Conclusions/
Comparisons

Overall, we have discussed many different types of stage conventions used in the plays/films from this course that allow the actors to interact with the audience. Now we must compare those plays and movies to each other.

First, we see that Aristophanes' Birds, Plautus' Poenulus, and Road to Morocco all heavily utilize direct dialog with the audience. Whether it is from the chorus in Birds asking for votes so that the play might win, Poenulus' asides and use of a sing-along, or Road to Morocco's asides and references to the audience while Hope and Crosby break character, each employs such forward interaction that it is impossible to overlook these stage conventions.

On the other hand, Chaplin’s Immigrant and It Happened One Night do not directly address the spectators. Instead, the members of the audience are exposed to knowledge that has been kept from most, if not all of the characters. The Immigrant reveals Chaplin dropping a coin that he thought he found, and the audience realizes that he is eating food that he’s not going to be able to pay for. Likewise, as It Happened One Night progresses, Peter Warne and Ellie Andrews have a misunderstanding about which only the viewers know the truth. Similarly, in Menander’s Perikeiromene, the audience has some information about the plot, but the spectators don’t even know everything that’s going on. It is not until Moschion’s asides that we too are shown who his sister and his father are.

		Between the three films, we see a progression of the extent which the stage conventions are used.Chaplin’s Immigrant, being a silent short, brings the audience knowledge about impending predicaments, as we saw in the coin falling out of his pocket.This same sort of suspenseful energy is created much more strongly in It Happened One Night while Ellie and Peter misinterpret their situations and decisions.Finally, Hope and Crosby just speak directly to the audience while singing, and in later parts of the film, which allows the audience to feel as though they are actually part of the movie.

Finally, the three plays are also progressive in that they are three different writers. As the differences range from Old Comedy to New Comedy, and from Greek to Roman, the styles vary tremendously. This variation in style allows for the use of different stage conventions, or even one stage convention, in different ways.

Birds uses a chorus to include the audience, causing the spectators to feel as though there is someone able to speak for them.
	Perikeiromene makes use of prologues, asides, and eavesdropping, allowing the viewers to gain additional knowledge of the unfolding storyline.
And Poenulus uses asides to show true feelings and remind the audience of the tricks being played. This latest play, like its film counterpart, Road to Morocco, directly includes the audience much more than its predecessors.

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