven feet tall, and was placed at the entrance to Spain’s pavilion. Picasso did not do any work after receiving the commission until reading of the bombing of the Basque village of Guernica...
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...Janey Bucy Mrs. Cavotta Literature, Period 3rd January 13, 2014 In Salman Rushdie's excellent book Haroun and the Sea of Stories, there's a striking scene near the beginning where Haroun, the child of a famous storyteller, confronts his father by repeating a line that was previously parroted by a narrow-minded neighbour: What's the use of stories that aren't even true? Haroun spends much of the story (which I gather might be imagined rather than true) making up for this mistake, through fantastic adventures in a universe where two factions are at war: those who tell stories, and those who want all stories to end and silence to reign. For this is where fiction is so much better: at the telling not of factual truths that anyone can observe, but of greater Truths about life, about what it means, what it's about, how to live it, how to enjoy it and be happy and find a purpose. To observe these Truths, one needs very good eyes indeed, and telling them directly is almost impossible. Instead, a great author must tell a story that illustrates the Truth that they experienced and observed. If they do it extremely well, it becomes a kind of distilled life experience that the reader assimilates and which changes their understanding of life in subtle and important ways. The plot concerns a boy who all but curses his father in a moment of despair by saying, cynically, ''What's the use of stories that aren't even true?'' As a consequence, the father becomes heartbroken, and loses...
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...The plot of the story “The Ransom of Red Chief” by O.Henry I have to honestly admit that with all due respect to gifted writers who write voluminous novels, undoubtedly deserving respect for their well-weighed plot and images of heroes, perceptible and heart-piercing description etc., still with big respect I treat authors (surely talented) of short lambent stories. Furthermore, there is a need to “squeeze” almost everything in some pages, whereas novelists would require at least hundred pages. Thus, in my view one of the recognized masters of such genre is, undeniably, O.Henry. His impressive, common story “The Ransom of Red Chief” would make many people smile and think about life much easier. The story of two unlucky swindlers, Sam and Bill, who decided to make a pretty penny out of kidnapping, cannot leave someone untouched. Interesting and edifying story teaches us that there is no such thing as a free lunch, also that opportunities make thieves. Needing money, swindlers kidnap the boy, hoping to receive repayment in two thousand dollars (rather great sum for 1910s) from his wealthy father. Everything could have been easy, if the boy was “homebody”, however he was mischievous. The brigands made a serious mistake: they should have carefully chosen the captive. I think the plot of this story is to think properly before doing something and that everyone gets what he deserves. For instance, two hooligans suffered from their own conspiracy, instead of Dorset’s. In addition, at...
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...Essay Paul Auster: City of Glass * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * By Cornelius Andersen * October 2013 * * * * City of Glass is the first novel in Paul Auster’s bestseller: “The New York Trilogy”. In the novel we follow Quinn, a lonely writer who has lost wife and son. One day Quinn receives a phone call that completely changes his life. Quinn gives oneself out of being the famous private detective Paul Auster, which leads him into an old case that eventually will change him forever. * * Our main character and protagonist of the story is Daniel Quinn, 35 years old, living by himself in New York. Daniel is a writer, who writes mystery novels by the pseudonym William Wilson. Some years ago he lost wife and son. Daniel spends most of his day walking around in the streets of New York. But Daniel is not just one single person. In the story, his name is no coincidence. Daniel also changes his identity to Paul Auster, the famous detective, and his initials (DQ) also have a reference to knight Don Quichote. He also uses the pseudonym Max Work in his literature. All these different identities make Daniel a very confusing main character. Though the story he shuffles between different identities, which also change the way that Daniel acts as a person and to his surroundings...
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...bearers for that matter. She defied these beliefs by doing something no women did in that time, write. This book was revolutionary, especially since the release of Jane Austen’s works, which had a lot more of a happy ending feel that were published a century before. Charlotte Brontë and her sisters Emily and Anne, wrote novels that were much more dark and mysterious. Jane Eyre became one of the most successful novels of its era. This novel is set in the early decades of the nineteenth century, and depicts themes such as social class, religion, and gender relations. The novel is a hybrid of three genres: a romantic novel, a bildungsroman novel, and a gothic novel. Each of these genres are used in Jane Eyre, and rightfully so. They help to tell the story of Jane Eyre’s life in the most mysterious, sometimes supernatural, and retrospective way. I believe that Charlotte Brontë depicted her life through the novel of Jane Eyre, she did this by using her own experiences in life, namely through some key developments from her life translated into Jane Eyre’s life. Jane Eyre and Charlotte Brontë embody each others lives. This is clear through all the similarities between the novel and real life. Some examples of these are: both Jane and Charlotte being orphans, both living with an aunt, Jane attending Lowood and Charlotte attending Cowan Bridge, a school for clergymen’s daughters, Charlotte losing her sisters to tuberculosis and Jane losing Helen, her dear friend to a sickness, both becoming...
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...------------------------------------------------- A Simple Exchange of Niceties “A Simple Exchange of Niceties” is about a girl getting unexpectedly pregnant. She often goes to a park and sits on her favourite bench. Here she sits and reflects about her life and her surroundings. One day a young lady approaches her, and her life changes forever. The novel “A Simple Exchange of Niceties” is written in 2007, by Joanne Fedler. The main character does not see herself as someone who is important. She feels as if, she is worthless and a failure. Her self-esteem is very low, and she explains how she is different from other girls. “It’s not like I’m going to find a decent bloke and get married.” She has a good heart and would give up anything to anybody. Some people see that as a weakness. She puts other peoples happiness before her own. On the other side, she also describes herself as “bad news”. She was caught shoplifting and she tells, that it sort of just happened. Her relationship with her mother is really bad. She explains to the lady, that her mother does not love her. She even refused to pay the bail of her own daughter. The first time the main character sees Damian she is very attracted to him. But when they are in the middle of sexual intercourse, she sees him in a different light. “When just two nights before, he held his strong hands behind your hair and licked you from your throat to your bellybutton in a way that made you think, you know, that maybe he loved you...
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...The novel that I chose to study is called Shattered. This novel is a fiction novel. The author of the novel is Eric Walters. He is a former Elementary school teacher and a retired Canadian solider. Eric Walters has written over forty best-selling novels, which includes the novel Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda. The story line takes place in the city, mainly in the alleys, park and a soup kitchen. The main types of characters in the story are a homeless guy, a rich kid, and the guy who runs the soup kitchen. There are three main characters, Mac, he is the soup kitchen director and he lived on the streets himself. Jacques who is a retired military person who served in Rwanda, and he is homeless and has a drinking problem. Ian is the rich kid who lives in the suburbs. Mac knows Jacques from the soup kitchen, Ian knows Jacques from the park. Mac knows Ian from the soup kitchen. Ian needed to do forty hours of volunteer work to pass his civics class at school. He decided that he would go and volunteer at a soup kitchen. When Ian was walking through the park on his way to the soup kitchen he got jumped by a couple of guys. Jacques ended up coming to rescue him and this is where their friendship began. Jacque was a retired military solider who became an alcoholic and ended up living on the streets. He became an alcoholic because he couldn`t get the ``mindless killing`` out of his head .The drinking made it easier. Ian and Jacques spent a lot of time...
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...COMMUNITY in a Variety of Texts The text, The God of Small Things and the film Moonrise Kingdom, both thoroughly reflect the theme of identity and the individual versus the community in many ways. Both authors of the film and novel seem to make a new environment. Environment plays a significant role in both these texts. For example, in the town of both texts, it was a society in which laws were secretly written down. There were certain ways in which many had to act, live, and shape themselves to impress that community. “If he touched her, he couldn't talk to her, if he loved her he couldn't leave, if he spoke he couldn't listen, if he fought he couldn't win.” This quote goes into the situation of Velutha and Ammu, and their love affair. Due to the almost social hierarchy in the location the two had lived in, it was almost a sin of those two being together. It was expressed in such a pessimistic way – even if Velutha kept fighting for his love with Ammu, it would not make a difference is the society had forbidden it. It was forbidden for ‘Untouchables’ to associate, it was written in The Love Laws. Like The God of Small Things, the same went with Sam and Susie. Sam had once said to another boy, “Why can’t you just us disappear?” when found in the woods. It was quite simple: Sam was found a ‘freak’ and ‘not normal’ to most. Many were dumbfounded when they had learned that Susie had gone to escape with him, or even associate herself with him. It was then discovered that Susie...
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...The Secret Life Of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd. Book Report, Dorthea Søiland The secret life of bees centres on Lily’s search for clues and connections to her mother, who was killed when Lily was a little girl. We get to follow her journey as she runs away from her abusive father along with her nanny Rosaleen. Lily is longing to be loved, because the lack of it in her past life is destroying her. “People who think dying is the worst thing, don’t know a thing about life” Lily, p2. The novel is an excellent written drama. It explores race, love and the idea of family and home in troubled times. The author of the book, Sue Monk Kidd, is a well-known writer who has written other known books such as “The Mermaid Chair”(2005) and “A Mother-Daughter Story”(2010). She has been on the New York Times bestselling list twice, which one of them were with this very novel. The secret life of bees was published in 2002 by Penguin Books New York. The story takes place in South Carolina in the 1960’s, which we can say is a time were racism was on it’s worst. Time and place has a lot to do with the story, and we get to look into a time were being black wasn’t easy. The main character of the book is fourteen years old Lily. She is a brave and smart girl, whose only wish for a birthday present is to know a little about her mother. Her fear of living a life without being loved is getting her to write poems, which she’s good at. All-tough Lily doesn’t have a mother she has a father, T....
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...Book Club Meeting #1: Triple Entry Journal – Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) By: Abiman Sureskumar Quotation & Context (Include Page Number) | Personal Response | Connections to the Theory(Refer to Secondary Source) | “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife” (Austen 5). This is the first sentence of Pride and Prejudice and since the novel starts off with this, quote, I am left to assume that this quote is the basis for this entire plot and that the plot revolves around this quote. This quote is probably the main idea of the entire novel and sets the tone for the rest of the novel that leaves me thinking. | This quotation really gave me a glimpse of what I thought the plot was going to revolve around. Why does Austen assume that a wealthy and single man is always yearning for a wife? In the times that this novel was written, it was safe to assume that a wealthy and single man was in need of a spouse. The values of the society that this novel was produced in are in stark contrast to today’s societal values, where marriage is not looked at as a necessity, but rather as a rite of passage in one’s life. | SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on Pride and Prejudice.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2007. Web. 24 Mar. 2013.The SparkNotes Editors argue that, “The preoccupation with socially advantageous marriage in nineteenth-century English society manifests itself [in this quote].” A fundamental social...
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...something I love to do for fun. And again, not everybody is the same, not everyone is not like me. Games I like to play are mostly action; fast paced action. But I also enjoy the good old adventure game or role playing game. With action games it's usually the typical ones like Call of Duty and Darksiders 2. But a good game I will never get tired of is The Legend of Zelda. Another thing I do for fun is read. This is usually a back up for my playing video games. When I say that I mean if I am grounded or nowhere near any video games, I enjoy my time with a good book. I'm a guy and most people find this feminine but I enjoy reading a good romantic novel every once in awhile, but I usually go for science fiction or fantasy fiction. But for me the book always has to have a little bit of drama in it or else I can't read it. Novel series that I read and really enjoyed would be The Vampire Diaries, Harry Potter, and Eragon. One thing that I prefer to do over everything else is to spend time with my friends and my girlfriend as well. Friends are always a good way to spend time. Friends won't always be there for you I will admit but they sure help out a lot. When I'm with my friends we usually just hangout and talk. The things we talk range from video games to relationships. But for the most part we try to have fun the best ways we can. Me and my friends have almost...
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...Essay Practise #1 You have studied two texts composed at different times. When you compared these texts and their contexts, how was your understanding of each text developed and reshaped? (HSC 2003) Understanding of these two texts may be developed and reshaped with the further analysis into what context and values they both have in common, whether they are contain similarities or differences. Such texts which can be compared is Blade Runner is a film created by Wrigley Scott which was released in 1982, more than a century after the world renowned novel of Frankenstein written by Mary Shelley in 1818. With such concerning issues as technology advances and their impacts on the environment, class structures and the language styles and techniques used to convey these messages. Developing and reshaping a clearer and more concise understanding enhances the ideas and meanings within each text. As the creature from within the novel, Frankenstein, is created from the, what was seen as, advanced technology in a new way of writing and thinking was created for the audience of the 19th century. The ability to create life in a way which was deemed impossible, unrealistic and yet completely compelling to those which were exposed to this style of gothic horror fiction. This reflects on the time period of Mary Shelley although was not a typical way writers were expected to write and to appease their particular audiences. This developed my understanding of the technology and writing styles...
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...The Female Body in The House of Mirth The female body plays a very important role in The House of Mirth. Throughout the novel, Lily’s body is objectified by others, and by herself. This objectification of her body leads to various hardships for Lily. Some of these hardships are caused by confusion, indecision, and communication issues. Also, I believe that both men in the novel, and Lily, are responsible for these hardships. Throughout the novel, all Lily really owns that is of value is her body. I believe this to be true because there are various examples of men objectifying her for her body. Even Selden, who isn’t even a member of the high society, and who should be more rational based on his lower social standing, objectifies Lily for her body. Edith Wharton makes this fact very clear at the beginning of the book when she writes: “ Selden paused in surprise. In the afternoon rush of the Grand Central Station his eyes had been refreshed by the sight of Miss Lily Bart. Selden had never seen her more radiant. Her vivid head, relieved against the dull tints of the crowd, made her more conspicuous than in a ball-room, and under her dark hat and veil she regained the girlish smoothness, the purity of tint, that she was beginning to lose after eleven years of late hours and indefatigable dancing... ... He was aware that the qualities distinguishing her from the herd of her sex were chiefly external: as though a fine gaze of beauty and fastidiousness had been...
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...Clueless, an adaptation of Jane Austen's 1815 novel, Emma, is a 1995 American film by director, Amy Heckerling. The comedy serves as a 20th century update of the original text that shifts into creating a contemporary Emma, one for our own era. Though Clueless seems to set forth on building its reputation on a completely new, distinct ground, it is not an entirely different work of art. Considerable amounts of uniformities between the adaptation and Emma can be pinpointed throughout. As “Clueless is most faithful to Emma in its recreation of the plot involving Mr. Elton, Harriet Smith, and Emma” (Troost, Linda, and Greenfield 124), several parallels between the two distinctive texts, concerning this matter, can be recognized. One outstanding example is the correspondence and connection between the modern photography scene in Clueless and the sketching/painting of Harriet’s portrait in Emma. Hence, along with the novel’s highly persuasive guidance and the two’s so-called loose relation, various similarities as well as differences are inevitably present. Upon an analytical, close reading of the associated scenes, several shared story elements are brought into prospective. Both revolve around a beautiful, young lady who believes it is her duty to act as a matchmaker for her two companions. In both, the protagonist attempts to capture an image of her friend in hope that it would somehow reveal or prove the affection of the other. But aside from that, one will find that the two widely...
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