The Mysteries
I believe that being in the audience for the performance of The Mysteries, would have been an incredible experience. Having the actors that close and being a part of the play itself is a wonderful way to experience theatre.
The most memorable part of watching the performance for me, beisdes the hideous fashion, was the part when the Demons came from the Hell mouth and took the actors that were sitting in the audience, and then turned to the actual audience members. They added a lot of comedy to the performance, as well as the intensity that is meant to be there.
The other part that really caught my attention was in the Passion. The actors really caught the intesity of the story, and you could see that the tense feelings between the actors had also spread into the audience members who couldn't turn away from the show. When the cross was taken through the audience, you could see them trying to move as far away from it as possible. They didn't want to interrupt what was happening. But you could hear them laughing, as did many of us, while the men were nailing Jesus to the cross. Why would they add that humor in at that hurtful time? As we discussed in class, it was to keep the audiences attention, and perhaps because they could have that humor in there. Now people are more cautious about what is said in the Passion plays, but then, it was possible to mix comedy and drama together in such an important play.
I also loved the picture that you get when the world is turning behind the thrones, with God overlooking it all. It really gave a powerful image to the audience. It was very creatively done.
posted by LilmissKS @ 2:56 PM
4 Comments:
I agree that those scenes were among the most powerful. I also think that perhaps, some of the comedy resulted from discomfort. More so in the passion than scene with the demons, I think that people may have been laughing because laughter is better than the alternative - feeling awkward or sad. Perhaps, it is just too intense for certain people in the audience to witness a portrayal of something so emotional.
There were so many strong images that were conveyed in The Mysteries, it was really interesting to watch the audience react to the different scenes, from the joyous celebration of Christ’s birth, to the sad and fearful scene of Christ’s death, to the sorrowful rejoice of Mary’s Death. There were so many touching moments that were conveyed really well through the use of height, light and abstract props. The whole idea that it was done in as a medieval working class production was very creative, it was interesting to see the story from a new perspective and to relate to these familiar characters in new ways. Overall I thought it was a really interesting story and I really enjoyed the symbolism in every action and prop used.
I would have to agree with you on wanting to be in the audience for that play. Yes it was good to see the audience interact with the play, but it would have been a totally different experience to be apart of the audience. The way that the play director put actors in the audience and used them as props was very interesting to me as well. There is one thing that I feel strongly about is the passion scene. I feel as if that is an intense scene and I really didn’t understand why people were laughing. I guess I understand where Layne is coming from but to me that isn’t a good excuse to be laughing during a scene like that.
Everything about The Mysteries is intense. You touch on a few of the ideas like the Crucifixion, the pits of hell and being a member of the audience, but I believe that every scene in The Mysteries has its own level of intensity. Each scene from the beginning in Eden to the ending scenes with the death of Mary, Jesus’ mother was incredibly intense. The intensity varied from intensely uncomfortable, abusive and frightening, such as during the crucifixion, to intense with joy and celebration such as at the end of the first act when the audience was dancing with the players in a joyous celebration of Christ’s birth and life. I really enjoyed the intensity of The Mysteries because everything about it was intense, and it brought about new meaning to each of the familiar stories that we encountered watching the movies.
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