Thirty Three Swoons
In the play Thirty Three Swoons, which is a collection of four farces written by Anton Palovish Chekhov. The play consists of these short productions in order, Swan Song, The Bear, The Proposal, and The Wedding. Each of them their own unique plays that pokes fun on the Russian middle class. The whole production, I believed played on and made fun of a society that is not always familiar with society today. I have no knowledge of Russian society in the late 1800s. I don't believe most do, I believe the production as a whole was a failure, because while watching the play, most of those in the audience did not laugh at the puns, and one liners that focused on Russian society. In my opinion the production itself was a failure for this time period, yet the acting was splendid.In the first short act, Swan Song, an actor, played an theatre actor; the costumes were well set in the time period in which the play was written. The stage itself did not have much scenery or set design. The main focus was on the actor, whom
was drunk. The script was written about how an actor's life was the theatre, and he was trying to figure out if he wasted his life or did what he loved to do. Watching the play was easy the actors were energetic, and their stage business kept the focus. The acting was very dramatic, showing the inner struggle of the actor, yet the script was hard to follow. At times some were laughing at a pun or comment, others were not, yet for someone with my knowledge of Russian society, I thought it was not funny at all. I also did not understand the title. The second farce on society was The Bear. Out of the four, I comprehended this one the best. It was easier to follow; the entire farce involved a widow, a merchant and a butler. The Merchant arrives to retrieve money from the widow, who does not have the money, and the merchant refuses to leave until he is paid what is owed to him. The butler in this case plays a buffoon. The comedy in this play comes mostly from the frustration of the merchant, and his sudden affection towards the widow. The widow also
Some common words found in the essay are:
Swan Song, Proposal Wedding, Thirty Swoons, Palovish Chekhov, set period, russian society, knowledge russian society, , stage business, watching play, proposal wedding, production failure, middle class, played idea, farce society, swan song,
Approximate Word count = 716
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
