Browsing by Author "Christopher Cobb, Committee Member"

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Author's Choice: The Relevance of Author as Casting Director on the Restoration Stage
(2006-06-23) Anderson, Jennifer Smith; Anne Baker, Committee Member; Christopher Cobb, Committee Member; John Morillo, Committee Chair
During the Restoration playwrights were often able to act as directors when their works reached the stage. Playwrights were also very public about their intentions within their plays: the attitudes they wished the audience to take and the emotions they hoped their works to instill. As a result, we are able to examine the author⁄director's choice of cast and determine how those choices were intended to directly affect interpretation. With the loss of a play's original cast, much of the author's intent was lost. John Dryden wrote his story of Antony and Cleopatra, All For Love, as a tragedy, with the intent of evoking the pity of the audience. His choice of cast for the play's premiere in 1677 reflects this intent. Though the play was still highly popular in 1718, the changing cast had counteracted the intended pity. In 1696, Sir John Vanbrugh wrote The Relapse in response to Colley Cibber's move toward sentimental comedy in Love's Last Shift. Vanbrugh's play immediately met criticism from moralists, and by the time of its performance in 1716 the changing cast indicated the first shift of many that took the play from a reaction against sentimental comedy to a specimen of the same. Dryden's most extravagant heroic drama, The Conquest of Granada, used the personalities of its original cast to add depth to the play. By the play's final production in 1709, the new cast was unable to sustain the claims and characterizations necessary to the genre. Consistent throughout the major genres of Restoration drama is a move away from author intent over time, which is exemplified in changing cast lists, and amplified by comparisons between the changing casts and the casts of each play's premiere.
Copenhagen: A Brechtian Play
(2003-08-19) Crowdus, Cynthia Marie; Christopher Cobb, Committee Member; Nick Halpern, Committee Member; Patricia Lynne, Committee Chair
The purpose of this essay is to indicate the Brechtian elements of Michael Frayn's Copenhagen. Copenhagen, thus far, has been considered in relation to an emerging genre of the science play. This essay departs from other scholarship in that it shows the ways that Copenhagen works in the Brechtian mode, which is far from new. This essay offers an examination of Frayn's methodology in relation to Brecht's. Frayn's play is both episodic and non-cathartic. It also uses stage design and acting techniques to further the themes of the play. It uses the technique of integrating form and content. Furthermore, it employs the alienation technique. This essay also shows the ways in which the goals of Brechtian theatre were accomplished through Copenhagen. Frayn's play is didactic. It offers a moral and intends to create an actively engaged and critically aware audience. It teaches in the way that Brecht would have the theatre instruct. In addition, this essay offers evidence of accomplishing results. It notes the reactions from literary scholars, scientists, historians, and others.
Heroes, Gods, and Virtues: a comparison and contrast of the heroes in the Aeneid and The Lord of the Rings
(2002-12-18) Davis, Jason Larry; Robert V. Young, Committee Chair; Christopher Cobb, Committee Member; Linda Holley, Committee Member
The heroes in Virgil's Aeneid and Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings are compared and contrasted. Some of the heroic characteristics that Tolkien instills in his characters are similar to Aeneas's, but the primary heroes—Frodo, Sam, Aragorn, and Gandalf—display particularly Christian virtues that complement and fulfill Virgil's pre-Christian ideals. The comparison begins with Aeneas's and Frodo's choices to leave Carthage and Lothlorien because those two cities pose similar temptations. However the protagonists' decisions have differing motivations. Motive marks the beginning of the contrast which then proceeds to analyze goals and hopes of the characters. The virtues advocated by the two authors are directly connected to the theologies at work in their plots, and the varying celestial powers and forces of evil are contrasted as well. Finally, the conclusions of the two works reveal the greatest difference between the heroes?the power and importance of mercy rather than strength.