Joan Littlewood was a controversial and innovative director. What was the legacy of her contribution to theatre?
Joan Littlewood was a controversial and innovative director. What was the legacy of her contribution to theatre? Joan Littlewood was considered controversial from the moment she walked out of RADA after only three months of study there on the only London scholarship awarded. She had no time for conventional acting, cut glass accents or typecasting. Littlewood headed north and founded the Theatre of Action in 1934 which two years later became known as the Theatre Union. In 1945 it became the famed Theatre workshop; a group of actors heavily committed to a left wing ideology whose aim was to revive and preserve all they thought was best in the theatrical traditions of Britain and Europe. Theatre Workshop was an instance of group theatre which had not been seen since the 16th century Italian Commedia Del'Arte or the Community Plays of The Middle Ages. Under the direction of Littlewood they devised and commissioned plays by and about the working class of Great Britain, something that had never been done before to the extent that they were doing. The group was heavily influenced by Vsevolod Meyerhold as they experimented with physical approaches to characterisation. However, Littlewood drew on a variety of additional influences in order to create her own theatre and theory of actor training including Commedia Del'Arte, Stanislavski, Brecht and the expressionist Laban. Her unique
“All My Sons”: Examine the Dramatic Power of Act 3.
Susan Martin 10KR 16th July 2001 "All My Sons": Examine the Dramatic Power of Act 3. "All My Sons" explores ideals. It argues the rights and wrongs of the American Dream. Arthur Miller plays a series of battles between the characters and in the audience's minds. The play considers trust, truth and blame and where the limits of a person's responsibility lie. As the play develops, so does the conflict over where to place the blame for the death of twenty-one service men. Once the truth is known Arthur Miller attacks the problem of responsibility. He delays revealing important information, keeping the audience interested, expecting more to come and forcing them to be more involved with the play. The play is made up of two parts. One is Chris's and Ann's attempt to persuade Kate that Larry is dead so that they can marry. Joe would like to support their wishes but recognises that he can not. The other part is the attempt by George and then by Chris to find out the truth about what happened in Joe's factory during the autumn of 1943. By the end of Act 3 both these narratives and all the conflicts have come together to reveal the mystery and create a climax. The focus is on the morality of Joe Keller, who places his narrow responsibility to his family above his wider responsibility to the men who rely on the integrity of his work. The most prominent dispute by
A comparison of the Opening Sequences in "The Others" and "the Sixth Sense", with a decision on which is the most effective and why?
Danielle Brown 10W 19/11/02 Mr. Saxton English A comparison of the Opening Sequences in "The Others" and "the Sixth Sense", with a decision on which is the most effective and why? The opening techniques for both of the films were completely different to each other. In "The Others", the beginning scene is very tense, where as in "The Sixth Sense", is light/happy and romantic, with two lovely couples celebrating. The producers use various methods to introduce the audience to the emotions of fear, suspense and hope. For example in "The Sixth Sense" music is very eerie, which therefore indicates to the audience that something ominous will happen. The music is played using a violin, which gave an appropriate sound that created a haunting eerie effect. In addition to this, dynamics and metallic sounds are used, sounding like It's coming from a tambourine, which conjure coldness and iciness. The diversity of dynamics including the loudness and softness brought a sense of confusion and panic. Also dynamics along with a pitch-black screen, in "The Sixth Sense" complimented each other to induce fear. Similarly with "The Others", eerie music is played using a violin and having dynamics at certain points, however no tambourines were present. Camera work is quite important in bringing across the message the director is communicating. For example like in "the Sixth Sense",
Mitford: The Curtain is Pulled.
Steve Radabaugh ENGL 106.12 Essay #1 17 Feb 2003 Mitford: The Curtain is Pulled How would you like to be put on a cold metal tray and have your body invaded taking out your blood and filling you with fluids to preserve your organs, all while your family has no idea about it? This is the issue Jessica Mitford brings to the table in "Behind The Formaldehyde Curtain." She raises questions about the legality of embalming, and ends up going into gory detail expressing exactly what goes on in the back room of funeral parlors nationwide. She talks about how the family of the deceased does not know that they are being embalmed, how to make a body look life-like, and what goes on at the burial site. Jessica Mitford writes an excellent article and it is reinforced by her graphic words explaining the issue, and the information she has presented. However, there are some flaws in her article, including her tendency to over elaborate, her lack of credible sources, and her one sided view on embalming. In the essay, Mitford uses excellent words to explain the process of embalming. She is using words that help in her explanation of embalming, and they are so graphic, whether you want to or not, you can picture what is going on in the room. Using words like "sprayed, sliced, pierced, pickled, trussed, trimmed, creamed, waxed, painted, rouged, and neatly dressed" practically lays
Creative writing piece with commentary.
A Level English Literature and Language Specification A, for AQA. Unit 1. Creative writing piece with commentary. I stood in the kitchen, hands clutching tightly at the white stone sink, as sensations flowed unbidden through my head, images flashing by like some diabolical slideshow. CLICK ... a burgundy-colour car squealing down the street ... CLICK ... the sound of a gun cocking, the scent of terror in the air ... CLICK ... deep dark red blood stroking down the wall forming an ever-increasing pool in the cold marble floor. I blinked and looked up, seeing again, but with my eyes, looking at the familiar comfortable kitchen littered with cereal bowls, dog leads and the other detritus of everyday life. Unsteadily I reached out and swallowed my daily allotment of pills; the vitamins, herbal extracts and mysterious white tablets in small amber bottles, as I tried to ignore the images and sounds of fire and destruction. From the television, this time, but no less or more familiar and real than before. I shook my head and gathered my things together, dislodging a pile of birthday cards. I dropped to my knees and started to gather them up, the hastily scribbled messages inside a disheartening calibration of my social and familiar status: "Dear Julie": two. "Dear Janie": one. "Dear Mrs Bradshaw": five. "Dear valued customer": six. And two with "Happy 50th!!"; two years too late,
The Last Days of Judas Iscariot
February 24th, 2011 The Last Days of Judas Iscariot Before seeing this play I did not know a lot about Judas. I only remembered that he was the one to betray Jesus from reading the Bible early on in my childhood for CCD. After seeing The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, it helped me better understand who Judas was and the kind of life he lived. I was not fully aware of his close relationship with Jesus. I simply understood that he was chosen as one of his twelve disciples. In the play it is explained by Mary Magdalene that Jesus was closest to Judas and her out of all twelve disciples. I was also surprised when she describes their relationship as Judas being "almost an alter-ego to Jesus - he was the shadow to Jesus' light. He was the sour to the sweet and the cool to the warm." Initially I knew that he was known as the one who turned Jesus over to the Jews, but did not realize his reaction and his struggle following Jesus' death. It was if Jesus believed in Judas, even after his betrayal, even though Judas did not believe in himself or the forgiveness of Jesus. The story of Judas sharing his spinning top with the other child came as a surprise to me. Since I knew he was the one to betray Jesus, he just seemed to be a heartless person. To hear that story from his mother during his trial provided me with compassion for Judas, which I did not have before. I thought the portrayal
Beckett
Beckett
Compare and contrast 2 film trailers Analyzing their effectiveness - 'Free Willy' and 'Dead Again'.
Laura Thompson, English Compare and contrast 2 film trailers Analyzing their effectiveness The two film trailers I will be comparing are 'Free Willy' and 'Dead Again'. These two film trailers are totally different, 'Free Willy' is adventure/magical trailer whereas 'Dead Again' is horror/mystery trailer. The purpose of these two film trailers is to engage the audience's attention, to make them want to see the film and to leave them wondering what will happen next. In 'Free Willy' the target audience is young children; this encourages pester-power, which is one of the most effective methods of advertising and is used by most U rated or PG rated films. Pester-power means the children 'pester' their mum and dad to take them to see the film. The majority of the 'Free Willy' trailer is quite slow paced through-out the film, this is to show its magical and dreamy style and a slow pace suits this well. However when the trailer gets to dramatic scene's the pace of the trailer gets faster. This is to give the audience the sense of anticipation, of expectance the fast pace keeps up with the furious and fast paced scene. The film 'Free Willy' is generally a slow paced film tralier, it makes it easier for the young children to understand. In the 'Free Willy' film trailer it also show the beginning, middle and ending of the plot giving a good idea of the story line but also leaving
Evaluation on "An Inspector Calls".
Evaluation on "An Inspector Calls" Doing An Inspector calls was a great experience from which I learned a lot from. From the beginning of the rehearsals we knew that we would have to give up a lot of our time and effort and give out the best of ourselves. There was a lot of line learning as the play itself consisted of a family celebrating the engagement of their daughter when an inspector comes to ask some questions. The whole play is based in one room and so many of us had to stay in the room a lot of the time. It was hard for us to keep our concentration and to stay in character as there were times where we did not have to say anything for a while, but our director Mr Harris helped us a lot and gave us many tips and ideas on how to improve our character work. I personally really enjoyed working with Mr Harris he gave up a lot of his time and as many of us put in a lot of effort in the play and the preparation of it. We firstly focused on our line learning and once we got it under control Mr Harris gave us directions on how to act them out and where we had to stand when saying the lines. It was hard and there were times where we thought it wouldn't work out as some of us were not putting much effort into the play and missed rehearsals and didn't know their lines. But we all stayed together and helped each other with line learning and stage directions. As the dates of
A leaflet on Bullying.
BULLYING ESSAY I will be designing a leaflet on bullying, I am doing this because I believe bullying is very dangerous and it should stop. The Target audience for my leaflet will be the bullied person, I have chosen to target the bullied person as they will need help on what to do, how to do it, and who to go to for help if they are bullied. I will design my leaflet into sections as this will be easy to carry around and will be clear for my target audience to read and understand. I will try to make my leaflet very colourful and eye-catching as I will want more people to read it. In my leaflet I will include: * Headings- Headings are essential to use as they be noticeable and make it clear what the leaflet is about * Colour- I will include colour as this will make my leaflet eye-catching, and stand out from the other leaflets, leading to my target audience wanting to read the leaflet. * Pictures- I will include pictures of children who have been bullied in the past, so my target audience, will empathise for the bullied people and try to prevent bullying. * Bullet points- To make clear what I am trying to get across and make my leaflet easier to read. * Contact Details- a contact number or E-Mail etc. to help and give advice to anyone who is being bullied or anyone who knows if someone is being bullied. * A Slogan- I will try to make this short and effective, maybe