Godspell Analysis: Attending A Collegiate Play

Godspell Analysis Attending a collegiate play was both a new and exciting experience for myself. Any sort of performance that I had previously attended had been through my times in middle school. To go along with this previous experience, I had absolutely no idea what to expect coming in. Generally speaking, the plays in middle schools are obviously uncoordinated and it’s obviously expected for many mistakes to be made throughout the duration. Through my attendance of a rehearsal a few weeks prior to the performance I garnered a general idea of what to expect. Throughout the duration of the rehearsal most of the actors seemed extremely familiar with their roles in terms of lines and stage directions. Most of the rehearsal was just making small tweaks to make the actors more comfortable and working on the fluidity of the stage directions. For example working on certain stage directions so actors were not in the way of each other when another actor had a stage direction. I approached this experience with a very open mind, and the time spent learning about theater in the classroom helped immensely with the understanding of this production. The elements of the play were something that really caught my attention throughout the duration of the performance. The one thing that really stood out to myself was the lighting. Whether it be the dimming of the lights or focusing on a particular character, it was something that not many people realize how important it is during a performance. I believe that when there are so many people on stage that viewers may sometimes be distracted by the others on stage and it really helps emphasize characters during specific points in the musical. Scenic elements of the play were used very well throughout the play as well. The stage being split up into multiple levels helped add emphasis during certain parts of the play. There were a lot of movements to be made and overall they did very well by moving fluidly. When I had attended the rehearsal there was some confusion as to where some people should be standing during certain points in time. Sometimes they even got into each other ways while moving or had positioned themselves so that they interrupted another actor when they had to move to another spot on stage. Costumes and sound design however did not stand out to myself as much as the other elements. Mostly because I wasn’t primarily focused on these while watching the play. The costumes appeared very simple and aesthetically pleasing, but nothing that …show more content…
There was nothing noticeable that I recognized in regards to mistakes being made by actors. When I watched the rehearsal the actors seemed very sluggish while delivering their lines. One example that caught my eye was when an actor would have to interrupt another. One of them would finish their lines and there would then be a brief pause before the other actor would say their lines. I know that it was just a rehearsal, but it still a problem for myself and I thought this would be prominent during the actual performance. However this was by no means the case upon my attendance of the play. Actors were very on que with their lines and delivery throughout the entire duration. You could without a doubt, see the intensity and passion of the actors through each and every