During the play the group of children moves through the woods and back to the grassy hills, their words and actions illustrate how
"Childhood is not transparent with innocence."
When the two girls push a pram into a barn to play house, the casting concept is heightened, doubling back on itself in a remarkable moment:
Adults are suddenly seen to be acting as children who are pretending to be adults
In a way the language used throughout this play is ironic, for example, there are adults cast top play children and in the play the children imitate the adults and use the language that they have learnt from their parents. E.g.
‘O, my poor husband’ (Angela, p9 scene5)
And
‘Are you the mummy then?’ (Audrey, p9 scene5),
These show that the children have sum idea about the adult world and adapt that into their everyday play.
The irony also occurs when the children are talking about scaring Donald (p36 scene 24). Peter says
‘Frighten him to death’,
This is ironic because them frightening Donald does cause his death. This effects the audience because at first they think that the children are just messing around when they say this but they are shocked when they see that a child could cause a death of another and the audience is able to link there events to the words that are spoken by the children earlier on. For the audience this is a shrewd way to reveal the dark world of the children’s life and how they treat each other with such little respect when given the opportunity.
As this play was made to be preformed, costume, lighting, props and setting are major and important aspects in getting the audiences attention and making them feel more involved in the play. So Potter adapts all those features brilliantly into the play.
For example, The cloths not only help the actors look more like children so the audience can immediately see that they are supposed to be children but also helps the actors to feel more child-like and can adapt their characters more easily. The children’s costumes also help show when the play is set, for instance, Willie wears red v-neck jumper with braces over them which attach to his shorts. This is classic child clothing for this time and the audience would instantly recognise that these are clothes that where worn round the world war two period by most seven year old boys.
Some of the characters also have ‘personal props’. Foe example, Raymond has a cowboy hat and gun and Willie has his apple. This apple is used to show Peter’s dominance when he says ‘give us a bit of that apple’ but when Willie refuses Peter attacks him and hurts him, to show that he is better than Willie.
The setting for ‘Blue Remembered Hills’ has been very carefully selected to suit the play. For example, the barn and woods are perfect places for children to play more naturally. The children would feel freer as these locations are set far away from the eyes of adults. The barn and woods also make perfect places for the children to play games such as ‘Hide and Seek’ or soldiers. This may also be a bad point because there are no adults near and the children would not no what to do in an emergency, such as the barn catching fire and Donald’s death.
The use of backdrops and small props helps the scenes to run smoothly from one to another without the audience getting bored or noticing. It also helps the actors to imagine that they are really in the wood/barn and incorporate this into the performance and improvise using props.
Lighting is also essential for this stage performance. It can be used to create the desired or appropriate effect for adding tension and atmosphere to an emotional part of the play.
For example, when Donald is trapped inside the barn and there is a fire inside. The director could use dark lighting with red and orange lights over to create the effect of heat and danger.
