Similarly with ‘The Godmother’, ‘Blue Remembered Hills’ was written after the time of setting, and introduces seven children, on a summer afternoon in the West Country, 1943. It seems the perfect childhood, yet this certain play gives us the idea of the “loss of Eden”. The beginning shows the playful side, the wonder and magic, the imagination. Yet from when the group of young boys hunt down, attack and kill the squirrel, leading ultimately to Donald’s death, we are introduced to the pain and terror side of it. Because of this, it’s a product of its time; the 1940’s being the decade of World War II. You could relate this with ‘The Godmother’, as within this period, gangs became incredibly strong and powerful, and gained a sort of mafia image, often arousing violence, But to directly relate the two would be different, ‘The Godmother’ does use the idea of death, and many cast members are shot, yet when staging the performance, the idea of “splurge guns” was brought up, replacing the bullet with custard. This would replace the harsh reality, for a sillier spoof.
The time difference between these two plays is just over 20 years, and along with this, they are set in two different continents. ‘The Godmother’ cannot have the time span of longer than a day and similarly, ‘Blue Remembered Hills’ only covers the span of one afternoon. Also, ‘The Godmother’ includes characters much more developed, adult. It’s the twenties, and they indulge in fun, drink and dancing. ‘Blue Remembered Hills’ involved children, less developed and indulge in a different kind of fun, but similarly to adults drinking, has consequences.
Both styles differ yet have hidden similarities. ‘The Godmother’ is semi-realistic, over-exaggerated and over-acted; especially as this is a spoof and the whole cast of characters are American. It’s a musical and even includes a narrator, Spats Valetta, in which much of his time he is talking directly to the audience, allowing the audience to be more involved intellectually and emotionally. ‘Blue Remembered Hills’ is more realistic, dealing with serious situations, including the death of one member of the characters, yet adding the exaggeration and make-believe when the children are playing. The characters in ‘The Godmother’ are incredibly stereotypical, the woman owning high-pitched voices, and being feminine and flirtatious to the extreme, makes it that much more humorous. The children in ‘Blue Remembered Hills’ are just as exaggerated and stereotypical as most children are, until reaching the end, in which you discover this loss of innocence which most people hold by children, and they do not become as stereotypical as once assumed. Both of these pieces are scripted, in which the actors themselves must interpret the characters from the script.
The main points that come through in ‘The Godmother’ is the idea of teamwork, and coming together as a community, shown finally at the end. There is also this faint sense of independency, especially coming from the female characters, in which also comes feminism and equality. There is a great deal of rivalry and competition between groups, but at the end friendship is bonded, and success is felt. Within ‘Blue Remembered Hills’, it can distantly relate to ‘The Godmother’, as the children are quite independent for their age, in which they’re making their way through the woods without the slightest trace of adults. Also the young boys do seem to compete a fair bit with their childish games. But besides all this, they become uncontrollable, and when adults should usually intervene, they lose the innocence of childhood and become brutally faced with the harsh reality not yet known to the young generation.
The costumes for both productions reflect the time period. Twenties dresses for females in ‘The Godmother’, along with long beads and head-band with upright feathers. The males mostly wore suits, usually pinstriped, along with spats. But all costumes were elegant and expensive. This is quite the opposite for ‘Blue Remembered Hills’ in which all the children are scruffy, and incredibly dirty from playing in the woods. The girls wore flowered, frilly dresses, and the boys, breaches.
To conclude, both plays have many hidden similarities, yet are both unique in their own way. I enjoyed working with both pieces and they’ve taught me things unknown to me before in the department of performing arts.
951 Words
Danielle Andre