Life is Theater, Theater is Life 4 Watching Theater Performances

Scene Analysis: Seeing Twelfth Night Performance

I enjoy watching performances in India and in London. Yesterday, my mother and I went to see Twelfth Night. I enjoyed this performance. It was my first Shakespeare performance. It was also my first experience in an open-air theater.

Twelfth Night is a comedy written by William Shakespeare. It is about twins (a brother and sister). The sister thinks her brother died in a shipwreck. The sister disguises herself as a man and goes to work for a duke. Many funny events happen because of the disguise and mistaken identity.

1. Scene choreography

My mother and I are at the open-air theater at Regent’s park, London. We went to the theater by two trains from my brother’s house. We also ate out.

Setting: Open air theater, trains, café.  

2.  Characters and role definitions

    

   a) Role definitions:

In previous posts, I focused on my role, but in a theater performance, there are many artists, and each person in a theater production has a role. In this post, I will describe the roles of all the characters.

• Sherry (my sister-in-law)

Sherry is very interested in watching a variety of shows. During every visit to London, I go to a few shows.

Sherry keeps looking at all the available shows. If there is something I might be interested in seeing, she asks me. If I am interested in a show, she books the tickets. Since I have two young nephews, we also have to decide who will go to the shows. Yesterday, my mother and I went to see Twelfth night. After booking the tickets, Sherry sent us the e-tickets.

• Aneesh (my brother)

Aneesh came with me to Baker Street by train. He took me and my mother to Veg Box café to have vegan food. We had lasagna, fritters, and frittata. Often, when I go for shows, Aneesh and Sherry take me to places to try different cuisines.  

• Ananth

I look up the train routes and plan our journey. Sometimes, things suddenly change. Yesterday, we found out that the train will not stop at our station after 10 pm. So, I suggested a different route to my mother and we went by a different set of trains.

• Mom

My mom made dinner. She also told me the plot of Twelfth Night. She said that as a theater artist, it is a wonderful opportunity for me to see a Shakespeare play in London. She suggested that we should read Twelfth Night.

• Dad

Since my mother came with me, my dad had to spend more time with Ishaan (my older nephew).

• Nephews

My younger nephew, Sanjay came with Aneesh on the train.

• Other family members

My mother and I share our experiences with my grandmothers and others on whatsapp.

3. Audio /script:

There are scripts for going on a train, eating at a café, and viewing a performance. First, we show the ticket to the usher. The usher shows us the seats. We then go to our seats. We put the mobile on vibrate and we settle down to see the show.

4. Focus of the scene – Rasanubhava (Enjoying watching performances), Somewhat excited because this was my first experience in an open-air theater.

As a theater artist, I understand the importance of roles. In a theater performance, each performer has to focus on their role. They cannot think about what others are doing what happened before, or what will happen. Theater teaches us to be in the moment and play our role. In life, we play different roles, and when we are playing a role, we have to focus on that role.

Parent Note

Ananth has enjoyed watching dance performances for many years.  He also enjoyed music performances.  Since he started participating in theater productions with RASA, he has also developed an interest in watching drama. Given Sherry’s interest in watching shows in London, Ananth has been fortunate to see many performances during our visits to London.  Watching theater shows and performing teaches many lessons for life.  We are grateful to RASA for the opportunities to learn and perform regularly.