Extracts from this document...

Introduction

1. How did your role emerge and how was it communicated? In this piece I took on more than one role, as did the rest of the actors in my group. We took on a Brechtian style throughout the whole play, giving a very physical, exaggerated and satirical style to the acting. In a Brechtian production the actors would use gest and exaggerated expressions to become an un-naturalistic representation of their character. In our play we didn't have a certain character that each actor would play, instead we would change character in each scene, another Brechtian technique. Our play was about the mail order bride industry, and the bizarre concept that relationships can be bought. The first character I play in the piece is a doll that is a representation of the mail order brides. We chose to use this, as the mail order bride industry is like any other commercial product industry; the woman becomes the manufactured good and we felt that having the bride as a doll puts emphasis on the consumerism. Also being a doll implies that the woman has no voice in this, that it's just a selling process, she doesn't make the choice in the relationship as she is the 'product' and therefore whoever buys her is her 'owner'. ...read more.

Middle

My intention was to create realisation, that you cannot buy love, love isn't someone to cook and clean for you, and that this advertisement was more for a robot than a wife. When researching mail order brides, we came across a television programme 'Dawn Porter: Mail Order Brides' where a woman went over to Russia to explore the process of men meeting their mail order brides. She observed the men flying over from America to select the bride they want. There were many different traits that the men bared to the camera, but to them, this behaviour is acceptable. Kevin, a 'purchaser' who appeared on the programme gave this selling point: 'I will give you a better way of living and you give me your body', he was solely interested in the girl's body and that she 'appreciated' him. This came as a shock to me, and I found these men sickening. When it came to the time where I had to act out a man who was buying a doll, I instantly saw Kevin in my mind and so I decided to use him as my character. I physically made myself crude and perverse, my gest for this character was to snort loudly and sit slouched with my legs apart, grabbing at my crotch and staring at the audience in a crass way. ...read more.

Conclusion

Then at the end of the piece they are all put back into their 'show' positions. This was meant to give an insight to what the brides felt underneath all the business and smiling faces. The un-naturalistic physicality follows Brecht's Verfremdungseffekt, to create realisation for the audience, to highlight real life issues, and our group felt it was appropriate to show that these brides are being used like dolls. The last scene is the re-arrival of the doll, similar to the first scene. In scene one she is faulty, she is not what the man 'wanted' and therefore just like a faulty product, it was returned and in the last scene he gets the 'working' wife. I play the bride in this scene; I arrive in a box and am unwrapped. Mail order brides are a method for men to get what they want by picking and choosing, when the box is unwrapped, I stay quiet until I am spoken to, and when I am spoken to I talk with a false smile on my face and greet my new husband. This is to emphasise the satirical idea that the brides are just as happy as the slimy perverse men. I then follow my new husband into my new home, but before I do, I show the audience the last and actual feeling of the bride, and that is complete anxiety. ?? ?? ?? ?? Olivia Lewis ...read more.

This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our AS and A Level Theatre Studies section.