Enter Stage Right
stage a raised platform
passion suffering (Biblical)
If a cartoonist were asked to produce a drawing representing Drama, imagine what it would look like. There might be two large heads, one with a grotesque turned-down mouth, frowning eyebrows over tear-filled eyes, labelled Tragedy. The other, with a wide open smile, upraised eyebrows over sparkling eyes, labelled Comedy. From both heads would dangle dozens of small headlets, some separate, some intertwined, indicating the various forms of histrionics, all resting on the massive shoulders of Theatre.
Everyone has attended parades at one time or another. The colorful floats roll by spectators who are standing still or sitting. The Middle Ages (13th, 14th Centuries)had a version of that in reverse. Small stationary raised wooden platforms, some on wheels, were lined up in church courtyards, becoming small stages facing the passers-by and congregants. Each of the wagons had actors, scenery, a continuing story to tell, and people would walk from one to another. The little plays were called Passion Plays, and then there also came Morality Plays. All of them were intended to instruct as well as to entertain the populace.
A bit before Shakespeare's time (15th, 16th Centuries)theatres, much as we now know them, came into being. Those small raised wooden platforms on wagons became one large permanent stage with little balcony stages above and to the inner sides of it, housed in a building. The subject matter became similar to what we experience in our contemporary theatres: Tragedy and Comedy, bolstered and augmented by their little headlets.
There are many thousands of raised platforms, all sizes, used for many purposes today.
Have you ever had reason to be onstage? What has a raised platform meant to you? Were you in the audience or were you a participant? Costumed? Were there doting relatives in attendance? Are you now happy with the memory?
Shakespeare said
Exeunt Stage Left
passion suffering (Biblical)
If a cartoonist were asked to produce a drawing representing Drama, imagine what it would look like. There might be two large heads, one with a grotesque turned-down mouth, frowning eyebrows over tear-filled eyes, labelled Tragedy. The other, with a wide open smile, upraised eyebrows over sparkling eyes, labelled Comedy. From both heads would dangle dozens of small headlets, some separate, some intertwined, indicating the various forms of histrionics, all resting on the massive shoulders of Theatre.
Everyone has attended parades at one time or another. The colorful floats roll by spectators who are standing still or sitting. The Middle Ages (13th, 14th Centuries)had a version of that in reverse. Small stationary raised wooden platforms, some on wheels, were lined up in church courtyards, becoming small stages facing the passers-by and congregants. Each of the wagons had actors, scenery, a continuing story to tell, and people would walk from one to another. The little plays were called Passion Plays, and then there also came Morality Plays. All of them were intended to instruct as well as to entertain the populace.
A bit before Shakespeare's time (15th, 16th Centuries)theatres, much as we now know them, came into being. Those small raised wooden platforms on wagons became one large permanent stage with little balcony stages above and to the inner sides of it, housed in a building. The subject matter became similar to what we experience in our contemporary theatres: Tragedy and Comedy, bolstered and augmented by their little headlets.
There are many thousands of raised platforms, all sizes, used for many purposes today.
Have you ever had reason to be onstage? What has a raised platform meant to you? Were you in the audience or were you a participant? Costumed? Were there doting relatives in attendance? Are you now happy with the memory?
Shakespeare said
All the world's a stage/And all the men and women merely players.
Exeunt Stage Left
posted by marguerite louise at
9:22 PM
8 Comments:
Thank you, Kimberly, for your comment which alerted me to a problem about the "headlets". The first paragraph is all about an imaginary artist drawing a charcoal picture of Drama. So the headlets are just drawings representing the various aspects of Comedy and Tragedy. Tragedy always has a bit of comedy in it, so those headlets reflect an addition to all of that sadness and despair. Comedy always has a problem which needs to be solved, so those dangling headlets have tiny serious faces. And all of it is just drawings. Sorry you were freaked out! By the way, the questions at the end of my posts are meant to spur memories or ideas, and don't need to be answered here - I do like to read your responses, though. I'll bet you were a cute frog!
By
marguerite louise, at 5/21/2005 10:12 AM
To Chord of Three Strands: O K here are five questions:
What kind of music do you prefer"
What is your favorite color to wear?
Where would you like to go on vacation?
In a fine restaurant, what would you order that you would never cook for yourself?
Have you ever met a famous person, and if so, who was it? Please e mail the answers: Kernmonet@aol.com
By
marguerite louise, at 5/21/2005 2:38 PM
I focused on your opening definitions of "stage" and "passion" and on your closing quote from "As You Like It". I even borrowed the library video to be sure I remembered the story and the context of the line quoted. In the play, this much longer speech is delivered by the melancholy Jaques who, having been unjustly exiled from the grand palace to the obscure wilderness with his master, waxes cynical about life. In my untrained opinion and to use current vernacular, he basically says life is like the predictable bad B-movie and like it or not, we're all predictable stereotypes in the cast. "Stage" is not only a reference to theater, it's a reference to life cycles. He defines 7 stages from birth to death and even today, we'd recognize them with wry amusement. Succinctly put: We used to be young and silly, now we're old and silly. In between and no matter whether we were on the Fortune 500 list or on the welfare roll, we were 5 other stages of silly.
Is this denigrating or depressing? No. It's hilarious. We all tend to take ourselves and the changing tides of life too seriously.
Thanks for the thought-provoking essay, ML. I may be all wet, but this was my reaction to it. BTW, I was a jack-in-the-box in my 3rd grade Xmas play, "A Day in Santa's Workshop". Just thought you should know :)
By
Anonymous, at 5/22/2005 1:51 AM
is there a point to this?
By
Mark, at 5/22/2005 2:53 AM
Different people enjoy reading and thinking about different things. I would guess that if the point is lost on someone, this blog isn't for them.
By
Anonymous, at 5/22/2005 9:27 AM
Heh heh... Way to go, Carrie!
By
Anonymous, at 5/22/2005 10:30 AM
Sharon, I love your comment. 7 stages of silly. Yes!
I look back on my life and see the stages of silly, although I'm saving some of my self-esteem by not counting them. And ten years from now, assuming I'm still alive, I'll look back on today as a stage of silly.
By
Marguerite, at 5/22/2005 11:33 AM
Raised platforms mean... high profile, danger, keep your head down! Or maybe they are scaffolding alongside my beloved wooden boat?
But wait. Maybe they signify that old stage in an aging movie theater, where I first saw a local theater group. Yes! where plays I'd only read, came to glowing vibrant life. Those characters drew us entirely into their world. For awhile, until the curtain came down.
And then Thomas Cardinal Wolsey... or Murray the cop... became my shy insecure father. My dad, once again. Dad, who became upon retirement, an actor!
By
Anonymous, at 5/22/2005 3:36 PM
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