The director’s vision of the production of Die Fledermaus was “revenge in fun is fun”. Specific moments in the play where this was supported were in act one when Falke convinces Eisenstein to go to Prince Orlofsky’s ball. Falke has planned to get revenge on Eisenstein for humiliating him after a party. Falke is having fun plotting his revenge and this is portrayed by Falke’s demeanor toward Eisenstein. Falke is cheerful and excited when he finally convinces Eisenstein to put off jail until morning and go to the ball with him. Another specific moment that revenge is portrayed as fun is when Rosalinda is having fun at the ball flirting with her husband, all the while Eisenstein has no idea this is his wife. She steals his pocket watch so that she can reveal later that it was her that he was flirting with. All of this, revenge on Esinstein, was being done to entertain the Prince. The idea that Falke was getting revenge on Eisenstein while at a ball that was meant to be fun and entertaining is another element that the director was envisioning “revenge in fun is fun”.
The director’s concept of an “Austrian pastry” was visually conveyed by the pastel lighting, as well as the light and happy music. The costumes of the characters conveyed fluffy and sweet because of the type of fabric that was used and the colors of the fabrics. Some of the costumes had glitter which brings to mind sugar. The costumes were also bouncy and swingy illustrating “light and fluffy”. The set was brightly decorated , the white gave me the idea of icing. The blocking/movement that was obvious, was a lot of bouncing by the characters which was a visual illustration of light and fluffy as well as “fun”.
A specific moment in act II where the director used composition/blocking to focus the audience’s attention was when the scene opens and the characters use the elevated staircase that has been placed in the center just behind the fountain. The fountain was also used to elevate and isolate the characters that were the focal point. The combinations that the directed used were when he paired up the couples and the couple who the focus was to be on were dancing in the middle while the other characters were off to the side framing the couple dancing as the focus.
The director used several elements of comedy in this production including rule of three, repetition, and slapstick. The slapstick elements stand out most to me. Specific moments in the play where this was used include when Adele slapped Mr. Eisenstein on the head with her fan. In the last act at the jail there were several moments using slapstick comedy when the jailer was drunk and stumbling around and also at the very beginning of the scene when he was trying to light the lanterns. This is also an example of repetition when the jailer was trying to get the lighter to light and he had to repeatedly light the match and the stick.
Eisenstein is the protagonist in the play. He goes through a series of conflicts and yet manages in the end to come out on top. Rosalinda and Eisenstein decide they love one another too much to divorce, and so they live “happily ever after”. The major theme in this play is lying and deception. The message that is conveyed through the play is that lying and deception is fun when it is done for fun. The deceit in the play is portrayed seemingly lighthearted. The plays major action is the lying and deception of the main characters toward one another. Rosalinda is seeing Alfred behind her husband’s back, Eisenstein lies to his wife about going to jail when he is actually going to the ball, Alfred pretends to be Eisenstein when the jailer comes, Falke is lying to Eisenstein so he will go to the ball, and Rosalinda is hiding behind a mask deceiving her husband. All of this evidence supports the major theme of lying and deception throughout the play.