A character’s personal props were an excellent way of communicating their feelings and personality. Frank, the soldier, had a coin that he flipped on several occasions to help himself come to a decision about something. This coin represented his happy-go-lucky nature and willingness to take risks.
Props were also used to show the relationship between characters. Mildred’s seashell is first seen on her mantelpiece, but one of the first flashbacks to Mildred’s past shows that she was given it by her mother whilst on a visit to the beach. Mildred later gives it to her daughter when she leaves home. When Grace brings her new boyfriend home, she returns the shell to Mildred, perhaps symbolic of wanting to be independent from her mother.
A string of pearls is a present from Owen, Mildred’s husband. He gives them to her before he goes to fight in the war. These are the same pearls that are stolen when some young people break into Mildred’s house. This is only realised at the end of the play.
Other general props:
There were many props that were not specific to just one character, and they assisted in creating a moment of humour or suggest an occasion or place.
Near the beginning of the play, Mildred is trying to cross over from the traffic island. Actors entered, each with a small model car covering their heads. These cars swerved, overtook, went fast or slow according to the mood being created, often humorous. A large lorry was worn by two actors on a couple of occasions. At night, the cars had small headlights which reflected off of different surfaces.
The hitchhiker and Mildred play a game writing the destinations they would like to travel to: Rio was created by two car-wearing actors ‘driving’ on and then playing maracas to a latin tune: Hawaii was created by Mildred and the hiker being given two cocktails to drink.
Two aeroplane flights were created by the elevation of a globe above the stage left hinged flat and a plane on a stick being ‘flown’ around it. Later, a flight to Canada was signified by use of a Canadian flag and the plane.
When Owen hits the ‘test your strength’ machine, a sign saying “My hero” in the shape of a love heart appeared from behind the flat.
Sound effects:
Music was used to create atmosphere, time and place.
Loud, clubbing music played at the beginning of the play and again after Mildred is attacked by one of the youths. This created a sense of action.
Forties music was played during the flashbacks to Mildred’s childhood and younger days.
Fairground music was played when Mildred and Owen attend the fair.
Sixties music played when we first saw Mildred’s daughter, Grace.
Eighties music played when Mildred, aged 75 was shown in her home.
Sea sound effects were played when we first meet the young Mildred and later when Mildred takes her own young daughter to the beach.
Train and train whistle sound effects were played to create the station when young Mildred is being evacuated, and when the slightly older Mildred is saying goodbye to Owen as he leaves for the war.
Bird song sound effects were used to suggest tranquillity and peacefulness and were played at moments when people died.
A clock ticking sound effect was played in old Mildred’s home.
A range of car sound effects was used during the traffic island scenes.
Rain and thunder effects created weather conditions for old and young Mildreds.
Old fashioned ‘honking’ car horns were used by the actors when they were playing the vehicles.
A window is heard to smash just before the modern young characters enter Mildred’s home.
Special effects:
A smoke effect was used during the railway station scenes. Each time a train whistle blew, a jet of steam issued from behind the stage left flat.
Lighting effects:
Lighting was notably used at the moment when Mildred’s parents died. As the couple ran to each other, when they got to centre stage, a spotlight snapped onto them accompanied by an explosion sound effect.
The central green area could be lit to varying degrees of brightness. This was often accompanied by two rectangles of light, one either side of the stage. Characters like the child Mildred and Sydney stood in these lights when at the beach and when they read the letters informing them of their parents’ deaths.
Warm coloured gels helped to create the warmth of the beach scenes, whilst cold coloured gels were more suited to creating the railway station or other moment of sadness.
Masks:
Trestle Theatre Company is known for its use of masks. Each one is shaped to convey the different personalities of each character.
The mask for Old Mildred had lines around the eyes and mouth to suggest the lines and sags of an old woman’s face.
The character of the woman who marries Frank had a very prominent and sharp nose. These features conveyed a character who was sharp and demanding.
One of the workmen had a large flat nose, which suggested that it had been broken. The mask gave the character a slightly dim but friendly air.
Another mask represented the childhood character of Grace. This was more rounded and had large blue eyes to suggest innocence and to mimic the proportions of a young face.
Hair was attached to most of the masks to assist the creation of the character. Owen and Frank each had short parted hairstyles to suggest the style for soldiers in the 30’sand 40’s. Mildred as a young woman had long brown hair, but her hair had turned to permed curls of grey by the time she was 75.
Costume:
Costumes were cleverly constructed to allow quick changes and for actors to be able to play a series of different characters.
For example: The actor who played Mildred, aged 19, wore a knee length coat. the same actress when playing, Grace, aged 25, removed the coat to reveal a short 60’s style dress.
The actor who played Mildred’s father wore a long black overcoat, which concealed the army uniform when the same actor was playing Owen.
The workmen both wore fluorescent yellow jackets, suited to work by the side of roads.
Old Mildred wore a suitable blue cardigan and grey rain coat.
Physical performance style:
No words and masks hiding facial expressions meant that each actor had to make the most of their body language to convey meaning.
When Sydney is given a watch by his father, the actor placed the watch to his ear and tilted his head from side to side like a child hearing the ticking sounds.
When young Grace is smacked, she rubs her backside to ease the pain as she is led off of the beach. When the young Sydney is smacked by his father, he jumps to a rigid ‘attention’, showing the shock of having been smacked.
Just the smallest movement of the head created the aspect of questioning or sadness, anger or hurt. This was shown when the old Mildred approaches the figure of her father. He cannot see or respond to the old Mildred, but she slowly approaches him with her head tilted sadly; she wishes to place her head on her father’s shoulder, especially as the audience has just seen the child Mildred refusing to hug her father goodbye because she is upset at being evacuated.
Hands were used expressively, with many of the characters pointing to help direct the audience’s attention. Frank’s character used his hands as he spoke, balling his fists or splaying the fingers depending on his mood.
Body language was observed to the smallest detail. The actor playing Mildred stooped her shoulders and dragged her feet more as the 75 year old, but could instantly change her posture when she was slightly younger.
Actors used ‘through lines’, little repeated actions to convey a character. One example is of Karina Garnett, when she played Frank’s wife. She would pat her hair which was pinned behind her head; this conveyed a precise and impatient nature.
Actors were versatile, being able to capture the physicality of young children, rowdy teenagers, young and old people.
Demands on the audience:
This production demanded that the audience interpret every object and sound they saw and heard.
Every object on stage could have symbolic significance joining the characters to one another, revealing their relationships.
The audience had to keep its eyes open to not only read such things as the words the hitchhiker and Mildred write on pieces of paper, but to catch a glimpse of small objects, such as: the contraceptive pills that Mildred’s daughter places in her bag just before going away; or the metal identification tags that Owen was wearing when he was killed in the war which were then sent in an envelope to Mildred.
Each piece of music completed the time and place being created, and the audience had to identify where a piece of music had come from or when it was first played.
Silence was often used in the production and served to intensify the audience’s focus where constant noise would have challenged concentration.
