Maturitní zkoušky
Dne 20. 10. 2015 navštívily třídy 7. A, 7. B a 3. F, 3. H VČD Pardubice, které uvádělo hru společnosti TNT Theatre Britain s názvem Martin Luther King.
Tato hra v anglickém jazyce pojednává o životě vůdce a bojovníka za práva černošských obyvatel USA v minulém století.
Působivé scény týkající se témat segregace a nenásilných prostředků boje proti bezpráví M. L. Kinga se prolínaly se sekvencemi ze života tohoto nositele Nobelovy ceny za mír až ke konci jeho životní pouti, kdy byl na něho v roce 1968 spáchán atentát.
A jaké byly ohlasy z řad studentů na toto představení? Přečtěte si některé z názorů studentů třídy 7. A:
Hana Šimková
Opinions of class 7.A
I really enjoyed the whole performance. I think it was very well prepared. The lead actor was amazing in his role of Martin Luther King. What I didn’t enjoy were long monologues. I know they are important part of the story but I was losing concentration during them. I especially like the singing. The female actress has a lovely voice. It was also interesting that there were only five actors on the stage playing the roles of many more people. I would have developed the scene a little better. The scenery didn’t change at all and sometimes it was confusing. Before the performance, I had been worried that I wouldn’t understand the actors but it was fine. I didn’t understand everything The were saying but I did understand most of it.
I like the play from one simple reason, and that is that it was in English. I’ve never seen a theatre performance in English before and I also enjoy listening to native speakers.
As to the content of the play, I was a bit disappointed. I did like the main motive of the play – the life of MLK – because I think he represents a very important part of the history of the USA and his story deserves to be told. What I missed, though, were scenes showing the horrible injustice that MLK was actually fighting against. There were a few, two or there, but not enough (in my opinion) to make the play interesting. The performance consisted mainly from long dialogues between MLK and his two political allies.
Firstly, I was surprised because I had expected something else. But it was a nice surprise. I liked the performance. Sometime it was hard for me to understand some actors, especially M.L.King in his long monologues but after some time passed I got used to his speaking. What I see as disadvantage is that the scene was quite dark. I also didn’t like long monologues or dialogues when actors were “just talking” and didn’t do anything more. To sum up, I would say that the performance was good and it was an interesting experience.
I quite liked the performance but I was expecting something a bit different. In my opinion, the dialogues were too long and there wasn’t enough action in the whole performance. Maybe the beginning of the story was the most entertaining part. Other things that I liked about the performance were the songs sung by all the actors. Although I didn’t like the story that much, I appreciated how the actors were playing, especially, the actor in the role of Martin Luther King.
I quite like the fist half of the performance. We were introduced to the situation in the USA in 60´s between white people and colored ones and also we saw the way how M.L.K. got into his position of the “speaker”. It was quite interesting for me. But the other part, after the interval, seemed too long for me. I know that the ending of the performance was really the important point of the whole story but previous long dialogues were quite demanding for the audience. I appreciated that I didn’t have any difficulty understanding, only in few parts I felt a little bit lost but I was able to understand well the situation again after few more words. I really liked the idea of “changing faces”. For the audience it always looked clear. I also didn’t mind the simple scene. There wasn’t needed anything else than small amount of the stuff which helped us to imagine where the scene was taking place.
Yesterday, we saw a performance Life and death of Mating Luther King. I quite enjoyed the play, mostly the beginning and the end. However, according to me, some parts could have been a bit shortened, to make the story more dynamic. I also appreciated their using white and black colour in some scenes on the stage as well as in costumes. Music fit the atmosphere; I like the repetition of one song several times during the story. In conclusion, I have to state that the actors did a great job and the performance is worth watching.
The performance “MLK” was really interesting. The actors used very good methods to show us the atmosphere of living in the past in the USA as well as policy of the white citizens against the black ones. Using dirty words as well as white and black masks on the face for better recognizing which group the character belongs to, and highlighting the problem of racism was appropriate to the topic of the play. However, sometimes, there were empty moments which didn’t move the plot, so these were useless.
In the beginning, I have to say that I have quite mixed feelings about this performance. On one hand, I would say that the actors and the actress did very well, I liked their performing in front of the audience, it was impressive and they caught my attention. On the other hand, the story of Martin Luther King isn’t close to me. And that might be the reason why I didn’t like it so much. Well, the first part of the performance was interesting and funny at some moments but sad too when you see the difference between “white and black” citizens.
I didn’t like it at all. I expected more sophisticated and a better-played performance. I am used to developed scenery, not just a few chairs, a table and nothing else. And what about performance of the actors? I really appreciated how Martin Luther King was acted. The actor played his character according to my imaginations and he was good at King’s mimics and gestures. On the contrary, I didn’t understand him well. Another person who I liked was the only one woman playing in this performance. I enjoyed her singing; she has a very captivating voice. However, the character of the sheriff annoyed me too much; his movements and expressions were ridiculous. To sum up, I would improve the scenery and sometimes some scenes should be better played. They also should change the way of King’s death. I expected more blood.
Overall, the performance was good but there are few things I would like to comment on. On one hand, I really liked the first part of the show, it was fast-pace, and we could see good acting, especially from the “stout” actor. The way how he played sheriff was cool. Another pro for me was the music. Throughout the whole performance it was on the point. The girl can sing really beautifully. On the other side, I didn’t like the second part; in my opinion, the point of fighting for better days was gone and it was changed into some kind of like romantic novel, when everything was focused on relationships between characters.
