The Play as Text and

the Play as Performance

Rachel Goldberg

TEXT

A story told on paper in the form of dialogue and stage directions

PERFORMANCE

A live presentation by actors before an audience -- based on the actors’, director’s and designers’ interpretation of the text

Set and Lighting Design in Text

ACT 1

…Only the blue light of the sky falls upon the house…the surrounding area shows an angry glow of orange…we see a solid vault of apartment houses around the small, fragile-seeming home. An air of the dream clings to the place, a dream rising out of reality. The kitchen at center seems actual enough, for there is a kitchen table with three chairs, and a refrigerator…

(from “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller)

Set and Lighting Design in Performance

Village Theatre Waterdown Prod. Indiana Repertory Theatre Prod.

Set Design by Lisa Summers Set Design by Erhard Rom

Character, Costumes, Props in Text

“…WILLY LOMAN, the Salesman, enters, carrying two large sample cases…He is past sixty years of age, dressed quietly.”

Character, Costume, Props in Performance

Goodman Theatre Production Yale Repertory Theatre Production

Brian Dennehy (centre) as Willy Loman, Charles S. Dutton (center) Ato Essandoh flanked byRon Eldard (left) and Ted Koch (left) and Billy Eugene Jones (right)Costume Design by Birgit Rattenborg Wise Costume Design by Katherine O’Neill

Dialogue as Text

BIFF: Oh, Pop, you didn’t see my sneakers! (He holds up a foot for WILLY to look at.)

WILLY: Hey, that’s a beautiful job of printing!

BERNARD: Just because he printed University of Virginia on his sneakers doesn’t mean they’ve got to graduate him, Uncle Willy!

WILLY: What’re you talking about? With scholarships to three universities they’re gonna flunk him?

Excerpt from “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller.

Dialogue as Performance

George Segal and Lee J. Cobb in “Death of a Salesman,” directed by Alex Segal

John Malkovich and Dustin Hoffman in “Death of

a Salesman,” directed by Volker Schlondorff

Text Performance

Private

Individual

Public

Collaborative

Meaning can Change from Text to Performance

TEXT – in 1949, “Death of a Salesman” about the American Dream and its failures and dangers.

PERFORMANCE – in 1983, performed in Communist China. Now, about a universal human experience.

Ying Ruocheng in Arthur Miller’sproduction of “Death of a Salesman” with the Beijing People’s Art Theatre in China

Text Performance

Private

Individual

Original meaning

Can be a reflection of the past

Public

Collaborative

New meaning

Can be a reflection of the present

Hidden Possibilities in Performance

Peter Brook’s production of “Marat/Sade” by Peter Weiss with the Royal Shakespeare Company Patrick Magee (center) as Sade and Glenda Jackson (behind him) as Charlotte Corday

Hidden Possibilities in Performance

Lauren Feldman (left), Leesa Beck (center), Peter Glidden (right) in the Gateway Theatre Production of “A Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams

Text Performance

Private Individual Original meaning Can be a reflection of the

past Holds hidden possibilities Lasting Unchanging Manipulates emotion

through story and words

Public Collaborative New meaning Can be a reflection of the

present Reveals possibilities Fleeting Changes every time Manipulates emotion

through story and staging, design and performance

The best way to experience the difference?

Read a play and then go see a live performance!

The Play as Performance is a unique, once-in-a-lifetime presentation that can never be replicated.

The Play as Text can not capture that MAGIC.

Remember, the Play as Text is MEANT to be Performed!