Productions Of Plays Taken Out Of Their Periods
Productions Of Plays Taken Out Of Their Periods
NightLaughs
Leading Actor Joined: 6/26/04
#0Productions Of Plays Taken Out Of Their Periods
Posted: 3/28/06 at 3:51pm
Hi all,
I was wondering if any of you could help me out here. Can any of you recall recent/semi recent productions of revivals of plays that were taken out of their original time period/context and put into a new one? If that makes sense, I can't think of a more eloquent way to word it. I'm writing a research paper on the importance of time period on plays and am struggling to find sources, I can only seem to ramble my useless oppinions and this paper is going to need more than that. Any help would be *greatly* appreciated.
#1re: Productions Of Plays Taken Out Of Their Periods
Posted: 3/28/06 at 4:08pm
Sweeney Todd
Medea
various Shakespeare like Julius Caesar with Denzel
#2re: Productions Of Plays Taken Out Of Their Periods
Posted: 3/28/06 at 4:11pm
Most of the Shakespearean and Ancient Greek tragedies are nowadays staged out of their eras, with a great deal of anachronisms. This happens with any play that has political or social connection to a certain period. Euripides' “Trojan women” or “Hecuba” for example after the Iraqi attacks have more and more obvious modern references all over the world. So do Shakespeare’s political plays (such as recent Julius Caesar with Denzel Washington) or his comedies (that are usually transferred into the 19th Century due to the stylish and light air of the period)
More specific examples from the cinema are Kenneth Branagh’s “Hamlet” that is obviously connected to the Russian Revolution of 1917 and Michael Hoffman’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream that the action carries us to the Victorian period.
Hope I was helpful…
#4re: Productions Of Plays Taken Out Of Their Periods
Posted: 3/28/06 at 4:16pmI once saw "The Tempest" where the first scene was moved onto a cruise ship. Stephano was changed from a butler into a waiter and Trinculo to a lounge singer.
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#5re: Productions Of Plays Taken Out Of Their Periods
Posted: 3/28/06 at 4:25pm
Hamlet with Ralph Fiennes
the movie Romeo + Juliet
the costumes in the movie "Dreamgirls" (oh wait, you said productions)
#6re: Productions Of Plays Taken Out Of Their Periods
Posted: 3/28/06 at 4:28pmthe Vagina Monologues...get it, periods....nevermind.
NightLaughs
Leading Actor Joined: 6/26/04
#7re: Productions Of Plays Taken Out Of Their Periods
Posted: 3/28/06 at 8:06pm
Thank you very much, I will look into the productions mentioned. (Vagina Monolouges aside 
#8re: Productions Of Plays Taken Out Of Their Periods
Posted: 3/28/06 at 8:10pmThere is a wonderful video of The Mikado with Eric Idle that changes the setting beautifully. And there is a video of Cosi fan Tutte set in a diner in the 50s. Thus, opera is often played with as well.
WildhornFanatic
Broadway Star Joined: 2/5/05
#9re: Productions Of Plays Taken Out Of Their Periods
Posted: 3/28/06 at 10:28pm
I'm doing a production of TWELFTH NIGHT right now in college that is set present day, Malibu. We all have cell phones, ipods and laptops and it works very well with the script.
#10re: Productions Of Plays Taken Out Of Their Periods
Posted: 3/28/06 at 10:32pmCity of Angels
timote316
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/20/04
#11re: Productions Of Plays Taken Out Of Their Periods
Posted: 3/28/06 at 10:33pmI saw a production of Hamlet set in the 1930s. It was excellent.
#12re: Productions Of Plays Taken Out Of Their Periods
Posted: 3/28/06 at 10:34pmMost Shakespeare has been staged in different periods, but I haven't seen very many musicals taken out of their periods. I don't think Rent counts because though La Boheme was staged in a different period, the musical has been staged consistently in the same period throughout its existence, which is what a believe the original post was about. And I don't see how the Sweeney revival was in a different period (sort of hard to tell from the minimalist sets).
#13re: Productions Of Plays Taken Out Of Their Periods
Posted: 3/28/06 at 10:43pmTwelve angry men was set in the 60's, though originally it was supposed to be in the 40's.
#14re: Productions Of Plays Taken Out Of Their Periods
Posted: 3/28/06 at 10:52pmI saw a production of As You Like It at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego that was updated for 1890's Victorian style England. The production was stellar in all regards. It is particularly amazing how well all of Shakespeare's play can survive intact not matter what the time frame. He truly was a masterful writer.
Jon
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/20/04
#15re: Productions Of Plays Taken Out Of Their Periods
Posted: 3/29/06 at 12:28amWhen Rodgers & Hart first adaped Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court", they set the "modern" scenes in the 1920's (whn they wrote the musical) rather than the late 1800's, when Twain wrote the original story. When they revised and revived the show in the early 1940's, they again updated the "modern" scenes, making the Connecticut Yankee a naval officer - capitalizing on World War II patriotism.
#16re: Productions Of Plays Taken Out Of Their Periods
Posted: 3/29/06 at 12:56am
Sweeney Todd has been "taken out of their original time period/context". Context for sure and those costumes are not all period.
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