Swansong-Christopher Bruce. The chair is the only constant prop in the performance, and it is used in many ways. Firstly and most obviously it is used as a chair, in the introduction the victim is sitting on the chair and the interrogators use this to tra

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AS and A Level Drama

October 21st 2007.

Swansong-Christopher Bruce.

      The chair is the only constant prop in the performance, and it is used in many ways. Firstly and most obviously it is used as a chair, in the introduction the victim is sitting on the chair and the interrogators use this to trap him in between them. By the 1st section the interrogators have pulled the victim off the chair, the chair is then used to balance the victim’s weight suggesting that they are keeping the victim from being free. The chair starts to become used as a shield for the victim- this shows us that the victim is starting to see the chair as some form of protection or safety net for him. This idea is developed majorly in section 2 of the performance. The victim often reaches for the safety of the chair only to have it pulled away from him, the interrogators use the chair against it pulling it away fro them victim as he goes to sit, and teasing him with it. The chair is also used in the piece as an emotional shield we know this by section 3 when the victim bends over the chair, one arm reaching forwards past his head, the other behind his back with the hands opening out from clenched fists. This could be a scream or a cry and is the first bird like gesture of the section- showing us that the victim is protecting himself using the chair but also trying to reach freedom with it. In the last few sections the chair becomes a negative image the chair is taken away from him, held as a form of bribery, then he is trapped underneath it, left almost corpse like, trapped by the chair and the surroundings.  The chair becomes a burden to the victim in section 5 we know this because he lifts the chair onto his back as though carrying a great weight, he uses the back of the chair as bars of a prison cell, he stands on it to look at the light closer to become closer to freedom then crumples in frustration and the solo ends with his ankles trapped in the bars of the chair.  

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      In the piece there is not much use of other props, however there is some. In section two we see two vital uses of props, one is the red nose that is placed on the victims nose during interrogation this is used to humiliate the victim and an attempt at making him crack under the humiliation. The second is the use of baseball caps used by the interrogators. They wear baseball caps with the rims turned up- this shows the victim (and the audience) that they are playing a game with him- a game they intend on ...

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Swansong-Christopher Bruce. The chair is the only constant prop in the performance, and it is used in many ways. Firstly and most obviously it is used as a chair, in the introduction the victim is sitting on the chair and the interrogators use this to tra
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