Attending the Performance of Mamma Mia - Essay Example

Plays are some of the most important aspects of the field of film and theatre learning. To have an in-depth understanding of the various concepts involved in the field, it is imperative for one to attend the live performance of a play. I attended the live screening of the Mama Mia play that was performed in Broadway New York. The playwright was British performer and director Catherine Johnson. The composer of the play was one of the most renowned artists of all time, Benny Andersson.

I attended the performance on April 15, 2012, after receiving information on how credible the play is in my course. The play has two major acts and one captivating finale. The first act involves a 20-year-old woman, Sophie, deeply in love with a man named Sky and is happily engaged. However, she cannot go down the aisle with her father because she does not know her. This leads to her endeavor of finding out about her father. The second act involves Sophie in a dilemma as to who her father is after three possible candidates show up all willing to accompany her down the aisle (Craymer 127).

The performance was enchanting from how the actors brought out the plot in a sophisticated yet simple manner to understand. How the facial expressions of the actor playing Sophie’s role appeared was rather interesting. This is from the diverse moods that the plot offers about Sophie. There were those times according to the plot when Sophie was happy and exhilarated like spending time with her fiancé and there are those confused and sad moments where she has no idea what to do in mind that the wedding is nearing and that she is yet to identify her real father. All these different situations were offered a rather exclusive and comprehensive approach through facial expressions and stage maintenance not only by the main cast but also by the support characters making the play exquisite.

However, how the vocals of the actors were presented was rather unsatisfactory. This is from the fact that the actors did not fully explore their full potential. This is further revealed by how the cast did not change their vocal cords about the specific scenes in which they were acting. Some of the scenes required intonation such as the point where Sophie was angry with the three probable fathers for not being honest enough to let the real one stand out. At this point, the intonation was supposed to be high with rage but the actor taking Sophie’s role appeared rather less interested and used a low intonation displaying calmness that was not the atmosphere of the situation.

My overall description of the experience was that it was exhilarating because the positive aspects of the play outdid the negative aspects. The attendance was great and the audience was a great support to the entire crew thus making the performance livelier. The goal of the performance was to bring out the various themes in society such as marriage and domestic disputes that reflect contemporary society. I think the performance achieved its goal judging from the moods that the people left the theatre with and the emotional effect displayed on the face of the audience.