Alfieri has a small, but effective role in the in the play, he is there to give the play it sense of inevitability and add to the ever-growing amount of tension, “a bottle of whisky slipped from the net.” This makes the situation even worse because you have a drunk Eddie and because of the way Alfieri says things it sound like something really bad is going to happen. He is also an effective tool, which is used to, release Eddie’s thoughts, so it gives the audience a much clearer view of Eddie’s thoughts.
The reason that I find this scene (Key scene 1) the most important scene is because, Eddie starts to get angry and release some of his anger out on Rodolfo during the sparring match. Marco takes offence to that and challenges Eddie to a test of strength, Eddie agrees but when he can’t lift the chair this makes us see that he is not as strong as we were made to believe. When Marco lifts the chair high above his head this is seen as a turning point in the story because Eddie is no longer the dominant male around the house. This part of the scene is highlighted to be a shocking moment, when every one stops what they are doing to watch the sudden shift of power. The picture of Marco standing proud with the chair above his head and the look of triumph on his face is to say, “look Eddie I’m the stongest out of the two, so stop using your strength to your advantage.”
If I was the director of the play, and I was to highlight key scenes within the play I would, start of by shinning a light green light on to Rodolfo and Eddie. This is to show that there is a slight bit of envy from Eddie, because Rodolfo is the one with Catherine and Eddie even though his body and mind tell him he has some kind of feeling for her. During the fight when ever someone lands a punch a sharp, loud jerky noise will be made in time with the punch, the more and more punches that are landed the louder the sound will increase. After Eddie has made the final big punch, Marco will jump up in out rage with a red light to show he is angry at what Eddie did. Catherine will run in from the kitchen with a yellow light shone on her, to show that she is scared for Rodolfo’s well being. After the fight has finished Eddie will go over will go over to his rocking chair and sit down a red light will be shone on him to show he is angry with everything that is going on. Rodolfo will be led over to the phonograph to dance by Catherine, where the ironic song paper doll will be played. This song being ironic because it’s about a man, having something that is not official his, taken away from him by another man, this is there to represent the status between Catherine and Eddie. Due to this the light shone on Eddie will turn an even darker shade of red as the song worsens his anger and Catherine and Rodolfo will be shone in a yellow because they are starting to become fearful of Eddie.
When Marco walks over to Eddie, places the chair infront of him, and challenges him to the chair lifting competition. Both of them will be shone in a red light to show they are still angry about the earlier issues and all the characters except Marco and Eddie will be in dark so all your attention is drawn to just that part of the scene. When Eddie goes down time and time again and cannot lift the chair he will be shone in a light blue light to show a slight feel of failure but he’ll just shrug his shoulders and make up any excuse he can, “it’s because its on an angle that’s why.” When Marco lifts the chair above his head, the paper doll song will stop to show this is a very important part of the scene. Eddie will start back away stumbling over his rocking chair, whilst being shone in a yellow light, to show he is scared of Marco’s strength. Marco will be shone in a white light to circle out how victorious he feels with the look on his face that he wants to smash the chair over Eddie. Once this is all over and done with the stage will go completely black to show the end of the 1st scene
The ideas I have for costumes is to have, Eddie wearing plane old T-shirt, jeans and heavily worn trainers, this is because, he works at the docks so he wants something that is hard wearing, and that he doesn’t mind getting dirty. Catherine will be wearing something quite tight, very revealing because, she wants to please her new found love Rodolfo, and she wants to be rebellious and go against the wishes of Eddie. Rodolfo will be wearing the latest and most expensive clothing like, a leather jacket, good quality jeans and high quality boots, because he enjoys living his life to the full, and buying the stuff that he wants but not necessarily need, even when his brother’s family are dying in Italy. Marco will be wearing simple clothes, such as jogging bottoms, T-shirt and trainers, because he has no time for needs and wants due to the fact that he is trying to save as much money as he can so he can send it to his slowly dying family in Italy. Last but no least, is Beatrice who will be wearing the simple, curtain pattern dress, flat-soled shoes and an apron over the dress, because she has no time to give to look good due to all the cooking, cleaning and other chores around the house she does.
When directing the entire scene I would start by looking at the positioning and movement of the characters first Eddie and Rodolfo will be standing in the middle of the room in a sparring position for boxing. Marco will be sat on a chair by the table watching Eddies every movement almost studying him in action. Catherine will be in the kitchen doing something like making cups of tea and Beatrice will be sat on a chair watching the Eddie, Rodolfo fight saying, “he’s very good, Eddie could teach him to be a great fighter,” to Marco. Marco will be watching the fight so vigorously that he doesn’t hear what Beatrice is saying. When Eddie smacks Rodolfo round the head then Catherine runs in to see if Rodolfo is all right. This shows the level of care and love that Catherine feels for Rodolfo. At the same moment Marco jumps up like a bullet out of a gun, from his chair saying something like, “it’s only a sparring match, what you have to do that for.” Marco is trying to stick up for his little brother and he want’s the chance to put Eddie back in his place to stop him picking on weaker people.
Eddie walks back over to his casually like nothing had happened, and plops into his rocking chair, just ignoring everything that Marco is saying. Catherine will be pulling Rodolfo over to the phonograph almost force fully, they will be dancing at a slow pace, phonograph will be playing paper doll which will be irritating Eddie, almost driving him to the edge. Then Marco will walk over to Eddie with a chair in his hand held down by his mid thigh and will slam it down infront of Eddie to say I challenge you and I’m not holding back, Marco will show Eddie what to do and how to do it. Eddie will get down to one knee, put one hand behind his back and grasp the bottom of the leg of the chair and will have a the look of concentration he will try to lift it but he can’t he will keep trying util he as finally given up. Eddie will have stepped away from the chair with his hands on his hips; his head hung in shame and the look of disappointment on his face. Then Marco will step up and set up the same as Eddie.
Then he will get the chair lifted to waist height, his arm will start to tremble as he starts to tier, he will go red in the face as he starts to run out of oxygen and have a deep stained look on his face. Then, he will slowly, but surly raise the chair above his head, the music on the phonograph will stop, Beatrice, Catherine and Rodolfo will stand on the spots frozen with the look of amazement on there faces. Eddie will seem very threatened by this and will start to back away with the look of fear on his face, tripping over his rocker as he backs away. Marco will stand there with the look of success on his face and the stance that he could hit Eddie with the chair but will refrain himself from doing so. Then the scene will go completely dark to signal the end of the first scene.
