The performance starts off with Bert the barman cleaning glasses and Molly the owner of the bar wiping down tables. In comes Rye, the local drunk, staggering about the stage, eventually slumping down on a bar stool. His face is all twisted and he attempts to get a drink. The character Molly is very strict as she holds her hands on her hips and orders Rye to leave with a forceful look, wagging her finger. Lonely look, the gambler, sits in the corner of the bar at a table with a drink and a pack of cards. He looks very relaxed in his hassle-free zone, as if he’s not bothered by any of the nearby action. Swaggering at a steady pace and chewing on tobacco Dylan Parker, the sheriff, comes into the bar pushing back the swing doors effortlessly, showing that he considers himself to be rather important. He swoops away from Molly’s kiss in a disrespectful, cheeky manner as if looking down on her. He then sits beside Lonely Luke and Begins a game of cards. Dylan Parker is challenged by Molly to a gun fight. Struggling with the two gunmen Lonely Luke and Bert get shot. Admiring their work Molly and Dylan Parker smile at each other and leave the bar arm in arm. To add a bit of humour to this ending, we then brought Rye back and he begins having conversations with the dead corpses.
The character I played was Dylan Parker the sheriff. He is quite important in the community and is obviously very courageous and well respected; I tried to show this by using bold, firm movements. Whilst walking into the bar I swaggered and looked calm, cool and collected, almost with a look of superiority about me. I acted as if I was above most of the characters, especially whilst pulling away from Molly.
We made quite good use of what was available to us, using a square rostrum to show the split stage. The lighting we had was fairly basic, with a simple yellow tinted light to help build the atmosphere of a gloomy bar. The atmosphere was quite warm in the bar and in comparison to using just a white spotlight, which would make the scene feel quite sterile, it improved it a lot. It may have been better if we’d had a dull spotlight on the horse as it would separate the stage even more.
For costume the men all had basic shirts and waistcoats on. In addition to this the sheriff had on a gun belt and the barman had a bow-tie on. Molly was dressed in a frilly can-can dancer skirt. These costumes were perfect for the setting as they suited the time of the Wild West. If we’d had more time it would’ve been good to perhaps have paid attention to small details such as footwear, accessories and make-up. The props we used also improved the piece. Props included glasses for the bar, hats, playing cards and guns for the sheriff and molly. This was ideal and we didn’t particularly need anything else.
We all collaborated and managed to create a good end performance using all appropriate props, costumes and theatre arts available to us, although there is no such thing as perfection. One area we could’ve improved is our definition in character. By that I mean emphasising the characters movement and facial expressions that represented them well. This could’ve been helped by creating freeze shots during rehearsals to develop this area, but on a whole I think it worked exceedingly well.