With reference to one production that you have seen, explain how the Performers used their Skills to establish a relationship with the audience? 'Journey's End' by R.C. Sherriff

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With reference to one production that you have seen, explain how the Performers used their Skills to establish a relationship with the audience?

'Journey's End' by R.C. Sherriff

Playhouse Theatre, September; naturalistic drama.

'Journey's End' by R.C. Sherriff, is a play based upon the author's own experience as a captain on the front line in a dug out near St. Quentin, just before the last German offensive of WW1. Like many war veterans, Sherriff seems to share the view that this war was not a fun place to be. The personal message that the play portrays is extremely anti-war, showing the hardships that the men had to endure, for example rats, the cold, the damp, poor food rations, death. It is certainly not glorifying the circumstances of these men during the war and stresses that unlike the nostalgic memories or 'rugger' back home, war is not a game.

This is particularly poignant when Raleigh, played by Peter Sandys-Cook, comes to the trench as a school boy with fantasies of what war will be like and how 'splendid' it will be to see his old friend Stanhope. His arrival contains a double meaning as it reminds the audience that within this large war, there were thousands of different people, each with their own family and relationships. It reminds us that these people on stage, telling us each characters story, were just a minute fraction of the vast numbers of people with their own stories about each of their differing lives.

Perhaps the part of the performance that summed this up best was the ending. All of the actors stood on stage in front of a long list of names of people who had served and died in the war. None of the actors broke their stony gazes, and none bowed. This was extremely effective as if the actors had taken a bow, we would have been reminded that it was a play, when in fact it actually was a portrayal, and this did happen. This really made the audience seem like we were the third-party, and had been looking back in time, through Stanislavski's 'fourth wall', peering-in on this real part of history. I think that this strengthened the actors' achievement in the play of portraying this realistic drama, and gave the audience time to reflect upon what they had just seen. As a member of the audience I felt closer to the actors having witnessed the changes in their characters throughout the play, and to see them stood there as if still in character was fabulous; a brilliant ending.
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Captain Stanhope, played by Brendan Patricks, is in my opinion one of the most interesting characters in the play. Stanhope is a young 21 year old Captain with a lot of responsibility. We learn that he has been in the war for three years and is highly respected by the men; "Because he's stuck it till his nerves have got battered to bits, he's called a drunkard" This quote shows how much Osborne cares about Stanhope and also how much he respects him. All of the characters seem to have a deep respect for Stanhope, as I think ...

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