Semiotic Analysis of The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard free essay sample

The bringing out of themes concerning love, adultery, and the harshness of reality, is supported by the usage of realistic, detailed set design and props in an attempt to recreate human life realistically. These include objects which serve actantial roles, like the typewriter, glasses of wine and cricket bat, being represented authentically or by visual replicas, thus being used as iconic signs of themselves. The set design of Henry’s living room over different periods also serves as an iconic representation of the time the play was set in, when considering specific props used, like the vinyl record player, typewriter, and the rotary dial telephone, which indicates a time set around the 1980’s, thus establishing a consistent time period for the play. This aspect of realistic stage design reduces the challenges of restructuring the stage, while shortening the psychical distance between the audience and the play, creating a natural stage environment the audience is familiar with. We will write a custom essay sample on Semiotic Analysis of The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This allows the issues of concern to be portrayed in a setting of familiarity, creating the sense that these issues can be inherent anywhere in our world, building the audience’s sense of immediacy with the themes, thus improving the effectiveness of the messages conveyed. Lighting takes on various functions in the play, accentuating moods, and expressing emotions of the scenes more effectively, to underscore themes1. Lighting serves an atmospheric function in the scene where Max was distraught after Charlotte leaves, in their play within a play. Amidst a darkening of the set, a disco ball sends patterns of light in swirls all about the stage, creating a melancholic atmosphere which complements the mood of the scene. Also, this same usage of lighting was repeated when Henry was upset, in a later scene. This usage of lighting serves an effective iconographic function, by drawing attention to the theme of the relation between fiction and reality as expressed in the play, by being deictic to the implicit connection between the two scenes, one of a fictional reality created by Henry, and the other which is reality experienced by Henry himself. While the mise-en-scene successfully aids in bringing out the themes of the play, there are aspects which challenge audience competence, limiting comprehension of certain parts of the play. One aspect would be a blurred distinction between scenes which are â€Å"plays within a play†, acted out by the characters as actors, and the representation of reality in the play. The first scene, which was a â€Å"play within a play†, would be difficult to distinguish from reality, until the second scene, when the answer was revealed explicitly in the dialogue. Also, the scene when Max confronts Annie in reality, for cheating on him, has a set designed in the same layout as the first, â€Å"play within a play† scene, thus creating a sense of confusion in distinguishing when the characters are acting, from when the dialogue was taking place in â€Å"reality†. There is a function of mise-en-scene that aids the ability of the audience to differentiate between them. These scenes that tend to be confused, have their sets very sparsely designed as compared to Henry’s well lit and richly furnished living room. With lighting focused on the characters and dim backgrounds, akin to stereotypical notions of certain plays where only minimal props are required to build an environment, and the focus is on the characters only, these scenes differentiate themselves from the reality of the play, as the nature of their set design is deictic to the idea that they are â€Å"plays within plays†, when contrasted with Henry’s living room, which is used to portray reality in â€Å"The Real Thing†.