Monday, September 12, 2011
It's all in the detail
What stood out to me when I first start reading the play was the detail of the stage directions in each Act. "A small sofa fits into the right -hand corner with a small round table in front of it" versus stating a small sofa in the back of the room with a coffee table in front of it. This of course is when realism comes into play . Every single detail matters from the rising of the sun to the number of bouquets arranged on the table. I do not oppose realism, but I never realized until recently the challenges that it can present for a designer. It can take away a sense of creativity because everything that is needed in each act is stated exactly the way it should be . In my opinion, it does not leave much room for personal interpretation.
I don't exactly oppose realism because from a reader's standpoint it helps our imagination to really think about the set up, but then again that's personal interpretation. I'm not from a designer background, but I can definitely see your point in how it would limit the designer's personal touch in their work for the play.
ReplyDeleteThough I think that detail is very necessary in helping the reader to create a mental picture of the scenes, I agree that Hedda Gabler has a great deal of detail. This amount of detail felt kind of "all over the place" to me and left me a little distracted when reading the scenes. Mental pictures will be created by the reader regardless, so why not keep the details simple so the reader can build on those entails from their own imagination.
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