A View From The Bridge, a powerful play by Arthur Miller, was staged in the round at the Manchester Royal Exchange.
A Review of A View From The Bridge A View From The Bridge, a powerful play by Arthur Miller, was staged in the round at the Manchester Royal Exchange. By producing the play in the round, the action could be viewed from all angles which was a more effective way of portraying the story. It also allowed the entire stage to be used without loss of action which allowed the stage to be split into two sections - the street and inside the house. These two portions of the stage were quite obvious, being symbolised by the telephone booth (a key prop later in the play) and the dining room table. That said, other furniture such as Alfieri's desk, seemed a little unnecessary, especially since it had to be brought in from off stage for each of Alfieri's scenes. This wasn't helped by the general lighting in the theatre which could never provide a complete blackout on stage due to the large amounts of windows in the upper seating areas. The stage lighting was fairly simple with neutral 'general' lights used for most scenes. This was developed somewhat in important scenes such as Eddie's death and the lighting was altered (although not significantly) when Alfieri recited his monologues. However sound was used quite effectively in these scenes with the same effect being used to symbolise a change in the setting. Although the play featured very little props, when they were used, they were used
Medea review - Splendid Productions, January 9th 2012
Medea Splendid Productions, January 9th 2012 In Ancient Greece, the name of the monstrous murdering mother Medea was well- known. The story of Medea, the mysterious sorcerer-princess who helped Jason steal the famous Golden Fleece from her father, is a mythical romance with a terrible, terrible ending. Splendid's new creative adaptation puts the audience at the heart of the performance, as a twenty-first century chorus presents a timeless tale of passion, betrayal and revenge. The performance took the audience through all sorts of emotions, as the story of a mother and wife took revenge on her hero husband that betrayed her by cheating with a princess. Medea takes revenge so far and even though she is banished from her city, she takes the ultimate revenge on Jason - killing her own children. Although the play had many characters and a chorus, there was only 3 actors in whole performance. These 3 actors managed to multi-role play perfectly by using such simple ideas that made the audience recognise the characters they were playing easily. One of the most recognised and in my opinion, effective way they managed to change characters was by using scarves. It wasn't a complicated fiddling about changing clothing, it was a simple scarf and a belt. When the actors were being narrators or not performing, they wore these scarves in a different way each time to represent the
The play that I have chosen to write about is The House of Usher, based on the theatre production in the Redbridge Drama centre
Choose a production you have seen during your course in which design played an important part. Discuss, in detail, the strengths and/or weaknesses of one scene or section. You will need to give reasons to justify your answer. You will need to explain in what ways the design contributed to the production. The play that I have chosen to write about is The House of Usher, based on the theatre production in the Redbridge Drama centre, on the 18th of October. The scene that I have chosen to write about is when Madeline soon dies, and Roderick decides to bury her temporarily in the tombs below the house. I was impressed with the way the actors used the set in many different ways to incorporate their needs, showing when the set acted as one thing or another and I thought that the set was particularly effective. The set was a combination of two bamboo baskets, one behind facing towards the audience, in front of the basket there were two one meter wooden poles, with two wooden chairs on the wings of the stage. They also used the wooden poles as a window frame and stair railings, Hess was a material used for the coffin. The two bamboo baskets could be rotated or flipped at different times to represent a tomb, bed, painting frame, bath, chairs and tables. It could be fixed into place at different levels of steepness. There are three images of the "tombs" "The Fall of the House of
In The Woman in Black discuss how effective one or more performers were using 2 moments to support your answer. Comment on voice, movement facial expression, gesture and mood
The Woman in Black Discuss how effective one or more performers were in The Woman in Black using 2 moments to support your answer, commenting on voice movement facial expression, gesture and mood The Woman in Black, a play directed by Robin Herford, has been terrifying its audiences at the Fortune Theatre for twenty one years; we saw the play on Wednesday 29th December Set in Victorian times, The Woman in Black is a ghostly thriller in which the characters are played by just two actors. The actors therefore have to employ a full repertoire of techniques to define the different characters that they have to depict in the play so that the audience can readily identify them . The story revolves around Arthur Kipps ,played by Michael Mears, a lawyer who is haunted by dreadful events which happened to him many years ago. Desperate to lay the past to rest, he hires a young actor(played by Orlando Wells) to tell his tale. The lawyer is persuaded to act out the story, taking various roles while the actor plays him as a young man. The young Kipps visited the remote and eerie house of a deceased client, Mrs Drablo, where he gradually learned of its tragic history of this place, the ghost that haunted it - and her dreadful purpose. The first scene I have chosen to illustrate the technique of the performer is when the young Mr Kipps is sent to the house of Mrs Dablo. Orlando
Woman In Black - Live Theatre Review
On the 29th of November I went to see the woman in black at the fortune theatre in London. The play was adapted from Susan Hill’s original novel, ‘The Woman in Black’, by Stephan Mallart into a semi-naturalistic play within a play. The book pulled on themes from Victorian ghost stories, making it a horror filled with anticipation, the constant air of suspense with underlying menace and threat is replicated superbly. The director, Robin Herford, uses theatrical techniques to ignite and excite our imagination, forcing us to imagine something far worse than what we are actually seeing. Herford’s main intention is to scare us, something, judging by the constant screams, he does quite well. The play also continuously hints towards its period setting, showing the era through the period costume, like bowler hats, and referring to ‘modern’ technology, like recorded sound. The theatre itself appeared to be from the Victorian era and is a proscenium arch with a thrust coming out of the CS. The thrust was used by both David Acton and Ben Deery to come out of their various characters and narrate parts of the story, speaking directly to the audience. For the majority of the play a fourth wall was created, but as the thrust came out of the stage it seemed to also come out of the fourth wall. The theatre was also small, making us feel trapped and intensifying the experience
Live performance theatre review Unit 3: The Woman in Black
Susan Keats Candidate number: 7865 centre number: 22066 Word count: 1,406 Live performance theatre review Unit 3: The Woman in Black On Friday 9th March 2012 I attended a live performance of one of the West Ends longest running plays; The Woman in Black written by Susan Hill and adapted by Stephen Mallarat at The fortune theatre. The play proved to be a truly spine chilling experience and captured its audience from the start by using various (literary techniques) performance aspects such as sound, lighting, costume and props. Set in 1920’s England focussed around number of different venues, one of them being an empty Victorian theatre to begin with, and the former market town of Crythin Gifford. However the action centres on the Eel Marsh House; an old building in the middle of a marsh island which is also the previous residence of Mrs Drablow. It comprises of only two characters an elderly Arthur Kipps ‘whose story has to be told’, and a young actor who performs the story of the once junior solicitor. The director combines tone and atmosphere along with certain effective cinematic qualities of a horror/thriller film to achieve the plays chilling effect. The small stage and intimate quality of The Fortune Theatre made for the perfect venue and intensified the overall experience for the audience because we felt a part of the action, every creek of the
The Woman in Black Review. The props and the general atmosphere that was created gave the stage and set a character of its own
DRAMA Lydia George The Woman in Black Review On the 14th of September the Sexey’s School drama students went to The Fortune Theatre, London and saw the performance of ‘The Woman in Black’. The play was riveting to watch and made the audience scream on more than one occasion; it developed a great sense of tension and created a high level of anxiety in the audience. The plot of the play explored the horror of drama to its bitter ends and combined the power and intensity of live theatre with some of the best effects from cinematic horror shows. Although it was performed by the majority of only two men, Michael Mears and Orlando Wells, it was easy to follow character changes and the swapping between different roles. The props and the general atmosphere that was created gave the stage and set a character of its own as the story reached its climax. The colours of the stage were dismal and gloomy and really helped to ‘set the scene’ and added to the atmosphere. Although there were not many stage props and they were quite basic, they were extremely effective; such as the wicker basket which was used to store paper files and a blanket. Props and how the characters used space made it easy to recognise the character’s emotions and see which character had what status; such as the use of a hat
Evaluating a Play The Trial by Franz Kafka
Humzah Dean Evaluating a Play – The Trial Recently, I have been to watch a play on the 28th March in South Hill Park arts centre, Bracknell. This play was written by Franz Kafka and published by Steven Berkoff in 1981. Themes in the play included love, fear and depression. Franz Kafka had a lot of bad experiences in his life, this was surrounded by over anxiety and depression, and this was a main aspect if not the main aspect of the play, as Joseph K had over anxiety. Steven Berkoff specialised in mime and this was reflective in the stylised movements in the play. The play is about a man called Joseph K; he is unfairly accused and arrested because of a crime he did not commit. Two men are sent to his home supposedly as guards for him, however, his rooms are searched, his clothes are confiscated and he is physically abused, with no charge. An inspector later appears and K demands an explanation but none is given. The type of theatre of this play was physical theatre; this is when a performance story tells, primarily through physical means, this includes Mime, Contemporary Dance, Clowning, Physical Comedy, and Theatrical Acrobatics The chorus was a main part of the play and it was effective because it portrayed characters emotions and thoughts brilliantly, the actors showed the audience what Joseph K’s thoughts were throughout the play very well, this was effective as it
My GCSE Drama group went to see 'The Woman in Black' at the Fortune Theatre in London on the 15th of January 2011
The Woman in Black Review My GCSE Drama group went to see 'The Woman in Black' at the Fortune Theatre in London on the 15th of January 2011 . The play is adapted by Stephen Mallatratt but was based on original novel by Susan Hill. Summary: The Woman in black is a chilling tale of obsession, death and unforgettable horror. It tells the story of a middle aged solicitor called Arthur Kipps, who, years earlier, had lost his infant son following his horrifying experience in an old mansion, owned by the late Alice Drablow, the remote English town of Cryffin Gifford. As a solicitor, he visits the house to sort various different types of paper work. In an effort to try and confront personal demons and ghosts, he appoints a young actor to attempt to transform his written account into a practical re-enactment. The story is portrayed as an allusion, with Mr. Kipps playing multiple roles, and the young actor playing a younger Kipps. As the story unfolds, the character of the Woman in Black appears more frequently as supposedly "just an actress." Characters: * Arthur Kipps, also plays: Tomes, the solicitor's clerk, Bentley, the solicitor, Samuel Dailey, a local businessman, Pub landlord, Jerome, a local man, Keckwick, Alice Drablow, the deceased woman * Young Actor, also plays: the Young Mr Kipps * Jennet Humfrye, Alice's sister and the Woman In Black * Nathaniel Humfrye, Jennet's son,
Cinderella. The lighting on Cinderella was the same in all scenes. It was natural, a yellowish white colour and bright.
I watched a play about the story of Cinderella. Cinderella was the main character in the play. Cinderella was portrayed very polite, for example: Cinderella's step mother insulted and gave her more jobs to do and in return Cinderella asked her how she was and did not complain about what her step mum was doing to her. Cinderella was also portrayed as a stupid person, for example: after Buttons explained his life story her response was 'huh?' and 'I don't get it?'. Cinderella also comes across a bit vain because when she was in the forest an old lady called her beautiful and she responded 'I know am so sexy'. Cinderella always had a smile on her face, which showed me that she was a positive person. She always had a finger at the bottom of her lower lip when someone was talking to her, this is something a kid would do to try and figure out what the person is talking about, this showed me how she was not a intelligent person. Her slave's clothes colours were bright blue/yellow and white with black lines. The colour yellow showed me Cinderella's characterisation, as it is the colour of sunshine. It connects with joy, happiness and energy. The colour yellow arouses cheerfulness. The colour attracts a lot of attention, which can symbolises her beauty - men are attracted to her beauty because it stands out just like the colour. Yellow is usually the colour used for kids toys, it
