'A man for all seasons'?
'A man for all seasons'? In the play, written by Robert Bolt, 'A man for all seasons' the Common Man is a very important character and also a very important part of the play, not in the plot but in the way the play has been presented, he is both a narrator and a role player who makes the play more interesting and separates it from reality. The Common Man also introduces some of the ideas from Bertolt Brecht's work. The idea of the Common Man is a rare and rather unusual one. Robert Bolt used him intentionally to be like no other character in his play. One of the distinctive functions of the Common Man is obvious from his name. The word, 'common' meaning, 'common to us all.' Everybody in the audience should be able to relate to him. The Common Man plays a very plain and simple man and he sustains this through all his roles, especially the Boatman, who when asked to describe the life of a boatman says, 'its common.' We see the boatman as a typical hard working man as he talks about the strains of his job, 'from Richmond to Chelsea, downstream, from Chelsea to Richmond, upstream..' Yet this character is still able to make a joke about his wife to show that he is not bitter. The boatman is also the first to introduce the motif of the river, water imagery in the play. This involves the members of the play using the characteristics of water and portraying them into their own
Accurate identification of the points in the production process at which, value is added and explain what this means for the product or service.
E2: Accurate identification of the points in the production process at which, value is added and explain what this means for the product or service. The production process for Dairy Milk starts in the "Chirk Cocoa factory" this is in Ghana, where the top quality cocoa beans are primarily grown. Value is added here as Cadbury use the "top quality" cocoa beans to produce dairy milk. For Cadbury the result of this would be that they are producing a better quality chocolate due to the cocoa beans they use to make dairy milk be of a good quality, this is meant to satisfy the customers who will like dairy milk and keep on buying the chocolate again and again. In Ghana the cocoa beans are cleaned roasted and developed to produce the cocoa mass that contains around 55-58% of cocoa butter, which is the starting point for all chocolate products. The cocoa mass is then taken to the "Marlbrook factory" where the cocoa mass has sugar and milk added to it which, is condensed into a creamy liquid. When this dries it is turned into milk chocolate crumb. The crumb is ground and the particle size is vital, because if the size is to coarse then the chocolate would taste grainy, and if to fine then the texture of the chocolate would be to smooth and this prevents the flavour from being tasted. Cadbury's aim is to make the chocolate taste as good as is can, therefore they have to ground the
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.
Wild Bride Kneehigh Theatre Company, Cheltenham Everyman Theatre 0th 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,
Briefly outline and justify your casting decisions for Antigone and Ismene and then explain how you would direct your actors in their first appearance together in order to convey your interpretation of their relationship at this stage in the play
Briefly outline and justify your casting decisions for Antigone and Ismene and then explain how you would direct your actors in their first appearance together in order to convey your interpretation of their relationship at this stage in the play I am choosing to set Antigone in a police state. Thebes will be a country under civil unrest, with Creon and his family fighting for the state apart from Polyneikes who is fighting for the citizens of Thebes and is a part of the anikist group called Argos. Antigone tells her sister that she is going to go against Creon, who I would have as a general, and bury her brother. The stage should be end on with no staging bar a backdrop showing high fences with barbed wire on the top along with two security cameras on the stage corners attached to the ceiling that focus upon the centre of the stage occasionally moving slightly to the left or right Security cameras Ismone and Antigone should be of a similar height and build with dark hair to show there relation. Their hair should be scraped back into a pony tail and their faces should be without makeup. This shows that the compound is based upon practicality and not looks. There costume should be of a military combat style in all black and both are to wear army boots. Both are to have armbands stitched with patches that show their individual achievements and ranking, Ismone’s is to be
Mad About The Boy, explain how the actors used vocal and physical theatre to change the audiences emotions throughout the play.
3 Explain how one or more performer(s) used their vocal and/or physical skills to create changing responses in the audience during one live production that you have seen and assess the effectiveness of their performance(s) at particular moments. On September the 28th, Taunton School AS drama went to the Old Vic theatre in Bristol to see Mad About The Boy. The three characters were Boy; played by Bayo Gbadamosi, Man; played by Simon Darwin and Dad; played by Jason Bennett. Gbolahan Obisean wrote the play. The first skill that was used was by the Boy right before the play had even started. He was standing on the stage as we all walked in dancing to hip hop music and pointing and laughing at the audience. The music was very loud and the dancing very stylized so we straight away we knew what type of person he was going to be. At first glance he was a rule breaker and a rebel. He used non-verbal dialogue such as laughing and whooping to relate to the audience. I was lucky enough to be sitting in the front row at the theatre and he made eye contact with me. This really made me feel comfortable and like I knew him before the play even started. He had successfully broken down the actor audience relationship without saying a single word! The choice of music also made the audience get drawn in further and further and as you watched him dance you wanted to get up there and dance with
Blood Brothers Review - Birmingham Hippodrome
Page 1 Blood Brothers Review By Nicole Russell On the 20th October 2010, we went to watch ‘Blood Brothers’. Written by Willy Russell, the story is a gripping, emotional and sometimes comical tale of twin brothers from Liverpool who are separated at birth due to the financial desperation of their single mother. Brought up in completely different social backgrounds, their birth mother’s obsessive attempts at keeping her sons from discovering each other lead to a tragic conclusion. I was really surprised how they started the play with a flashback but it worked well, it made me realise that the play is going to have a tragic ending. It also engaged me to want to watch the play and find out what happens further on into the story. It allowed me as the audience to feel sympathy for the characters without knowing them. My favourite actor was Sean Jones who played the part of Mickey. This is because I really enjoyed how he acted like a seven year old, he used his enthusiasm clearly to make his acting realistic and believable. He portrayed this by using his body language and facial expressions effectively. He was really successful in showing he was upset and arrogant when he wasn’t allowed to play outside, which is originally what a real seven year old would do. Sean Jones used his levels effectively to present himself as a seven year old. When his mother told him he
On the 14th of November we went to watch Scene Productions perform Doctor Faustus at Roses Theatre
________________ WHAT ELSE CAN I DO TO IMPROVE THIS PLEASE:D Review on Doctor Faustus On the 14th of November we went to watch Scene Productions perform Doctor Faustus at Roses Theatre. It was adapted from the play written by Marlowe and was published in 1604. We were first enhanced by the red lighting which immediately highlighted a specific motif of evil. I was constantly thrilled by the arrogant hero who makes a pact with the devil to gain forbidden power and knowledge. Doctor Faustus finds himself getting dragged into the murky depths of hell. The low budget performance consisted of a mass of creativity, as the set didn’t change throughout the whole thing. There were small candles used to illuminate the stage and set which cleverly symbolized the heat that burns in life and death. The music was constructed by Danny Bright. It was purposely sinister; the hearing of distance screams and crashes gave the impression of a dark and forbidden place, in which good things were purposely restricted. The music was playing before the characters were introduced on stage; this was to set an eerie atmosphere beforehand. As the screams and crashes were played, Lucifer looked amongst the audience and pointed, to suggest that she can see the people entering Hell. The
Doctor Faustus Review
Review on Doctor Faustus On the 14th November 2012 we went to the Rose’s Theatre in Tewkesbury to watch Scene Productions perform the tragedy ‘Doctor Faustus’ which was filled with disappointment and unexpected aspects. However, it did bring forward a message throughout the play which is showed clearly and effectively. This message was that people who give into temptation because of greed get punished; this is based on a religious concept. At first we got told the whole performance was going to be an hour, this straight away made me have doubts about the play and allowed me to think that it was going to be rushed which I felt like happened. Despite this, there were some promising scenes which made me as the audience have a mixture of emotions. When I first arrived into my seat, the first thing I noticed was the set placed on stage. It seemed like a very simple set, but also very effective. It clearly showed the time the performance was set and allowed us to have a personal interpretation of the character Doctor Faustus without even meeting him. Whilst the lights were still on and people were coming into the theatre, it seemed like the production started as we are first introduced to two characters walking around in a sinister sort of manor, whether it was because people were late into the theatre or it was planned, it was a huge distraction and it was hard to focus
Written Performance Concept for Lady Macbeth
Written Performance Concept for Lady Macbeth in ‘Macbeth’ by Shakespeare Social, Cultural, Historical and Political Contexts: Macbeth was written by Shakespeare and is most commonly dated written in 1606. The monologue is about Lady Macbeth having blood on her hands, metaphorically speaking reflects on the guilt she feels for being a part in the murders in which her husband carried out. She immediately concludes that "the fastest way" for Macbeth to become king is by murdering King Duncan. This monologue is most effective as it enhances the fact that she feels guilty, which leads to her death. Preparation Process: First and foremost, I studied the narrative to have a deeper understanding of her character as I wanted to recreate how Lady Macbeth is perceived to the audience. I started to look at how the monologue should be spoken to explore the element of vocal awareness. I concluded that by pausing before emphasizing an important word or concept helps construct a more powerful emotion for both the character and the spectators. Also by whispering and shouting helps to put the audience on edge as it illustrates confusion and suggests madness within the character of Lady Macbeth. By witnessing other monologues within the group also gave me multiple ideas of how my character needs to be perceived. I also looked at using vivid facial expressions and bigger gestures as
Ballet Review of Balanchine's Prodigal Son
Balanchine’s Prodigal Son I was not familiar with this ballet at all although I have enjoyed Prokofiev’s music when watching Romeo and Juliet. It is not a long piece to watch and the dancing although slow in parts (when the Siren is doing her solo and the Pas de Deux) it is always interesting to watch. The principle male has to really be able to act and portray lots of different emotions – it’s not all about the dancing for this character. I thought for the time it was created quite a contemporary piece which fitted the music. I did like most of the ballet, particularly the portrayal of the male lead – very strong and evidently spoilt in the first scene (his beating his hands on his thighs when he was not getting what he wanted) to the almost foetal being he becomes in the end scene. I liked the Siren and her almost dancing a Pas de Deux with her cape. I particularly liked the imagery of the table being turned and the son sliding down the slippery slope. I found the presence of the ensemble at times confusing, such as when they seemed to turn into crabs when the son was left completely without possessions. The story displays a spoilt young man who is confident in everything he does, this is shown in the way he commands his servants, his sisters and becomes the equivalent too todays troubled teenager when he does not get what he wants. He leaves his family to go