How did the group plan for a range of responses from the audience?
How did the group plan for a range of responses from the audience? MomentPlanned ResponseReceived ResponseWe started the play with a red flood light with red and blue flashing lights, there was the sound of an air raid siren in the background whilst a member of the group recited a safety announcement, pieces of paper with pictures of people on them were dropped from the catwalk above the audience.To alienate the audience. The audience would have had a sense of anticipation, with this we wanted to transform that expectation in to confusion, doubt and fear. The siren was a classic choice to achieve this, at this point we wanted the audience to be unsure of what they should be doing, should they be leaving the theatre or was it part of the play. The flashing lights were chosen, not only as a representation of emergency services lights (which we automatically link to disaster), but to create a trapped claustrophobic feel to the scene, an inability to escape. The pictures were dropped roughly half way through the announcement they were used so that the audience were shocked, bewildered and unaware what could happen next. In this scene we were trying to confuse and alienate the audiences senses: visual, aural and sensual. Throughout the whole introductory section we wanted to communicate a feeling of disaster and meltdown as an introduction to the issues surrounding the action in the play.During this I noticed the audience looking around at one another, focussing on the speaker, then upwards as the pictures came down. Talking to members of the audience afterwards the majority of them said that they were unsure if the beginning was a real emergency or not, that they felt something had gone wrong, meaning we had achieved our desired response. However there was a lot of confusion regarding the safety announcement a few of the audience said they didn’t really hear the
second part of it as they were distracted by everything else going on around them. In a way this was what we’d intended the response to be but we did want the whole speech heard. Luckily the pictures were dropped after the line ‘the economy has collapsed’ which meant the speech that was essential to the rest of the plot was heard.During the Rape scene when the member of the group playing the protagonists girlfriend struggled against the other members of the group who, whilst holding onto her arms and legs, placed her on another members of the groups knees. ...
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second part of it as they were distracted by everything else going on around them. In a way this was what we’d intended the response to be but we did want the whole speech heard. Luckily the pictures were dropped after the line ‘the economy has collapsed’ which meant the speech that was essential to the rest of the plot was heard.During the Rape scene when the member of the group playing the protagonists girlfriend struggled against the other members of the group who, whilst holding onto her arms and legs, placed her on another members of the groups knees. In a separate spot the protagonist swung in ropes, his feet in two loops at the bottom of the ropes. Additionally I pulled the pants down from under the girls’ skirt that juxtaposed their cross-cutting monologue, which talked about how they got engaged.We wanted this scene to alienate the audience as well to make them completely uncomfortable in their own skin. We decided that I should pull the pants down extremely slowly to create an excruciatingly horrifying moment; this teamed with the girls’ pulsating movements was used to give a clear indication of what was happening. The image of the protagonist hanging in the ropes was a flash-forward to the end of the play, this wasn’t meant to be recognised until that point. This moment was a third of the way through the monologue, which meant that the audience had no idea this was going to happen, when it did we wanted this moment to make it incapable to watch but also create an inability to look away.Talking to the audience after the common response was that it was thoroughly disturbing to see the rape created in such a way, that it was so difficult to watch it. The consensus was that if they found it too disturbing to watch anymore they simply focussed completely on the protagonist, which was not our intention at all. However it turned out that this was for the better, if we hadn’t had the use of the flash-forward of the protagonist hanging there it would have made the audience severely uncomfortable meaning the speech would have most probably been lost on them also. During the Wise man’s story about how the company was formed he gets his followers to act for the protagonist, during this there is a lot of adlibbing between the protagonist and the wise man and a humorous reaction when the Wise Man mentions ‘the Crash’. At this point all of the members of the group cry ‘No’ simultaneously, this doesn’t satisfy the protagonist as he says: “Surely it was more dramatic than that Wise man!” to a response of “You’re right Joe, it was!” This prompts the group into screaming ‘No’ falling to the floor, writhing around, pounding the ground, sobbing and making a racket. Only when the Wise man screams, “Stop! Stop! Stop!” with a “Don’t milk it!” from the protagonist do we stop.To be found humorous and, more specifically, to make the audience aware that they are still watching a play making the gap between audience and performer more noticeable.When the Wise man mentions ‘the crash’ we wanted to make sure that it was really funny. We intensified the amount of noise on the second “No” so when it came to the understated line of “Don’t milk it!” it would create the desired effect.The audience found the scene funny altogether, mostly due to the protagonist and Wise man’s brilliant adlibbing, and we could hear their laughter carrying on long after the “Don’t milk it!” line.On talking to them afterwards we discovered that, especially amongst the younger audience, that was their favourite part and that they had found it really had to stop laughing. Amongst the older audiences they still found it funny but not to the same extent as the younger ones.I don’t think the desired awareness of the gap between audience and performer was recognised, it might have been subconsciously but it definitely wasn’t at the forefront of people’s minds when it came to that scene. However it had the comic affect that we’d wanted proving a successful response.In the scene in which the company has caught the protagonist he finds himself in a white spot light with nothing but darkness around the edges. Someone drops a coin on the floor at first, and then another person begins to stamp their feet. The first person to appear is a cleaner, just on the edge of the circle, a small girl appears who runs away when the protagonist sees her, a member of the company asks him questions from the darkness as if he is in an interview, an old friend comes up to him then shrugs him away, finally the girl is dragged across the floor with her head in a noose saying, ‘The boss will see you now!’This scene was both in order to alienate the protagonist and the audience. The intensity of the scene needs to create fear within the audience, even though they know what they’re watching can’t harm them, we wanted to make them feel trapped and nervous. We wanted the spotlight bright white so that the darkness surrounding it seemed darker, this making it more frustrating for the audience to look into, especially when they can hear noises or voices, as they want to see who’s there and what’s happening.After talking to the audience a lot of them said that they were ‘freaked out’ by this scene, mainly because they had no idea what was going on as it was, and the extra addition of not being able to see some of the things that are potentially key to the plot is irritating.During the scene I could hear a bit of nervous laughter as I came across the stage, as the cleaner I swept the floor really slowly and sinisterly.During the final scene we wanted to have the protagonist hanging upside down on the ropes to replicate the image of ‘The Falling Man’ however this proved too dangerous for him to encounter, as he had to hang there for around 3 minutes. We then stuck with the compromise that he’d simply be hanging upright in the ropes gently turning round, speaking the last part of his monologue from the rape scene. Music played in the background and the only lyrics you heard as the lights fade are: “I’m gonna die of loneliness, I know, I’m gonna die of loneliness for sure.”We wanted to make a clear reference back to the rape scene in which the protagonist is hanging in the ropes reciting his monologue (this is a flash forward to this end scene in which he has thrown himself off the building). We wanted to make the audience empathise with the protagonist and feel his emotions as he’s falling, despondent but remembering the happiest day of his life.Talking to the audience afterwards a lot of them found the image of the protagonist speaking his final words really poignant. A couple felt sad and depressed, linking it back to the original image. A lot of the people said the music matched it perfectly and that it made them feel a real connection to the moment. I think that if the protagonist had been hanging upside down then it would have completely lost the poignancy that was conveyed in the end, it would have been perceived humorously rather than seriously so I’m glad we didn’t try and do it. We structured our performance so there was a lot of light and shade, humorous and dark moments along the way. This was so we didn’t have a piece that was too depressing and also so we didn’t have one that would gloss over the meanings we wanted to convey about the crudeness of human nature and that often we don’t get the answers we want or need. We tried to encourage as much response out of the audience as possible so they could relate to our piece. All in all the responses were almost exactly how I anticipated them which I’m pleased about as the group was worried that the story wouldn’t come across clearly enough or that the humour wouldn’t be found funny enough, but luckily we had an audience of like-minded individuals who could understand to our play.
