Analysis of the play Seminar
On 15 November 2012, the Phoenix theatre in Indianapolis presented a show on the play called “Seminar”. The intent of this paper is to provide an analysis of the play as it was shown on that day. The paper therefore draws attention on the story of the play and describes the play’s protagonist.
The seminar is a play about four aspiring young novelists who decides to sign up for the private writing classes with Leonard who is an international literacy figure. Each of the four novelists in the private seminar exemplifies a type of aspiration. For example, Douglas draws attention on his family connections and his barest brushes with minor fame. Kate is also a novelist who is a child of the Upper West Side privileged, and has been working for six years because she received faint praises. However, there is Martin who is a more resentful of phonies due to his intelligence and intensity. Finally, there is Izzy who is alluring and shameless and she is ever recognizing opportunities whenever it comes before her and according to her, opportunities are everywhere and they have to do with sex.
Remarkably, each student paid $5,000 in order to get the privilege of turning Mr. Rickman into ribbons. The play depicts Leonard a former novelist who turned jaded editor teaching a class for four post-college aspiring writers who longs for his approval. The initial setup of the play is within the reminiscent of a sitcom and Rebeck relies on the vulgarities as well as the insults for easy laughs.
Description of the protagonist
Leonard is the protagonist of the play “Seminar” and he is a world-weary misanthrope. Within the play, it is realizable that Leonard only respects the written word. He does not pay attention on people’s feelings, needs or ides. The play’s protagonist is a teacher who continuously exploits and depends on complex relationship with print on paper. The protagonist also acts as a workshop instructor and literary hired in order to analyze the writing of four young adults. He has an extreme commitment to the sacred and endangered art of the written word. The protagonist was a lazy individual and this is evidence at the time when he came across a semicolon within the stories of an eager student, he asserts that the semicolon means that there is a partial stop. This acted as an acid tongue remark, which was a love tongue depicting itself as a sexual attraction in the cerebral pursuits face. Leonard went through a lot of criticism from the outside world, which makes him to be alone in the world. He lives in the absence of friends thus making him to get by with the limited touch of the students. Additionally, he stays in the absence of his family, which makes writing to become his surrogate source of comfort and protection.
What the protagonist wants, his obstacles and stakes. Does he succeed?
In the play, the protagonist really wanted to be factual to the writers and sought to find out who among the four could best write. Throughout the play, Leonard reserves his annihilating eloquence so that he can shred the egos of his students. He faced dissimilar challenges from his students whereby they used to ask tough questions regarding themselves. For example, some used to ask him whether they are enabling living and breathing cosmos with the language or they were not making sense. Finally, the protagonist succeeded in his career because he met his aspiration of getting a story in the New Yorker to obtaining a topless profile in the New York magazine.
The play was very educative, especially to me as a student. This is so because it enabled me learn not to give up and instead be like Leonard, who did not give up while searching for his fate.
References
Rebeck, T. Seminar. Sam Gold, 101 productions. 2011.
