Handout #3

Here's some recommended reading and viewing, focussed on the creative and/or unconventional use of antagonists.

READING SUGGESTIONS:

'Othello.' An argument can be made that it's Iago, not Othello, who's the protagonist here, if only because he's the more active (and interesting) of the two characters. But let's go with the traditional view -- that Iago is the 'bad guy.' Note how Shakespeare manages the impossible: Iago acts abominably, and yet we have a degree of sympathy for him (I do, anyway), because we understand why he's acting as he is. If you're pressed for time, read just the opening page or two, at <http://eserver.org/drama/shakespeare/tragedies/othello.txt>, in which Iago explains himself. Shakespeare lays out the context, the social forces, that drive him to act as he does. Bad guy? It all depends on your perspective . . .

'Major Barbara,' by Bernard Shaw, at http://eserver.org/drama/major-barbara/. Undershaft, the arms-manufacturer, is definitely one of Shaw's 'villains,' but an articulate and even charismatic one. Shaw gives all his characters -- including the ones he disagrees with -- a chance to say their piece, then often uses the action of the play to undercut the side he doesn't like and support the side he does (ie., make one look bad and the other good).

'The Baltimore Waltz,' by Paula Vogel. Off-hand, it's the curious disease that Anna's facing (a stand-in for AIDS) that's the antagonist here -- thus an abstract one. Still, scene-by-scene, Vogel provides a series of human antagonists, not at all abstract (sometimes Anna's brother, sometimes various people she meets), to keep the play going.

The first two plays you can find at your library or online. If you can't find Paula Vogel's play in your library or borrow it from a friend, it's available from the E-script bookstore at the website: <http://www.singlelane.com/escript/ebooks.htm>

SUGGESTED VIEWING:

I'll stick to plays you have a reasonable chance of finding at some local video store, though you can also buy these from amazon.com or bestvideo.com. I'll also stick to videos of the play in its original form, or -- if an adaptation to film -- ones still very faithful to the original.

''night, Mother' and 'The Glass Menagerie.' Both plays in which the 'bad gal' (the demon Mom) is fully and gloriously realized.

'Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean.' You sometimes find a single protagonist coming up against a series of antagonists. In this play, you have a bunch of protagonists coming up against a single antagonist (the Karen Black character).

'A Life in the Theatre.' The young actor is the antagonist here, but not on purpose. He's a perfectly likeable guy. He can't help it that he's getting the breaks the Jack Lemmon character never did (or so long ago it doesn't matter). Still, it's as hard on the Lemmon character as anything Iago ever does to Othello.

Hope you can track some of these down . . . or enjoy them again.

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