Les Miserables
- Submitted by: Dani710
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- Category: English: Plays
- Date Submitted: 04/30/2012 11:18 PM
- Pages: 4
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Les Misérables
Walking into the dark theater, I could see the rows of red velvet seats beneath the dimmed lights under a high ceiling. We sat waiting for the production to begin, and I looked around the theater to observe the audience. Everyone was anxiously waiting, flipping through the playbill and talking among themselves. Seated in the corner of the theater, the stage jutted out in front of us. The low murmur turned silent as the lights began to slowly faint and the performance began.
The lights and the flash draw the audience’s attention, and is unquestionably one of the key devices of visual manifestation. Les Misérables has all of the workings of a brilliant spectacle. Bringing an emotional tragedy to life on stage, and adding the effects of scenes that portray war (gunshots, bright lights, smoke) helps capture the story. The scenery also plays a central role in helping to shape the story. The setting was a poor neighborhood in France during the Revolutionary War period. The characters were dressed in class appropriate attire, which brought to perspective the poverty that Victor Hugo depicted in his novel. The settings were based upon early nineteenth century houses, including both those of the rich and the poor. It also showed the barricades the revolutionaries fought within, and the battle ground for the wars they fought.
The novel and the play differ in some ways, as an play or movie is. When a scene is in words, it must be done differently when acted out. As Streit states in his article, “…There are differences thematically between the novel and the musical. Not prior political motifs by the time
Rant 2
of the nineteenth century are in the centre. Instead, love, life, glory and righteousness are the themes the characters have to deal with. The musical seeks dramatic concentration by eliminating...
Walking into the dark theater, I could see the rows of red velvet seats beneath the dimmed lights under a high ceiling. We sat waiting for the production to begin, and I looked around the theater to observe the audience. Everyone was anxiously waiting, flipping through the playbill and talking among themselves. Seated in the corner of the theater, the stage jutted out in front of us. The low murmur turned silent as the lights began to slowly faint and the performance began.
The lights and the flash draw the audience’s attention, and is unquestionably one of the key devices of visual manifestation. Les Misérables has all of the workings of a brilliant spectacle. Bringing an emotional tragedy to life on stage, and adding the effects of scenes that portray war (gunshots, bright lights, smoke) helps capture the story. The scenery also plays a central role in helping to shape the story. The setting was a poor neighborhood in France during the Revolutionary War period. The characters were dressed in class appropriate attire, which brought to perspective the poverty that Victor Hugo depicted in his novel. The settings were based upon early nineteenth century houses, including both those of the rich and the poor. It also showed the barricades the revolutionaries fought within, and the battle ground for the wars they fought.
The novel and the play differ in some ways, as an play or movie is. When a scene is in words, it must be done differently when acted out. As Streit states in his article, “…There are differences thematically between the novel and the musical. Not prior political motifs by the time
Rant 2
of the nineteenth century are in the centre. Instead, love, life, glory and righteousness are the themes the characters have to deal with. The musical seeks dramatic concentration by eliminating...