Theatre Paper 3 PDF

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Summary

Professor Richman assigned three papers with the option of choosing a prompt from a small selection. I chose to write about a scene from Tartuffe, it goes into great detail about what is seen and heard, it also reaches the 8 page length requirement....

Description

David Richman Theatre History December 12, 2019

Description of a Scene from Tartuffe A dark curtain rises to the ceiling, revealing a pristine pale-yellow room. The main doors of the room are in the middle of the wall, everything in the room is a pale-yellow with gold or brown accents. On each side of the main doors, sits two entryways with open curtains pulled off to the sides. The entryway on the right is angled away, so what is beyond the doorway cannot be seen. Although, the last few steps of a staircase can be seen in the left entryway. Next to this entryway, sits a chair with a tall back, it appears to be yellow with accent patterned cushions. Beside the tall chair sits a small table, appearing even shorter due to the height of chair. Above the chair, a small portrait of a man is hung on the wall, a bigger portrait of a couple is next to that on the next section of the wall. In the portrait, a woman in a large puffy dress stands in front of man, half his body is peaking out from behind his companion. Seated to the left of the portrait is a chair, this chair like the other, it is yellow with a darker patterned cushion. This chair is not as tall as the one before, it does not appear as grand. The chair faces the right side of the room, in fact it faces its twin chair on the opposite side of the room. Moving to the right side of the room, the twin chair sits farthest to the right. What appears to be a portrait of three figures is hung above the chair. A bench fit for two is to the left of the chair, it is placed next to a fire place and a mirror hung above it. In the center of the floor, there is a red and gold colored symbol similar to a geometric star. And placed between the symbol and

the main doors is a table, what seems to be a larger version of the small side table at the side of the room. Relatively loud piano music is being played in the background, it gives a sense of elegance perhaps, the tempo is neither fast and suspenseful nor slow and calming. If you listen closely you can hear a woman speaking but cannot tell what she is saying. The view is moved closer to the couple sitting on the bench fit for two, which is now clearly shown to have a floral print. The man has long dark black hair, and a cap with feathers. The cap colors tie to the red coat, and pink and red buttoned shirt with a white lace collar. The sleeves of his shirt look like they explode out of the coat sleeves, around his wrists are many layers of white lace ruffles. His hand and ruffles can be seen wrapped around behind the young lady’s waist. His outfit is finished off with blue tights and white knee socks. As for the young lady, she is wearing a sky-blue dress with navy blue and white details. The front of her skirt is white with navy blue along the border of the white section. Her sleeves are puffed at her shoulders and the sleeves end just above her elbow with a white lace trim. Her hair is pulled into a bun with stray pieces framing her face. They are speaking but they cannot be heard, the young lady glances away from the man and then back to him as she lightly waves the purple fan in her hand. One hand is fanning herself while the other is placed on her lap. His one hand is wrapped around her waist while the other sits flat on his chest. A large blueish ring is spotted on his middle finger. They make eye contact once more then each lean their heads towards each other, their foreheads rest together for a moment before the young lady lightly gasps and turns away quickly, but she turns back to look at him just as quick. With his lips in a straight line he looks to her, a smile remains on her face. That changes when the piano music fades and the woman’s voice proceeds to get louder. The young

girl starts to look scared; her posture becomes more rigid; she leans forward towards the noise and places her hand on the man’s shoulder. The man notices the change in emotion, he begins to stand, the lady gives him an encouraging push on the shoulder. They stand from the bench and the man stays tight to the wall as he briskly walks to the main doors just in time to make his exit before three women come rushing down the stairs from the left entryway. The young lady stands in front of the fire place and fans herself as the women arrive, she is attempting to act natural. The first woman to enter the room is a dark-haired woman in a green dress, she is followed by a woman in a red, and finally she is followed by a woman in white. Someone says, “I can’t keep up.” As the frame moves in closer to the women, the women in green and red both carry fans, while the woman in white carries a small gold chair. Her white dress is not like the others, it is an A line dress with an apron over it, and her hair is in loose curls around her face. Corset ballgowns easily describe the green and red dress, the tops of the dresses are tight and come down in a v shape at the women’s’ stomachs. At their hips the dresses poof outwards, quite far, so much so that when they walk the dress skirt remains in a circular shape. In particular, the green dress has a wide U shape neckline, the sleeves hang a little bit off her shoulders and because of the tight corset, she is showing a lot of cleavage. A thick red necklace sits atop her collar bones. The wide hips of the green dress are simply green, although there is a section in the front of the skirt that is a light green pattern like flowers. And on the forearm portion of the sleeves have white lace. In one hand, she holds a dark fan and in the other she holds two pristine white gloves. The final women in red looks young comparable to the lady in blue. Many wrinkles adorn the face of the woman in green, suggesting she is possibly the mother of these two young women. It appears that her red and gold accented dress is the widest of all three corset

ballgowns. She is standing to the left, the women in green in front of the fireplace and the one in blue next to the bench. Her dress has sleeves ending right after her elbow and has white lace trim. On the skirt of the dress is small gold detailing with a gold section in the front. Her hair cascades down her back to her shoulder blades, her attire is finished off with a dark fan in her hand and white feathery head band in her hair. The older woman speaks to the young girl in blue, she tells her not to worry it is not her manners she is concerned about. As she speaks, she turns to the woman in red; looking her up and down with her voice is full of disgust, her posture stiff, and her fan opened abruptly. Her body language and tone show she is not concerned about the manners of the girl in blue, but the manners of the lady in red. The accused mis mannered lady’s mouth drops open in shock and she in return, looks at the woman in green up and down as well, as if saying “excuse me, who are you to say such a thing?” She isn’t the only one who reacts with confusion and shock, the girl in blue’s eyebrows furrow and she leans in towards the angry woman, she looks from her to the lady in red while she holds her fan close to her chest as if she is protecting herself. It is the lady in reds turn to have an attitude, she tells her mother “We nearly pay you the respect we owe. But mother why this hurry, must you go?” Her posture portrays an attitude, she is leaning back a tad with her hand on her hip and a hand fanning herself. Initially she is looking at her mother but then she turns away to face the quite silent woman in white, still holding a chair. As the ladies in green and blue audibly gasp, the lady in red turns her attention back to them. The mother throws her arms outwards and proclaims that she must go, to which the young ladies mouths open wide before shutting quickly. The young girl in blue turns her face away from who is assumed to be her mother or grandmother, in order to hide her attempts to stop chuckling. The lady in red places her fan over her mouth in order to hide her smile. The mother

then exclaims that the house appalls her, as she dramatically gestures to the walls around her as she begins to walk to the center of the room, indicating the very house they are in appalls her. This exclamation takes the girl in blue by surprise, her eyes open wide and she quickly picks up her skirt in order to step closer to the lady in red. They both appear to still be chuckling at their seemingly melodramatic mother figure. As she crosses the room, more people have entered the room, a young boy stands at the base of the stairs of the left entryway, and a woman peers out from the right entry way, she looks this way and that, looking for the source of the commotion. The boy has short curly hair, he is wearing a tan button up shirt, a brown coat with a square pattern similar to tiles, his pants are a pale yellow, he has white knee socks and dark shoes. It looks as if he is a part of the room, his attire matches every piece of furniture and décor. On the other hand, the woman who appeared from the entryway is wearing a dark A line dress, with a white apron around her waist and her hair pulled back neatly. Now as the mother crosses the room, she passes the woman in white who attempts to place the chair down behind the mother. She goes to set it down a few times, but the mother is moving about. As she is moving, she explains how, “No one in it will pay attention for a single minute.” She strikes the young boy on his chest with her closed fan. He does no react much, his eyes widen, and he leans away from her subtly, but that is all. His one arm remains behind his back, the other is snug at his side but bent at the elbow so his forearm is out straight. Similar to how fancy waiters place their arm out to place a napkin or towel over it. The woman in white steps quickly behind the boy in order to be behind the mother, she is watching closely, prepared to place the chair down if needed.

The mother closes her eyes for a moment as she opens her fan and begins her explanation once more. She states she is taking her leave; she gives the children good advice, but they do not take it, they come in and chatter endlessly, it’s like a mad house! Her tone and words give tells that she is frustrated and tired, her hands are wild with motions as she speaks. Finally, that small chair comes into play, the women in white places the chair for the mother to sit in. The mother closes her eyes, lifts the skirt of her green dress and slowly takes a seat. From her place next to the ladies in blue and red, the woman who peered out from the entryway, takes a step to cross the room and speak her mind. Before she could say more than “If you think,” the frustrated woman in green cuts her off, “Girl...you talk too much. And I’m afraid you are too saucy for a lady’s maid. You are pushing everywhere to have your say.” With that said, the lady’s maid walks away from the conversation and begins dusting around the room. The lady servant in white takes this spat as an opportunity to sit in the tall chair near the entryway, her hand rises to her mouth to cover a yawn. Soon enough, her head is hung as she falls asleep. As she is unbothered by this upset woman, the boy steps forward to say something on his mind, but like the lady’s maid, he is cut off. Now the mother’s wrath is focused on the boy. This spat starts with a chuckle and then she continues, “Boy…you grow more foolish every day. To think my grandson is to be such a dunce.” A touch of laughter is initially behind her words, but then her tone becomes sad. She frowns and looks as if she might cry as she fans herself. Then, her tone changes again. It becomes angry and disgusted, her eyebrows are raised, she is frowning, and she looks up and down at her grandson. As she tells the boy that she has warned him a hundred times about the path he is taking, the fan in her hand is closed and waved around. Her last statement to him is “you will leave you father broken hearted.” The grandson’s posture remains straight, he gives no indication of being upset except for the slight tension in his

jaw and he pulls his lips between his teeth, keeping his mouth closed tight. His eyes remain on his grandmother throughout her entire lecture to him. He begins to move to the left side of the room, away from the eyes of his grandmother. The young girl in blue steps up next after the boy is done being lectured. The young girl quickly steps to the center of the room, her fan closed and pointed at the seated woman. Before the young girl can say more than, “I think…” her grandmother interrupts, which stops the young girl in her tracks. The lady in red is stopped as well, a few steps behind the young girl in blue. In the background, a man quite literally pops out of a doorway. He freezes for a moment, looking like the commotion brought him here but stopped him as he was coming in. His weight is primarily on one foot that is in the room, the other is up and hidden behind the doorway and a cane is in his hand, steading him. He is leaning as though he is attempting to listen in but not be seen at the moment. The woman in green continues her talk, unaware of the new person in the room. She speaks of the young girl sarcastically, calling her so shy, so innocent, so demure. To which, the young girl looks down and away from her grandmother in a guilty manner, she has been caught in her fake innocent façade. She gives an awkward small smile. Her hands are running up and down her closed fan, many nervous people must keep their hands busy, must keep their attention somewhere else. Now the lady’s maid is still dusting around the room, the man who just entered is now completely in the room standing near the main doors and the lady in red remains at the young girl’s side. The grandmother, after calling her so innocent and shy, then says, “But you know what they say about still waters…” Now everyone’s head turns to her at that statement, everyone’s mouth and eyes are opened wide, the maid stops dusting, the lady in red stops fanning herself; everyone stops.

The young girl runs over to her brother, as their grandmother calls her a secretive girl. Once she stands by him, she smacks him with her fan, and they begin speaking inaudibly. The man walks farther into the room taking large slow strides and leaning his cane this way and that, the lady in red steps towards her mother, and the maid goes back to dusting. It appears that everyone is taking this time to try to say something to this woman in green, but each time it does not end well for them. Although she is seated, and everyone stands above her, she has all the power in the room. Her confidence and power are illuminating off of her, every time someone steps up to her, they are blinded and left silent, their only choice is to back down and leave the topic alone....