In Blood Brothers there was excellent use of a narrator. He talks to the audience and has a special relationship with them. His presence was very powerful as sometimes the characters could see him and other times they could only sense him. He was like their conscience, always there, standing in the background. They used different levels to symbolise this as he often stood above the characters to give the impression he could see everything. He haunted them and they tried to ignore him but like a conscience he never left. His body language was powerful as he walked slowly and his voice was echoed to sound more dramatic. I realise how effective a narrator is and will use one in my drama because they keep the audience involved. In Blood Brothers it became a game spotting where he was, so the audience feel involved in the story. A narrator allows you to skip around in time very quickly.
There was lots of tablos in the play. These were powerful because they mark significant moments in time allowing for the audience to take in the image without being distracted by dialog or movement. I’ll use tablos in my drama to make the audience realise something important has happened and the significance of it.
Conscience alley was also used. It’s easier to show madness in an abstract way and conscience alley allows you to hear what’s going on in the characters head.
Repetitions were used as it reinforces into the audiences mind important ideas or thoughts which affect them emotionally. Another technique was silences. I’ll use them in my drama, as they’re excellent for building up suspense when used before or after a dramatic event.
The play started at the end meaning the whole play is a flashback. This is effective because it makes the audience want to know what’s happened and straight away they’re focused. If you’ve already seen the play it makes you wish this time the ending could change.
Mime was used to make things seem more believable e.g. stone throwing. You could virtually see the stone flying through the air. Mime allows you to recreate a situation where it’s not possible to use real props.
Technical effects make a big impact on the audience. At the start there’s gauze netting over the stage which red lights are shone onto. The red symbolises blood and behind the gauze is a tablo of the end. The effect is that it makes it seem like a dream as it’s like looking through a mist and when it lifts and the flashback starts it’s like you’ve woken up. It casts a dark, effect over the stage and symbolises death.
They change the sets effectively as the characters bring the furniture on with them. This keeps the pace up so the audience don’t get bored as there’s always something happening and the action doesn’t stop to change scenery. It feels like the scene changes are part of the performance. The set is simple but effective and there’s a basic street then walls are lowered and raised for different scenes so the performance flows.
Lighting creates different atmospheres. They had a limited set so they used dull lights in the city and in the country they used brighter lights to show clean air. Flashing lights symbolised Mrs Lyons madness. For dramatic moments lights were dimmed and spotlights used. Sound was used to build up tension. It emphasised words, played in the background, gaining volume and suddenly stopped at dramatic points creating tense atmospheres.
Blood Brothers was moving at the end, as we’ve seen the twins from birth and grown up with them. The audience feel involved and emotionally attached to them. They can identify with the characters so their deaths feel like a loss as the storyline draws you in.
The actors played children very convincingly by using body language, facial expressions, tone of voice and levels. Their voices sounded young and movements were exaggerated. They held themselves in a childish way and fidgeted. They were also very excitable and energetic. As they aged their gestures became less emphasised and they held themselves in a more adult way. They didn’t move around as much and their voices sounded older. I now know about different types of body language, tones of voice, gestures and facial expression and have got ideas of how to use all of these in my drama to convey different emotions or play different characters just by changing them. The actors were focused and never came out of role. If things went wrong they improvised making the characters more believable.
I’ve learnt so much and now know different ways of conveying emotions and age. I see how effective abstract work is and have lots of ideas to include them in my drama.
