Keywords

text analysis, protagonist, villain, cabaret, Daytona News Journal, false beginning

Abstract

On championing the villain, there is a naive quality that must be maintained even though the actor has rehearsed his tragic ending several times. There is a subtle difference between to charm and to seduce. The need for fame, glory, power, money, or other objects of affection drives antagonists so blindly that they ve no hope of regaining a consciousness about their actions. If and when they do become aware, they infrequently feel remorse. I captured the essence of the villain by exposing these lightless characters to the sun. On Monday, April 9th and Tuesday, April 17th, 2007, on the Gillespie stage in Daytona Beach, Florida, I performed a thirty-minute, one-act cabaret entitled The Dark Side of the Tune. By selecting pieces from the musical theatre genre to define and demonstrate the qualities of the stock character, the villain, I created a one-man show; a musical play, including an inciting incident, rising conflict, climax, and denouement, with only a few moments of my own dialogue to help handle the unique transitions for my own particular story. By analyzing the arc of major historical villains and comparing them to some of the current dark characters, I will discuss the progression of the villain s role within a production and the change from the clearly defined villain to modern misfits who are frequently far less scheming or obvious. My research includes analysis of the dark references within each piece s originating production, and how it has been integrated into the script for The Dark Side of the Tune and a breakdown of my cabaret s script (Appendix A). I explore actors tools, specifically voice, movement, and characterization, and their use in creating villainous characters. I also discuss similarities in story progression for the deviant s beginning, middle, and final positions within the plot structure of a production.

Notes

If this is your thesis or dissertation, and want to learn how to access it or for more information about readership statistics, contact us at STARS@ucf.edu

Graduation Date

2008

Advisor

Weaver, Earl

Degree

Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.)

College

College of Arts and Humanities

Department

Theatre

Degree Program

Theatre

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0002446

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0002446

Language

English

Release Date

December 2008

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

Download

Share

COinS