Drama Coursework - The Women In Black Analysis
Based on Susan Hill's best selling novel, The Women in Black is an extremely successful theatre production that is renowned for its gripping and terrifying plot. In his adaptation, Steven Mallatratt has combined the power and intensity of live theatre with a dark ghostly tale to fashion a spine-chilling production which re-lives the hauntings of the eerie Eel Marsh House. The play itself is actually a play within a play, somewhat merging the borders of fantasy and reality. Meet Kips, a Lawyer from London entangled in the dark secrets of the secluded Yorkshire Village of Crythn Griffin. Obsessed with a curse that has been put upon him and his family, Mr. Kipps wishes to lay his horrific memories to rest. For this he has employed the services of an actor, whom he expects to help him re-enact his tale and in doing so allow him to overcome his fears. But will the malevolent spectre of Jennet Humphrey oblige? Or will Mr. Kipps' sinister secret lead him and those close to him into further peril? The venue for the production of the play my classmates and I were taken to see was the Theatre Royal in Newcastle. As it was a professional production, I was constantly studying the play as it unfolded to determine how different types of drama medium had been incorporated to enhance the performance. Although the Women in Black consists of many characters, the company had employed just two
La Amistad
Amistad During the 1830s and 1840s, racial discrimination against the African- American race was frequent and greatly devastating. At this time acts of discrimination against African Americans included racial segregation, black suffrage, denial of economic opportunity or resources and private and mass acts of violence. Blacks were not thought of as being equal to whites and so were not given the freedoms they deserved. They were regarded as property rather than individuals with rights. The movie "Amistad" is a compelling historical courtroom drama that sheds light on an overlooked period in American history between the Declaration of Independence and the American Civil War. The film addresses the definition of freedom and how it varied among the different people of America during this time period, "Freedom is not given. It is our right at birth. But there are some moments when it must be taken." In two hour, the film captures the general plight of the African people taken from their homes and forced into a life of slavery that was unfortunately common during this time. It is the true story of a little-known armed insurrection carried out by 53 heroic Africans against their slave masters on July 1, 1839. The film begins with the main character Cinque escaping from the shackles restraining him on the slave ship called, La Amistad (which is Spanish for 'friendship'). Along with
Theatre Review- The Woman in Black
Theatre Review-The Woman in Black "The Woman in Black" is set in England a play that is meant to scare the audience and have them watching with bated breath. The story centers around a young solicitor, Arthur Kipps (Paul Chapman) who writes a play in order to tell of the terrible events that he survived. The plot involves the solicitor who is summoned to Crythin Gifford, a small market town which is completely cut off from the mainland. The main character has to attend to the funeral of Mrs. Alice Drablow, an elderly widow who lived alone in Eel Marsh House. While situated at this solitary market town he encounters a mysterious woman in black who seems to haunt the whole town. He finds the 'woman in black' haunting the house he has to stay in, Eel Marsh house. He has to deal with the deceased woman's paper work and also encounters this mysterious woman in other areas of the town. Despite his questions, the locals refuse to help him and so Arthur must confront the sense of unease within the house and the appearances of the woman alone. Years on after the scarring event, Arthur Kipps asks a young Actor (Daniel Coonan) to help put on this play and describe the horrors he endured during his brief stay. There are only two actors through out the whole play, Paul Chapman and Daniel Coonan. They both clash as, in the beginning of the play; the Arthur Kipps who, at this point, is
GCSE Drama Review Of The Play 'Bouncers'
GCSE Drama Review Of The Play 'Bouncers' The production we saw was made by the Hull Truck Theatre Company and was played at the Oxford New Theatre and was called Bouncers. This play was written and directed by John godber. This play was very naturalistic; it did not use any props apart from the handbags. This made the play more free flowing and was no long wait for set changes or costume change. The plot of the play was to explain what the nightlife of the city was. This then led to personal events of "the Bouncers" where Eric says speeches about him and his wife. These speeches highlight broken up relationships and how these broken up marriages go onto the streets of the town to try and find another partner or a businessman on a business trip going out to have an innocent fling. This was the society at the time and brought up issues of adultery and marriage. These speeches did affect the comedy aspect of the play but did raise issues of life of a workingman or woman in the 1970's this in affect is spass where you learn through humour. The structure of the play was very central in the sense that it was all in one place but the actors changed from one plot to another, which intertwine in the centre of the club. The genre of this play is an observational comedy, which is, based on Godbers personal experiences, this links with lucky Eric's speeches on where Godbers put down his
women in black
Women In Black In this essay I will be reviewing the 'Woman In Black' which is being performed at the Fortune Theatre, London. Before going to see the performance I wasn't really looking forward to it as after reading the beginning of the text I found it boring and dull. When we first pulled up outside the theatre I didn't find the building to be what I expected it to look like. From the outside the building looked newly designed but the interior told a different story. The theatre held a cold and eerie atmosphere, whilst talking to the staff we found out why. The Fortune Theatre was the most hunted theatre in London and had many stories held to its name. The most famous story told is that when the actor that plays the woman in black looked out into the audience the first night it was shown she saw a black salute at the back of the auditorium. It was said that the black figure looked like it was wearing a bonnet and a Victorian dress. Once finding out the history peoples view on watching the show had changed. The auditorium was small and was hard to see what was going on onstage if you were sitting in the first four rows as you had to keep looking up. The only advantage of the space was that when one person screamed the whole audience screamed. This helped the actors as it made the audience more aware of what was going on and had tension building. When first seeing the
Woman in Black - Theatre Evaluation
Portfolio Task 3 - Evaluation phase (20 marks) On Monday 21st July 2008 we attended an evening performance of "The Woman in Black" at the Fortune Theatre situated in London. The play is an adaptation of a novel written by Susan Hill and the playwright in which adapted it was Stephen Mallatratt. The play involves only 2 actors; Ben Porter and Sean Baker. Ben Porter plays the part of the actor and stays as this character throughout the piece. Sean Baker plays a character called Mr Kipps who uses the technique called multi-rolling, which means playing all the other parts encountered throughout the play, and also "The Woman in Black" who is not listed in the programme giving extra effect for when she appears. The plot of the play explores the concept of human fears in the form of a ghost story. Techniques such as anticipation, suspense and the suggestion of the supernatural are used throughout the play. All these techniques need to be applied successfully in order to create the atmosphere intended. By using the technique of suspense it builds up a state of mental insecurity, uncertainty or excitement within the person. Along side this adding the technique of anticipation gives the audience the impression that something is going to happen, but didn't know what or when therefore building up the tension in the theatre and taking the audience by surprise applying the concept of
Compare Brimestone and Treackle with Death and the Maiden
Describe and compare Brimstone and Treacle with Death and the Maiden Brimstone and Treacle is a play set in the time when England was dominated by the industrial revolution. It is based on a young woman who was involved in a car accident and is left very disabled. A man, who appears to the family as her boyfriend, comes to the house and lives with her. Te gullible parents allow him to stay and then the plot unfolds. We read the final scene of the play, where flares of all of the characters personality really show. The supposed "fiancé" is with the parents in the evening, talking about issues that have been affecting them. One of the main points he makes is racist, infact so much so the father has to excuse him. You already can tell that there is an underlying, sickening streak in the fiancé's personality. The parents then leave the couple alone, in which time the fiancé rapes the girl. There are several suggestions that this is not the first time. The girl, who begins to scream, startles him. He runs away just as the parents arrive. While they tend to their abused child, she begins to speak. I think that the writer has based this play on society. There are several references to the government and race in it. I think that he is trying to show how corrupt and unequal the society is, however sweet and genuine it appears to be. He also tells us very plainly at the end, that
OF Mice and Men Key Moments
Cultural Background In Of Mice and Men it was set in America in the great depression. It is shown by the racial comments that are made by the actors when they talk about a black person. Many times the characters say nigger which now is not accepted any where but back then it was just normal to treat people that way. It is also shown at how the people at the ranch treat Lennie just because he is different. Key Moments In one key moment in the play Lennie kills Curly's wife. He does it by accident because he can't control his own strength. She asks him to feel the fabric on her dress but he accidentally breaks her neck. He runs away to the river. People in the town find out about this and go to find Lennie to kill him. George hears about it and goes to find Lennie. He goes to shot him because he knows that the other people will hurt him more. He finds Lennie sitting by the river. He talks to for a while calming him down. Then when Lennie is facing the river listening to George, George shoots him in the back of the head. Lennie falls to the floor. Then he gets up turns to face George and walks of the stage. Then you see back to the prostitute's room and welcomes in curly. When Lennie kills Curly's wife the lights dim to show that she is dead. It also does it to darken the atmosphere. When Lennie is sitting by the river he is sitting on the bed. It is being used as the
An accidental death of an anarchist Review
Accidental Death Of an Anarchist Based around true events, Accidental death of an anarchist explores the investigation into the death of a criminal via the fourth floor of a 1970's police station, this is shown by the use of the blue heavy police uniform of the period, and the well used proscenium stage, decorated with the usual hideous wallpaper of the time, complete with wood cladding, unsightly filing cabinets and various photographs, it showed a convincingly accurate portrayal of the surroundings. On first examination, it seems simple, but on further inspection there are various well thought through details. There was not a massive use of sound in the performance & other than a few various well-placed & relevant sound effects such as comedy bangs & clashes, the performers' voices did 99% of the work, one particular highlight was the closing scene of the first act when the cast burst into a rendition of the Public Enemy hit "Don't Believe The Hype" utilising the dull office furniture in a way in which it's makers never intended. The only other use of music in the performance was the Sex Pistols' aptly named "Anarchy in the U.K." The dull lighting was what was to be expected, with no special effects used except for the spotlights used for the rapping cast members. The three main characters were the slightly slow Inspector Bertozzo, the short-tempered Inspector Pissani
english / drama play review
Hole in the heart 'Hole in the heart is a well thought out play, written and directed by George Eugeniou. It was not confusing to me at all except at times I found it hard to distinguish between dream world and reality, but if you kept in tune with the play you could really tell what it was about. The story is one filled with anger, jealousy and death In my opinion there isn't one main character as there is a lot going on with each character but if you had to choose, then at first it's Tina and towards the end it becomes Rosie.' It starts off in a snowy winter, with a young boy freezing to death, loosing his life in a race he was forced to run in, despite warning everyone of his bad heart condition (The hole in his heart). The boy was named Alex. The opening part of the play is emotional and captivating as there is action straight away. But too much monologue. Just before Alex dies, we find out he has a little sister that has been taken away from him and his mum by social services. Whilst dyeing he has a flash back of his mum begging