I know your mom is going to give you cash for asking or answering good questions about A View from the Bridge tonight.
So here are some ideas for starters:
1. What is a longshoreman? (Hint: you may have seen some of them when you went on a cruise with your mom and watched the people on the dock as they loaded and unloaded cargo on other ships.)
2. What is a Greek tragedy. (Hint: it has something to do with a tragic flaw in the protagonist.)
3. The set of this play is described as spartan by some of the reviewers. What does the word spartan mean in the context of A View from the Bridge? (No hint here, but think back to Beyond the Beautiful Forever and remember how easily we became aware that the characters were in different places, i.e. a school, a bathroom, a jail ... just with a few props.)
Enjoy the play.
I can hardly wait to read your comments (or those comments of anyone in your party) afterward. I think you will go with the biggest group of any of us. At our house, it is only Kelvin and me who will see the play. Arta
Hi again, Duncan,
ReplyDeleteI was out reading up on the play for tonight. Here is a quick explanation of why this is called A View from the Bridge. It is because we are seeing the view of Alfieri, who represents the Greek chorus, the narrator who helps the plot along. Enjoy the read:
"Alfieri as the chorus/narrator need never leave the stage. Stage directions refer not to exits and entrances but to the light going down or coming up on Alfieri at his desk, as we switch from the extended bouts of action (flashbacks to Alfieri) to the interludes which allow him to comment, to move forward in time, and give brief indications of circumstantial detail, such as the source of the whisky Eddie brings home at the start of Act Two. Alfieri's view is also the "view from the bridge" of the title. To those around Eddie, those "on the water front", the events depicted are immediate, passionate and confused. But the audience has an ambiguous view. In the extended episodes of action we may forget, as Marco lifts the chair, or as Eddie kisses Rodolpho, that Alfieri is narrating. What we see is theatrical and exciting; we are involved as spectators. But at the end of the episode, as the light goes up on Alfieri, we are challenged to make a judgement. If Eddie, as we see him, appeals to our hearts, Alfieri makes sure we also judge with our heads.
I always loved the drama of a greek tragedy. I took a class on greek plays at the University. It was really fun.
ReplyDelete