'Street Scene' was written by Elmer Rice and exploits the values of a Catholic family in New York, America. A powerful drama, 'Street Scene' deals with eternal issues: love, hate, racism and prejudice via several sets of families.

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Drama Coursework: ‘Street Scene.’

Sophie Chapman

25th September 02

Response

‘Street Scene’ was written by Elmer Rice and exploits the values of a Catholic family in New York, America. A powerful drama, ‘Street Scene’ deals with eternal issues: love, hate, racism and prejudice via several sets of families.

  I have explored the aspects covered in this play primarily by role – play. Role – play is the art of taking on a character – without a script – and then being that character in a prescribed situation. Most of ‘Street Scene’ is set upon a stoop, therefore to create different levels; parts of the rostra were used to construct a platform with stairs for the actors to stand upon.

  ‘Street Scene’ is about a tragic family and in particular the torments of a middle – aged man called Frank Maurant. Mr. Maurant is a gruff, aggressive and hard man who cannot accept change and always employs the importance of family. His major qualm throughout the play is the concept of his daughter Rose going out with a Jewish boy.

  Mrs. Maurant is a concealed character who brings about much speculation amongst the local gossips over her close relationship with Sankey the milkman. She never admits to her adultery but suspicion amongst others leads to tragedy in the end.

  With a group of people, I devised a scenario that might have happened before Mr. Maurant’s death. The scene is set in the prison and he awaits his execution. I wish to concentrate on the tension between Mr. Maurant and the police officers and the effect that it has on the audience. This extract does not demonstrate the flashbacks that were used in the scene but details the comical yet sadistic approach of the police officers and the piercing nerves of Mr.Maurants.

  Flashbacks are used to divert from the present to the past in order to demonstrate to the audience what has happened beforehand. Mr. Maurant has flashbacks to the dying moments up to and including Mrs. Maurant’s death, these flashbacks simply make Maurant more frightened about dying.

 

The scene is set in a prison cell. After being found guilty of his wife’s murder, Maurant has been sentenced to death. The scene opens with a declining Mr. Maurant emotionally decaying whilst being intimidated by a sadistic police officer. 

Police officer 1:Y’alright there Mr. Maurant, you know people tell me its real scary when you’re on death row. Gee, I’ve heard some awful stories about that hanging business, like this one time wh…

Mr Maurant interrupts.

Mr. Maurant: Alright that’s enough about that now. Is that what ya spend all day in the jug doing, trying to scare scum like me? Well it won’t work I’m telling ya.

Police officer 1: I didn’t mean to offend you sir, I’m just trying to prepare ya for the pain.

A knock is heard on the cell door.

Police officer 2: Hey Hank, open in there, we’re ready.

Police officer 1: Yes Sir. (he speaks in a calmer tone) Come on now Mr. Maurant, it’s time to go.

Mr. Maurant: I – I’m ready.

Police officer walks Mr. Maurant out and towards a wooden platform – the platform where Mr. Maurant will be hung from. Mr. Maurant is led onto the platform the rope tied around his neck.

Police officer 2: Do y’ave any final words Mr. Maurant?

Mr. Maurant: Yeah I just wanna say sorry for what I’ve done. I didn’t mean it, it was an acc…

Police officer 1 is trying to tie the rope around Maurant’s wrist tightly.

Police officer 1: That’s enough, let’s go Jim.

Mr. Maurant is a panic and tries to protest.

Mr. Maurant: Ya can’t do this now, I wasn’t finished.

Police officer 1: 1…2…3

Mr. Maurant shuts his eyes in anticipation for his death. Nothing happens. The two police officers  have merely played a trick on him.

  Mr. Maurant has lost any status that he once had; his decline in the social hierarchy is established in this scene. The flashbacks show Mr. Maurant with great authority holding the gun upon Mrs. Maurant and Sankey.

  At this stage he has a status of approximately 10 because he is holding a pistol upon two people who do not have any weapons and consequently are defenceless.  Images of greatness are nevertheless banished once the scene reverts back to Mr. Maurant in the jail cell where law-abiding people are belittling him. He now has a status of approximately 1 because he is simply awaiting his death, he is wrong and has decisions made for him within the prison. He has no power because he has committed a murderous act that will never be surpassed, his life pays for the crime he has performed.

  When the group composed this scene, it was important to think about the costumes and props that would be needed to make it authentic. Costumes, the clothes worn in plays make each character different from the next and entice the audience, enhancing their interest in the play. Variation in dialect, physicality, and appearance interest the audience. The use of costumes and props improves this change between characters.

  I have made a list of costumes and props that I think are appropriate for the characters in the jail scene:

Props

  • A newspaper – for Police Officer 1 to read whilst intimidating Mr. Maurant in his prison cell.
  • A set of keys – for Police Officer 1 to unlock Mr. Maurant’s prison cell.
  • A toothpick – for Police Officer 1 to chew on in the scene in the cell. The rigorous movement of the toothpick twisting around in his mouth only frustrates Mr. Maurant even more. He is jealous that this man will not have the same fate as him.
  • A stool - for Mr. Maurant to sit on in his prison cell.
  • A bed – to place in the corner of the prison cell to promote a prison environment.
  • A long rope – to tie around Mr. Maurant’s neck to hang him.
  • A wooden platform – for Mr. Maurant to stand on during his execution to create a true effect of him being hung.
  • A table – for Rose and Mr. Maurant to sit at during their conversation before his death.
  • A pair of handcuffs – for Police Officer 1 to handcuff Mr. Maurant on the way to the hanging platform.

Costumes

  • Mr. Maurant – a plain white cotton T- shirt stained with sweat, dirt and torn around the neckline, denim overalls, no shoes or socks. Mr. Maurant is very pale and has not shaved.

  • Police Officer 1 – a black woollen blazer, a crisp white cotton shirt, black suit trousers, smart black leather shoes tied with black shoelaces, white socks, a black leather watch worn on the right hand, a black hat with a peak and a flat top. His fringe is swept over the right side of his face.
  • Police Officer 2 – the same as Police Officer 1. He does not have a wristwatch but a pocket watch that dangles out of his top pocket.
  • Rose – a white cotton knee - length dress with a pastel pink floral print. A pastel pink cardigan which matches the pink in the dress. White ankle socks and a pair of black patent slip – on shoes with a thin strap on the right that buckles across the foot and on the left hand side. Rose’s hair is scraped back in a bun, she has no make – up on but a very pale shade of pink lipstick. A pearl necklace and a matching bracelet, a rose coloured hat with a net veil with covers the top half of her face. Her fingernails are also painted a pastel pink hue, she has a gold band on her little finger.

Development

    Rose Maurant is the devoted daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Maurant and a sister to the young and boisterous Willie. Rose acts like a tightrope walker walking along her father’s code of conduct. Although she wants to obey his rules, she cannot deny her love for Sam, a Jewish boy of the local neighbourhood. Rose performs a balancing act throughout the play – she is walking on eggshells trying to keep everyone happy. Metaphorically if she stumbles along the tightrope, she could destroy her relationship with her father for disobeying him or could ruin her bond with Sam.

 I have analysed Rose in particular. I felt that she had plenty of potential to change. She was constantly under her father’s instructions and forever listening to her safeguarding mother. ‘Street Scene’ having a vague ending made me think that there was more to Rose then what meets the eye. I believe that she had a mysterious edge and imagined what might have happened to her beyond her ‘Street Scene’ life. Through a monologue – a dramatic composition with one speaker, I expressed my vision of Rose picking herself up and trying to leave behind the tragedies that haunt so many who were present at her mother’s murder:

The scene opens on a girl (in front of the curtains) who is pretending to be Rose asleep in bed – the audience think that she is the real Rose but she isn’t. The actor simulates a deep dream and suddenly the bottom of the stage is covered in smoke. The curtains open onto a graveyard and the bed moves backwards. The actor playing the real Rose is featured in the dream, she creeps out from behind the bed and looks at a gravestone. The gravestone says ‘in loving memory of Judy Darnell / Rose Maurant, she was a nice person. Died a long time ago.’ Rose looks at the writing on the stone tablet and is emotionally touched. She is upset at the bland writing in her gravestone and as a spirit recollects her life. She interacts with the audience as though they are long lost friends who she has not seen in a long while.

Join now!

November 28th 1954 – that’s the day I waved ‘Goodbye’ to New York, that’s the day I said ‘Goodbye’ to the past. Rose’s existence is no more, it sleeps with the fishes. I don’t like speaking of what happened with my family but I wake up every day and the memory of that day sticks with me like a shadow. It’s now fifteen years since my mother’s passed on and maybe I do get a little sentimental sometimes.

  The day was cold, it always is in New York at that time of year. I’d been shopping with Sam, he was ...

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