Halfway There

With the option to write either a journal entry or a mid-term learning synthesis this week, I find myself thinking about concrete learning and what has gone on thus far in the semester. I can say for certain that I’ve learnt – or think I’ve learnt – a good number of things in The Page and the Stage already, but reading the evaluation of how Learning Synthesis’ will be marked has left me questioning how much of it is what I was supposed to learn.

I’ve been learning to think more critically about how it is that a play will be transferred, literally, from the page to the stage. I’ve been learning to ask questions about the characters, the sets and lightning….even the background of the plays I read.

I’ve been asked to think about how previous knowledge on a subject may influence my reaction to any particular play, and by considering which knowledge it is important to know or share beforehand, I’ve also been led to question how a play can sometimes influence what knowledge we’ve previously had.

This epiphany did not come simply from sitting around idly and thinking. I witnessed the effect firsthand when we researched the history of the story presented in Sally Clark’s play, Life Without Instruction. Because of the research done beforehand for the Playgoer’s Companion, I knew that Artemisia and many of the other characters were relatively historically accurate. That gave me more respect for her character and her situation when I finally saw the play. The reverse was true in my perception of Artemisia’s character. From reading about her history, I had an image of a serious young woman, who seemed to be able to handle herself. This was not the impression I got after rereading the play. I came to view her as childish and not at all in control of her own life.

I chose not to do a Mid-term learning synthesis and just a blog post this week, because I think that the other will require much more time for consideration than I can give right now, and perhaps even more time for discussion with fellow classmates. I would prefer to go through all of the prompts again, and to reconsider what I’ve learnt and which bits of it are relevant before even attempting to write the leaning synthesis.