Audience A Part Of The Show example essay topic

Is it a musical? A play? It's more like a Circus! On March 1, 2001, I had the great opportunity to see a very unique Off-Broadway variety show named De La Guarda, written, directed, and designed by Pic hon Balding and Di qui James. The theatre presenting this show is the Daryl Roth Theatre, which is located at 20 Union Square East, just a few blocks from Baruch College. There were many interesting moments in the show that one would be definitely surprised if he had no prior knowledge about the show.

What makes this show the most interesting is that it is not traditional theatre whatsoever. Everything is changed, including the area where it is performed. There is no real plot, but there are many artistic scenes throughout the show. Although there is no real plot, the performers present a wide range of emotions from one part of the show to the next that makes the audience members crave for the next emotion. It is a definite attention getter and everything including in the show, such as props and the performers themselves, makes the audience a part of the show. From the moment an audience member enters the theatre, he is welcomed with refreshments and waits in the basement until an usher calls the audience to come upstairs to the main performance area.

Since the tickets purchased for the show say "General Admission", there are no assigned seats and the audience is left standing in a large dark square room, with four black walls and a white ceiling. The once empty room becomes filled with people waiting for the show to begin. Ushers remain in the room to guide the audience to move from one area to the next because the performers may need room to perform later in the show. At 8 pm, the show begins from the ceiling.

Shadows of flying people grace the stage above. The directors' attempt to make the mood as serene as possible is established through the music and the props. There is a dreamlike music playing that puts the audience in a peaceful mood. Raindrops slowly hit the white paper ceiling and little balls, that seem to be magnetic, are placed by the floating people above.

The little balls move all in different directions and finally stop forming a big mass of balls. Little props, such as little horses and dinosaurs, are placed on the white paper and the performers play with them to make the audience amused. Soon after, many raindrops keep falling and suddenly the bright lights above turn off and the performers are no longer above. A black light turns on showing the once raindrops to be beautiful neon green, pink, and blue stars. When this occurs the whole audience gasps and applauses because the colors add to the peaceful atmosphere that is presented with the music. The sudden change of light, from shadows to the neon stars gives the illusion that the audience is no longer inside a theater, but instead they are outside in a forest looking up at the sky above.

The peaceful music comes to an end and a more vibrant, party music is played. This great change in emotion is such a brilliant move that was accomplished by the directors through the performers, props, and music. Two male performers come flying through the ceiling to the audience below. The performers are wearing harnesses to keep them from falling to the ground. The costumes of the performers are regular business suits, but it seems that they just got off work since the shirts and ties are loosened. Water comes dripping down through the hole that the performer created and one of the performers actually grabs a woman performer that seems to be a part of the audience because she is just standing there.

She kicks and screams for her life when he brings her up and down from the ceiling to the ground. After he drops her off, the paper ceiling breaks open and pandemonium is started. The black walls, which were just black drops, come off and the whole stage and backstage is seen. The stage completely surrounds the audience so any member in the audience can see everything.

The back wall seems to be a white scrim and two female performers with harnesses are chasing each other up and down the scrim. Balloons of all colors and confetti are thrown down from the performers and the stage crew. The party music sounds like the music that would play at a Brazilian carnival. All six or seven performers, both male and female come onto the floor and dance wild with the audience. Water is used as a prop for the performance. It adds to the wild party because the actors jump in and out of the water to splash the audience.

For the most part, the audience is not as shy as I thought they would be, which makes the whole show a more enjoyable one. The atmosphere created by the directors seems like a nightclub. What was once a peaceful and serene environment is now transformed into a wild and happy party. Another strong emotion presented in the show is love. Love has many up and downs and this is shown by two of the performers wearing harnesses. This emotion is established with actions alone; no words are spoken.

The scene starts off with a woman running slow motion up the white scrim. Once she reaches the top of the scrim she falls back to the ground and she starts to run slow motion again to the top. This is repeated about two other times and a man finally joins her by running slow motion up the white scrim. When they reach the top, they fall simultaneously to the bottom. As they run up the wall again, they try to reach each other's hand, but they fail to grab hold of each other and fall once again.

The man and woman again run slow motion up the wall and try to reach each other. Finally, once they reach the top, they both grasp each other and they wrap themselves around each other. The man and woman hold each other so tightly that it seems that nothing can pry them apart. The love is definitely felt by the audience through the music being played. The music sounds like a rainfall, very peaceful and calm and also very strong. The directors' attempt to make the emotion strong is achieved through the actor's performance and the symbolic music in the background.

De La Guarda is an unforgettable Off-Broadway show because one will never forget a show that requires to be standing up for a full 70 minutes. The talented acrobats provide a new experience for the audience through their flying and chasing of each other. The audience has an advantage in the Daryl Roth Theatre because in this Off-Broadway show everything can be seen. Of course some members get wetter than others because of where they are standing, but not one person will leave the room dry. The poetic intent was portrayed through the cast's ability to show their feelings through actions. Words need not to be spoken in this show to see how one performer is feeling.

The mood also is established through the lighting, music and props. Although one might think that standing up for 70 minutes may be long, the time flew by (literally) and it would not have bothered me and I think I speak for the rest of the audience, if the show was longer.