Multi-role playing was done with some degree of success. One girl played many minor parts and although she changed how she interacted with the others when she became someone else, it would have been helpful if she had varied the tone of her voice a little, as it was very obvious that she was the same person who was playing other characters. If she had varied the pitch of her voice, it would have been easier for us to distinguish between the characters she was playing, which would have given us a better idea of what was happening.
Any music and dancing was done by the characters themselves which worked fairly well. It was a little confusing when the characters suddenly changed to playing instruments and singing but I feel it worked well to create the feeling of how basic what the people had was. There were no “extras,” you just had what you had and had to work with it.
One thing that I personally think didn’t work well very well was the characters becoming narrators. They did change their voice but it made it difficult to think of them as real people when they began telling a story to the audience, when the rest of the time they are trying to make us think that we are watching someone else’s life.
The show was staged end-on, which worked well. The actors were able to create the feeling that we were watching someone’s life because they didn’t have to acknowledge the audience all the time. Right from the beginning the stage was very bare, with just a bit of dirty straw scattered around. This showed how poor and basic the people were. It also created a rural feel. They used images on the back wall to show us where they were. The house image was not big enough, it seemed to be just there but not really doing anything. The barbed wire used for when they were in different camps worked fairly well as it communicated that they were trapped in the way of life. However, I think it should have been taken away for the dancing scenes, as I think that was a much more light heated moment that showed the people still having some fun. Despite the separate images for Oklahoma and California, there was not enough contrast between the sets for the two places. California was meant to be a harder place to live in, but in reality, the only difference was the dust effect in Oklahoma and the rain in California. Although both worked well on their own, it didn’t create enough contrast. Also the carriages used in the flood scene blocked the audiences view so we could not see what was happening inside.
The grave for Grandad worked extremely well. It was very simple, as it would have been if he had died under those circumstances in real life. It gave the feeling that they really didn’t have any money. Sliding doors used to open things up worked very well and gave us a good sense of being outside.
The car also worked very well, although it was obviously difficult to show us that it was moving from place to place because there is only a limited amount of room on the stage.
The lighting was overall very good. It set the mood for the action to take place. It came from all angles which created shadows which gave a really nice effect. It looked as though they were outside with the light varying. If the scene was darker, there was always light on the character speaking, so we could see the expression on their faces and know how they were feeling. When the family reached California, the light became warmer and brighter; this created a happier feel, as that is what was expected in California, a brighter place. In contrast, the light when their home was going to get knocked over was much duller and created the opposite effect.
The props and costumes, once again, were overall good. They communicated the message that they were very poor, as they were very simple. The costumes never changed which didn’t help us to imagine how long the journey was, although the mother was made to look older as time went on. All the characters were made to look very dirty, which told us how horrible their surroundings were. The blood effect was very realistic.
The lifting of the stage with picks for the grave was very good. It gave a strong sense of how desperate the family was. The tent off the car was also very good. It gave a real sense of travelling and the gypsy way of life that they were leading.
The messages that the performance was trying to give us were all very effectively communicated. The message that the family had to stay together was mainly put across by the mother who kept repeating that they had to “keep the fambly together.” The actors who were alone appeared to be in more trouble, physically and mentally than the people who had others for support. When Grandad died, Grandma fell sick; she needed his support to live. Also when the family was arguing, the atmosphere was tenser which showed they needed to be united.
The idea of women being stronger in difficult times was also put across very well. At the beginning, the mother checked nearly everything with the father and he would often interrupt her. However, as the level of difficulty they were facing increased, the mother became more forthright and was the one telling the others what to do. We were shown the father breaking down and losing control, once again it was the mother there to comfort him. At the very end, it is a man we were shown starving, while another man was unsuccessfully looking after him. Once again it was the women who saved him, with the mother having the idea that the eldest daughter, Rose of Sharon, could breastfeed him to save his life. Again this is women looking after men, not the other way round.
Generally, The Grapes of Wrath is a very moving show. It communicated all the themes very well and the other effects were good. I think it was quite a hard play to direct so that it would work for the audience, and therefore some of the ideas did not work overly well. However, I think it was an excellent performance that really gave you something to think about.
By Rebecca Britton
