In this scene the band took at part as nuns. As they were all middle aged men with white pieces of cloth round their heads this was a very funny part of the scene. The most surprising and effective part evolving the nuns came when they started a sort of choral singing. This image of the priest on the altar and the sound of choral singing made you absolutely believe you were in a cold, damp smelling yet beautifully decorated Catholic Church somewhere in a small remote village in Italy or somewhere. This was actually a very naturalistic image, which is surprising as the rest of the scene is highly stylized. From the priest laughing with the audience to shouting and blessing them as he came forward on his moving altar was extremely stylized. The contrast of this with a very naturalistic image gave the audience an opportunity to calm themselves down and sets them in the right mood for the next scene when Francesco and his family come in. It is a serious scene, which is the reason for this calming yet dramatic image.
The band stay as nuns throughout the scene, this gave a very realistic effect and lighten the mood because of there comic value. Also at times the cried out adding suspense to the priest decisions for Francesco. The best way they did this was through their use of the previously mentioned choral singing. This worked well because surprisingly the band were all good singers and sang throughout the play in all different scenes. It is also an unusual quality in a play to have a group like this that provides music and act. It is not so rare in plays now that there is a band or chorus on or by stage. It gives a more organic effect and live music and singing gives a better effect and quality for the audience.
The lighting of this scene was very cold and depressing and as such steel blue gels were used. They were used very effectively to express to the audience the heavenly, yet imposing, atmosphere a church creates from the inside. Light shines through the stained glass but it is thinned and softened by the lead and paint, darkness breeds from every corner, under every seat. It was very depressing much like Francesco was at the time wanting to be part of the sea and explore it. Francesco is one of those who choose to explore the darkness, the unknown.
Throughout the play the actors use the wardrobe to enter a scene this is excellent as the cast can hide in the wardrobe and then suddenly burst out creating a genuine feel that the actors have just arrived some where else and it's not just a regular scene change. There is two doors to it one at the back the main door that would normally be on a wardrobe then one at the other side so the actors can get in and out. Mirrors work really well because they can be connected with an alternate world, at bit mysterious, hence using it to go from scenes and from backstage to the story.
The family use the wardrobe to enter this scene with Francesco, he is constantly attached to the fathers hands and never sitting still, always moving with the father. This is a terrifying effect as this strange looking puppet seems to look and breathe and be aware of its surroundings, it always moves and its eyes had a effect that from where ever you were in the audience it looked like he was staring at you. Although the puppet was allays moving in one way or another, its movements were very slight and it gave the effect that it was glaring around very carefully, taking note of each and every object, person around it. The puppets only ever said one word, the name of the city they lived in. This is fascinating to see how such little use of language can be used to such great effect, with the movement and flexibility the puppet had and the way the actor would move the puppet and himself around in a similar way(like he was an attachment of the actor or vise versa). This was especially used in other scenes where Francesco would be swimming in the water. The design of the puppet was also interesting and very effective in the way it represented more than just a sad and depress child. It was a creamy color made out of paper Mache. The puppet had no hair and only a hat on his head. For that fact there was no definite distinctions to weather it was male or female at that age even though Francesco is meant to be a little boy. Francesco was also made so that the eyes and his movement were that of someone much older but again he is only meant to be a child, this gave the effect that even though he didn’t say much he was a very smart child and had his own ideals. He appeared to be more of a misunderstood, observer. In this way Francesco is the androgynous, ageless representation of every person who has been stopped from doing something, who have decided to break away from the strict ideals that surround them but have found themselves blocked at every corner. Also he being a child represents how at young ages people are sometimes forced to be made into something that the parent saw fit (he was not allowed to grow into his own person), something he might not of agreed with. Also his age wins him sympathy with the audience, this helps to get the audience to get in the right frame of mind for the play and its morals.
The final part of this scene came when the priest tries to cure Francesco and tries to take the devils out of him and into himself. For this the priest came down from his altar and went right up to the family who were at the front of the stage to cure Francesco. This consisted of the priest praying and shouting at the child before being taken over by the devil himself and frothing at the mouth and generally acting like a crazed madman. This scene mainly adds to the comic values of the play with the priest acting rather silly and shooting around as if he was being possessed. The band enhanced this effect by playing loud hard rock music while the priest is curing Francesco on stage. Even though this was comically effective and much of the audience was laughing, it lightened the mood to the end of the scene and got the audience into another frame of mind for the next part. This was a really effective ending when the entire band and the family not forgetting the audience, all seemed to be wrapped up trying to release the devils inside Francesco. When it finished Francesco still was not cured and jumped into the bucket of water. The priest said that he could not be cured and they had to leave. This end was a bit chaotic and showed how they didn’t understand Francesco and blame his love for the water on devils.
This play used highly surreal techniques in the style of Lorca and Dali to create an effective, fun story with a message that was able to be as realistic on unrealistic as they wanted. Because as an audience you new that it was not first hand start and accepted all the props or intuitions in the play. It was different to most plays and as such held the audience's attention from start to finish, with the cast setting up the set at the beginning and getting the audience to join in with some music. This started from the obvious closeness of the company and expanded into the audience, at the end of the play u had a sense that you had just found about quite a lot about all the members of the cast. This group style of acting was echoed in the design and the way that the entire play came together, with everyone helping out the gather things and tell the stories. All aspects of design from the lighting to the music to the props came together in a different way to usual because in this piece each one directly affected and turned into the other on stage. The band became actors, the props became costume they went from telling a story, to talking about the story or going off about something else. This was why the play was effective in its use of strange props, set and acting. I enjoyed the play and loved the way they used the audience and made you accept everything that was happening on stage. As well as giving you a very good image of what was going on.
Here is what the set was set up for this section involving the priest and Francesco being cured.
By William Oliver
