"Blood Wedding" By Federico Garcia Lorca.

EXPLORATORY NOTES "Blood Wedding" By Federico Garcia Lorca Plot and Sub-Plot From the surface the plot of Blood Wedding is a very simple one. The Bridegroom is to be married to the Bride. The Bridegrooms mother initially expresses doubts having lost both her Husband and one son to an ongoing feud with the Felix family. However, Leonardo, a member of the Felix family and old time love of the Bride's, begins to re-find his feelings. Having married and fathered a son since breaking up with the Bride, his position is difficult to say the least. On the day of the wedding of the Bride and Bridegroom, Leonardo arrives early and explains his feelings to the Bride, that she only left him because he was poor. She vehemently denies this, but nothing can dull their passions for one another. However, as she explains "I'll shut myself away with my husband, and I'll love him above everything." The wedding goes ahead. However, at the party after the wedding the Bride and Leonardo run away together. Once discovered the Bridegroom sets off in pursuit of them. The Bride and Leonardo escape to the forest, being hunted by the Bridegroom, aided by the Moon. Leonardo tries to tell the bride to return to the Bridegroom, but their love is too strong. The Bridegroom finds them and both himself and Leonardo are killed. (Indeed the play, had it been written by a more liberal Shakespeare may

  • Word count: 1942
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Drama
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The Use of the Stage Directions in The Cherry Orchard and Blood Wedding.

Stephanie Duarte The Use of the Stage Directions in The Cherry Orchard and Blood Wedding When a play is being read instead of being watched onstage, stage directions become essential to our understanding of the play as they allow us to picture what would be happening if the play were to be acted out. As there are many types of stage directions, I will only be analysing costumes, gestures, blocking and entrances and exits. These can be used to reveal character, symbolise the relationships between the characters, create a comic effect, or even heighten the tension and therefore change the mood. Blood Wedding is a highly dramatic play, making great use of symbolism, and the story line is heavily based on the strong feelings between the characters. The Cherry Orchard, on the other hand, is a play which incorporates both tragedy and comedy. Costumes are often described when introducing a character in The Cherry Orchard. At certain times in the play, their purpose is to give us an immediate idea of what a character is like or to create a comic effect. When Yepikhodov is first introduced, he is wearing "boots that squeak loudly", which creates comedy and also allows us to identify him as an accident-prone character. When Pishnik is described, he is wearing a "tight-fitting, long waisted coat in a fine material, and wide oriental-looking trousers". This adds to the comic side

  • Word count: 1632
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Drama
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Blood Brothers-play evaluation

Chiago Tabansi Blood Brothers The play... I saw the play Blood Brothers at the Pheonix Theatre in Central London; the theatre was an old one with a cosy atmosphere which accompanied a nice reasonable sized stage. - How the production was staged. Simplistic staging and used the same setting with inter-changeable doors and backdrops when appropriate. For example flying down Mrs Johnstone's house backdrop every time she was shown to be in her house. The correct use of lighting substituted for the minimal staging; this was a good technique to use as I was able to concentrate more on the acting. - The importance of the Narrator The narrator had an important role in the play, dressed in a black suit and tie he was easily recognised and was constantly there. Acting as a reader, telling the audience what happens at every intersection, explaining through both singing and talking. The fact that he was seen by all whilst the protagonists acted, this created an element of suspense, as the audience was itching to know what he has to say next. - The characters Each character played their role convincingly incorporating the basic drama techniques such as variety of voice, facial expression and body language. From this performance I would say the Johnstone family held a strong performance than the Lyons. It is fair to say the Johnstones performance was more believable. From the

  • Word count: 500
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Drama
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Theatre-In-Education

Theatre-In-Education Marc Goldstein The theatre education industry/movement has seen some rapid changes since its initial developments and establishment in the 1960's. However its origins mainly lie in the early years of the last century. It was the initial establishment of companies such as Bertha Waddell's in Scotland and Esme Church's in the north of England that thoroughly established the main roots of TIE. Mainly the initial aims of these companies was to stimulate, educate and inform young people through encouraging them to participate in enjoyable and imaginary based theatre programmes. Despite early attempts in Britain in the mid 1930's, where a Glasgow Director of education allowed the Bertha Waddell's company to perform in junior schools within school time, the majority of the advances within the movement came after World War Two. Due to the nature and after-effects of the time, many post war Education Authorities felt the need to sponsor drama and live theatre companies to aid in their areas learning processes. One could perhaps say that due to the sheer devastation of the war many education authorities felt that through the use of drama therapy and role play style interaction that students would be able to address their true anxieties and would therefore have a more rewarding time in post war school. Around this time parallel groups were beginning to form in

  • Word count: 1107
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Drama
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Blood brothers review

Blood Brothers review The play was called blood brothers. It was written by Willie Russell and I saw it at the phoenix theatre in London on the 7th march 2008. The play is about two brothers who were separated at birth when one is given away due to financial reasons. Later in their childhood they meet each other and become friends without knowing the others true identity. When they are adults one of the brothers be comes successful whereas the other doesn't. The prosperous brother, Eddie, has an affair with the poor ones, Mickey, wife, Linda. When Mickey finds out he immediately hunts down Eddie armed with a gun. When he finds Eddie he holds the gun to his head. Just then their birth mother, Mrs Johnstone runs in and tells them they're brothers. Mickey gets upset over not being the one to get given away and accidentally pulls the trigger. Immediately the police shoot Mickey dead so that both brothers are dead. The story is made to seem more realistic using the set. The first one is made to show a typical area of Liverpool with tall buildings in the background. One side represents the poor side of Liverpool where mickey lives and the other represents the rich side where eddie lives. The rich side has much grander buildings than the poor side showing the social inequality of the two families. The second set arrives when the Johnstone family get a new house in the country side.

  • Word count: 750
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Drama
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Spain - social, historical and political

SOCIAL HISTOICAL AND POLITICAL Weather Spain is a generally hot dry country, day to day life in this country is restrained by the hot weather in summer. The weather patterns are portrayed in Lorca's work through midday the actions be come heavy and tiresome and there is less activity, but in the late evening the weather becomes cooler and there is mush more activity. People are free from the heat and are able to move around actions are lighter. That is why the Spanish nightlife is full of life with music singing and dancing. In blood wedding the bride and Leonardo runaway in the evening because it's cooler and they will be able to move faster, the pace of the play increases. Family unit The family and family values are at the heart of the Spanish culture they play an important part in day-to-day life and are in every aspect of Spanish culture and tradition. Families tend to be large and do everything together. The men work in the farms and vineyards while the women stay at home to cook and clean, this too was a hard job and women had to be strong houses were made from bricks, dirt and dust got into the house because of the dryness. Floors had to be scrubbed and rugs beaten to keep the house clean. Children are left in the care of family or friends, babysitters are unheard of this makes the communities very close. The characters in blood wedding have strong family values

  • Word count: 520
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Drama
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The play we saw was Blood Brothers at the Phoenix Theatre in London. It was the 3pm viewing on the 5th November 2009.

Blood Brothers Evaluation Introduction The play we saw was Blood Brothers at the Phoenix Theatre in London. It was the 3pm viewing on the 5th November 2009. Act 1: The play begins with a deep red lighting on the stage. Two figures lie down on red stretchers, surrounded by police a grieving mother. Throughout the whole performance there is a narrator that plays a very strong part in the story. He explains the story making it clear to the audience what is happening. He is also a very eerie character that adds dramatic tension at many places in the show. He introduces us to Mrs Johnstone. Johnstone then sings "tell me it's not true". Following this a flash back is used to cast the setting back to the late 1950's and the story begins. Mrs Johnstone works as a cleaner for a rich woman called Mrs Lyons. Mrs Johnstone falls pregnant and explains to Mrs Lyons that she cannot afford to keep both of the baby boys she is carrying. Mrs Lyons suggests giving one of the babies to her. Mrs Johnstone then agrees and gives Mrs Lyons one of them. Mrs Johnstone's child is called Mickey and Mrs Lyons child is called Eddie. Mrs Johnstone continues to work for Mrs Lyons, but after a while Mrs Lyons considers Mrs Johnstone to be a threat and decides that she does no longer want her around. Mrs Lyons believes in superstition that twins separated at birth should never meet and if they do, they

  • Word count: 3060
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Drama
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Response to play's and other types of drama.

AQA GCSE Drama: Response to play's and other types of drama In this essay I am going to compare my play with two comparatives. The play I performed was a scripted piece called "Blue Remembered Hills" by Dennis Potter, written in . The other two texts are, "My Mother said I never should", by Charlotte Keatley, written in , and "Blood Brothers" by Willy Russell, written in . My performance was set in 1943, in the West Country, "in the long summer holiday". Naturalistic theatre was used, however, although it was about the events of seven children, adults play them all. War, bullying, abuse, aggression and murder are explored within the play. It was aimed at adults, as the issues it broached were in addressed in great depth, and because it was shown through the naivety of children, children would not understand. The play has historical and political context, and the political affairs of the time dictate the dialogue. The period in which it was set is reflected by the constant references to the War and "the Japs". The circumstances of the children, as well as historical background can be seen throughout. For example, when 'Donald' says: "I be tired out and all, working on those saw mills. I cut me thumb off an all". "My Mother said I never should" is about four 'ordinary' mothers/daughters and is about the social changes of the twentieth century,

  • Word count: 611
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Drama
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Use of space, levels and proxemics for blood brothers

In my opinion, the production used space, levels and proxemics very effectively as it showed their purpose of its use. For example. When Mrs. Lyons (Vivienne Carlyle) didn't want Mrs. Johnston (Marti Webb) near the baby. Carlyle was positioned stage right in relation with Mari Webb who was staged left. Carlyle moved back away from Webb to show that she didn't want her near the child and in doing that, she clutched the child close to her. Carlyle effectively used the idea that she didn't want Webb. Webb Carlyle Audience Another example is when Mickey (Sean Jones) and Eddie (Simon Wilmot) become friends and Mrs. J ( Webb) finds out! Mickey is send inside and I noticed that Webb used very close proxemics when talking to Simon. This showed the Love of a mother to her son that she had given away and hadn't seen for a long time although Simon is not aware at this point! I also felt the use of levels was used effectively by the Narrator (Keith Burns) as he linked the actors with the characters. For Example, when he was at the top of the background, looking down at the actors, it seemed as if he was in control. Especially because he was the one who tells what happens in the story. And I though use of spacing was also good as they used the background which blocked the depth of behind the sheets and the actual size of the stage. For

  • Word count: 304
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Drama
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Drama theatre evaluation of Miss Saigon

Drama theatre evaluation of Miss Saigon Miss Saigon uses cutting edge visual techniques and a brilliant new set which vividly recreates the streets of Vietnam and Bangkok. Set in 1975 during the final days leading up to the American evacuation of Saigon, Miss Saigon is an epic love story about the relationship between an American GI and a young Vietnamese woman. When it comes to musicals, people fall broadly into two camps. Either you like them, or you don't. Either you can accept the idea that singing and dancing can be used to tell a straight story, or you can't. As such, you probably already know whether you'll like Miss Saigon or not. If you like musicals, you'll probably like it. If you can't stand them, you probably won't. The purpose of this review, then, is basically to refine that "probably" down into a "definitely" (or, as the case may be, "definitely not"). First things first; Miss Saigon is distinctly a type-two musical. If you come to the theatre expecting something in the style of Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang or The Wizard of Oz , then you are going to be deeply surprised. When something's set in Vietnam, you know it isn't going to be all sweets and somewhere over the rainbow. Miss Saigon sets a powerful score over a heartbreaking plotline, which is likely to have the average audience member in tears by the end of the first act. The cast and ensemble all give

  • Word count: 650
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Drama
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