For the benefit of the audience, a theatrical production relies on a well-designed and thematically relevant framework. Indeed, a setting is responsible for designating the audience at a particular time and place, in addition to creating a specific social or political environment. In some rooms, the decor is so detailed and ornate that it becomes a character in its own right. In others, particularly in modern theatre, the setting is so bare that the audience must use their imagination to orient themselves. The setting provides the shape of the plot, as well as the motivations and sometimes the personalities of the characters. But more importantly, the setting of a theater production is crucial in demonstrating to the audience the overall thematic message that the author is trying to convey. For Eugene O'Neill, his setting in Desire Under the Elms proves the importance of home and its relationship to an individual's identity. In Thornton Wilder's Our Town, the setting is essential to convey philosophical messages about the transience of natural life. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Something unique about Desire Under the Elms is that it is an adaptation of the Greek tragedy Phaedrus. In the legend, Phèdre falls in love with her stepson, Hippolyte, and thus incurs the wrath of her husband, Theseus. What O'Neill does is take classic Greek tragedy and apply it to a rural New England setting in 1850. Currently, it is increasingly common, with adaptations, that a new setting ceases to provide the thematic impact of the original piece. However, written in 1924, at the height of Freud's popularity and influence, O'Neill tells a play essentially about an Oedipal entanglement as it relates to the discoveries of modern psychology. The playwright's audacity in uprooting the setting of the play and making it tangible in a modern period shows how essential the role of setting is in theater. In Desire Under the Elms, O'Neill establishes the setting of the play as a character itself, thus reflecting the character-driven nature of the plot. Just below the character list in the set description is: “Two huge elm trees stand on either side of the house. They bend their trailing branches over the roof. They seem to protect and at the same time subdue. There is a sinister motherhood in their appearance, an overwhelming and jealous absorption. They have developed from their intimate contact with the life of the man in the house a terrible humanity. They brood oppressively at home. They are like weary women who lay their breasts and their hands and their sagging hair on its roof, and when it rains their tears flow monotonously and rot on the shingles” (O’Neill, 318). This meticulously detailed description not only personifies the set, but also highlights the important role the set will play. O'Neill creates a dark tone that will resonate throughout the rest of the play, foreshadowing the tragic nature of the plot. The house itself is “…in good condition but needs repainting. Its walls are a sickly grayish, the green of the shutters has faded” (O’Neill, 318). Despite the menacing nature of the setting, the main characters of the play will constantly be shown asserting the loyalty they feel to their home. In one of the play's most notable scenes, Eben and his father's wife, Abbie, consummate their passions in the living room of the house, the place where Eben's mother died. O'Neill states that the living room has not been touched since the death of Eben's mother, and the decor is described as "a dark, pent-up roomlike a tomb in which the family was buried alive” (O’Neill, 352). . This description refers to the "sinister maternity" of the elms above the house, symbolizing the colossal shadow that the spirit of Eben's deceased mother has left over the house. Although it is clearly a sacred space for everyone in the house, especially Eben, he and Abbie desecrate the room by consummating their irresistible desires there. In doing so in this place of death, their actions foreshadow the tragic future of their relationship, culminating in Abbie's murder of their infant son. The living room is an important setting in the play as it reiterates the tragic atmosphere O'Neill was aiming for. The setting plays a key role in the idea of ​​Homeland for each of the characters in Désir sous les elms. For the two supporting characters, Eben's half-brothers Simeon and Peter, their desired home is "California-a". The play is set in 1850, just a year after the California Gold Rush, and the two brothers are eager to make their fortune on the West Coast. As Peter says: “…that’s the promise…Gold in the sky…” (O’Neill, 320). This quote represents the American promise of prosperity in the United States. However, it also shows that these particular characters do not feel a connection to their own farm as "home". Perhaps this is why O'Neill chose the characters, sending them to California and leaving the audience with the drama of the three main characters, who feel the connection to the farm that Simeon and Peter miss. farm as a house, despite being there for such a short time, shows an interesting revelation about her character as well as Patria's idea of ​​womanhood. On pages 338 and 339, Abbie describes her tragic life as a wanderer without a permanent home until she meets Ephraim. Now a permanent resident, Abbie boldly proclaims to Eben, “This is my farm – this is my buzz – this is my kitchen!” » (O'Neill, 339). Much like Hestia in Greek mythology, Abbie is given the opportunity to make a home and refuses to give up that identity, knowing what it means to live without a permanent framework. Through Abbie, O'Neill shows how the setting gives the character not only a home, but also an identity. The farm as a setting proves particularly important to Eben's motivations and characterizations. Because the farm originally belonged to his mother and had reverted to Ephraim upon her death, Eben shows particular hatred towards his father, believing that he deliberately worked his mother to death to put the hand on it. Defending his belief to his brothers, Eben declares: “…You have no right! She wouldn't be here, Maw! It was his farm! Didn't he steal it from him? She is dead. This is my farm” (O’Neill, 323). This attitude shows the special loyalty and protection that Eben shows towards his farm, and therefore his house. With the farm used as the setting for the play, the audience can witness his dedication to it, thus illustrating to the audience the inseparable connection with his true setting, his home. It is perhaps in the character of Ephraim that we witness the most passionate desire for Patria in O'Neill's play. Although he is absent for a time before returning with Abbie, Ephraim expresses enormous loyalty to the farm, going so far as to work his sons hard and (according to Eben) drive his ex-wife to her grave. Ephraim explains to Abbie, “They hated me because I was tough. I hated them because they were soft. They coveted the farm without knowing what that meant. It made me bitter and wormwood. It aged me – they coveted what I had made of myself” (O’Neill, 349-50). Ephraim, perhaps with age, shows that he believes he knows more about whatearth means to a person. He understands that one should not own land out of malice or entitlement, as Eben does. Ephraim believes that owning land does not necessarily mean it is your home; it’s cultivating it and growing with it that makes it so. Through the desires of the three main characters in Desire Under the Elms, O'Neill shows how the setting of a play represents the place of identity in the theater. Thornton Wilder's beloved play Our Town has long remained a classic of American theater for a multitude of reasons, but above all because it is timeless. Although it takes place during specific years, Wilder presents a universal message about appreciating life that connects with each audience member in an individual and heartbreaking way. Wilder presents an archetypal American city through an experimental theatrical setting that would change the way audiences connect to the action on stage. Wilder's Our Town is one of the earliest examples of experimental theater. For example, Act I begins with these stage directions: “No curtain. No landscape. The audience, upon arriving, sees an empty stage in the darkness” (Wilder, 5). A staging like this is remarkably different from earlier American plays, O'Neill being a striking example. Rather than making the plot and characters less accessible to the audience with a setting like this, Wilder instead seems to bridge the gap between the stage and the seats. By using minimal props and asking the characters to mime regular activities, such as eating breakfast, the audience is forced to imagine the real setting themselves. A technique like this personalizes the action on stage to each audience member, creating a closer connection to the universal and individualized message that Wilder is trying to convey. This element of Our Town is only the first of a number of production methods used by Wilder. In the text of the play, it is easy to see that the stage directions rarely refer to the setting itself, an obvious contrast to O'Neill's Desire Under. the Elms. Instead, stage directions often refer to the character's actions. The setting is explained to the audience by one of the most beloved characters in American theater, the stage manager. Like a narrator in a novel, the Stage Manager exists in two worlds: that presented on stage and that of the audience. It is used to help the audience refer to the town, Grover's Corners, as belonging not only to the characters on stage, but also to the audience members. For example, he tells the audience, “In our town, we like to know the facts about everyone” (Wilder, age 9). It's the constant use of the words "we" and "our" that begins to personalize the setting for the audience, based on each person's imagination or personal experience. This written technique proves important because it forces audiences to remember the meaning of each moment of their own lives outside the theater, while they are at home. The structure of the setting of Our Town proves to be very important to the thematic message of the film. play. For example, on the morning of Act I, there is a constant exchange of the Webb and Gibbs households. The text shows one matriarch speaking one after the other, although clearly in the narrative they are only speaking to their households, not to each other. Since there is no physical wall or set separating them, the audience is not limited to just one setting. The entire theater, not just the stage, encompasses the entire city, once again reinforcing the meaning of the term “Bear.” The anthem "Blessed Be the Tie That Binds" is sung three times during the production. It is sung in Act I during a normal day, in Act II during.