Evaluate the use of acting techniques and staging elements in Wild Bride. Make reference to the style and form of performance and practitioner influence where appropriate.

Authors Avatar by jackwellbs (student)

Wild Bride

Kneehigh Theatre Company, Cheltenham Everyman Theatre

10th November 2011

‘Evaluate the use of acting techniques and staging elements in “Wild Bride”.  Make reference to the style and form of performance and practitioner influence where appropriate’.

The story follows a young girl who is accidentally traded to the Devil by her father. When the Devil finds out how pure the girl is, he can’t take her. Indeed, she is so pure that, when she cries on her hands, they become untouchable. The devil solves the problem by cutting off her hands and letting life take its course to sully her, convinced that no one can stay as pure as that. However, the girl leaves her father’s care and becomes wild, she meets and a prince and they get married. When the prince leaves for war, the bride is forced into exile once more. When the now king returns from war, he himself leaves his palace in search of his bride and in turn becomes wild. At the end of the play the bride and the king are reunited. ‘Wild Bride’ is a romantic fairytale comedy.

For my evaluation of acting techniques and staging elements I have chosen the physical theatre production of ‘Wild Bride’. I will analyse the characters of the Prince and the father of the Bride, who were both performed by Stuart Goodwin, and Stuart McLoughlin who performed as the Narrator, and the vocal and physical skills, through multi-role, and storytelling that they used in particular moments throughout the performance. Multirole is where different or multiple characters are performed by the same actor or actress. Storytelling is where one or more characters assume the role of a narrator in order to tell the story of the performance to the audience.

‘Wild Bride’ was performed by Kneehigh Theatre Company under the style of physical theatre. Physical theatre incorporates into the performance through aspects such as dance, or exaggerated physical movements to show a passing of time or a physical connection between two characters. An example of this in the production that I am evaluating, ‘wild Bride’, is when the Wild Bride and the Prince meet for the first time, they engage in a fast paced, love dance and finish entwined in each other’s arms.

One of the most effective vocal skills that Stuart Goodwin (as the Father) used was when he had realised that he had traded his daughter to the devil. His line was ‘No’ which was repeated several times afterward. The first ‘no’ was said with a slow tempo, and was said in a disbelieving manner. I thought that this was effective moment in the performance because it made it seem as if the Father had just realised that he had given his daughter away to the Devil.

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The pitch of the first ‘no’ was very deep although the Father’s voice suddenly became very animated and dynamic, as he wanted to make apparent to the audience that he wanted rectify his mistake. The next four ‘no’s’ in sequence that the father then went on to exclaim were spoken with a quickening pace and a more desperate and urgent tone of voice. The pitch then got increasingly higher as Stuart Goodwin continued on with his line. The rest period between the ‘No’s’ became increasingly less and less,  I thought this was very effective because it showed the Father’s increasing ...

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