Disappearing Number

The following sample essay on disappearing number is based on maths, culture and the life and death in the world, the play was thought up and directed by Simon McBurney.The play is amazingly abstract in the ways it puts across meaningful concepts that take place around the world.The play was very visually in tune with the audience, adding things to break up large parts of script.For example when al the main character was playing with the over head projector and we could see everything on it made the scene have more of a fun element, I think this also gets the audience to keep focus.

Also by adding a random song and dance to the play shocked the audience with the sudden change, I think this worked well because it was another way of showing the number sequences with an audio beat.Other fun and different elements I picked up on were a screen changes the set from India to Cambridge, A bed turns what can be seen from an airplane window.

From what I understood about the play I found that it’s about two stories involved into one. The first is about an intellectual relationship between a Brahmin math genius and a Cambridge colleague set in the First World War.The other which is the main story is about a modern university teacher and her American and Indian partner Al, who is a futures dealer.While the older mathematic dies early of TB in England we are shown that Ruth, the modern day teacher wants to travel and study his work.

Get quality help now

Bella Hamilton

Verified

Proficient in: Communication

5 (234)

“ Very organized ,I enjoyed and Loved every bit of our professional interaction ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

Throughout its shown I got the feeling that it was trying to say that everything is parallel with everything else and we are all connected in some way.I also kept hearing the phrase “a mathematician, like a poet or painter, is a maker of patterns”. I think in other words this is trying to say that maths can be seen as a metaphor for other things in this world.By the people in the play maths is seen as a passion but also can become an obsession, which is so true like many other things in the world.I think this play falls under the character of a Brechtian play, and that is because we were constantly reminded about the stage being a set, like at one point the narrator lifts the set up, and we are shown that the characters are being played by actors.I think the main point of getting people to be reminded that they are watching a play and not real life actors makes the audience question the play.I think by adding in random parts like the dancing and singing gets people talking about the play which succeeds in what Brecht and so many others want to do.And that is for them to talk about what they’ve seen and then incorporate it into their lives.I really enjoyed the play because of its different spin on taking what could be simple idea and making it abstract and interesting.