First impressions of Biff and Happy as adults - What can you see in their adolescence that helped to form the adults they’ve become?
First Impressions of Biff and Happy as Adults. What Can You See in Their Adolescence That Helped to Form the Adults They've Become? Having already read a small proportion of Death of a Salesman it is evident to see that Willy now lives his life through his sons now, due to Willy's lack of success. However Willy longs for his sons, especially Biff, to follow in his own career path. Yet Willy has become discontented with Biff's lack of success. "Biff Loman is lost. A young man with such-personal attractiveness, gets lost." Here I feel Willy is not only reflecting on Biff's life, but his own failures in life, and becoming ever increasingly worried that Biff many end up like himself, a failure. I feel that unlike Willy and Happy, Biff feels compelled to seek the truth about himself. While his father and brother are unable to accept the miserable reality of their respective lives, Biff acknowledges his failure and eventually manages to confront it. "What the hell am I doing, playing around with horses, twenty-eight dollars a week! I'm thirty-four years old, I oughta be makin' my future." Biff is unafraid, like his father to admit when his life isn't going to plan. Biff is able to realise that his current job is no high flying job, unlike Willy who claims he is "vital in New England". Yet the reality is, is that Willy is just another cog in society. I feel that Willy
Performance Evaluation - On 20th May 2009, I saw Theatre 101s performance of their self written play Star Crossed Lovers from Verona. It is a comedy based on the works of William Shakespeare
Evaluation - "Star Crossed Lovers from Verona" On 20th May 2009, I saw Theatre 101's performance of their self written play "Star Crossed Lovers from Verona". It is a comedy based on the works of William Shakespeare written in the style of an Elizabethan Drama and Commedia Dell'Arte and is about three different stories of love and betrayal taken from "Romeo & Juliet", "Much Ado about Nothing" and "The Taming of the Shrew". The story focused around two lovers who wished to be married with the disapproval of two elders who are trying to prevent them; this is a typical Comedia Dell'Arte plot. The play made me consider these issues of love and betrayal and question how funny love can really be. The director showed this through a lot of comedic movement. There were also issues concerning old age and how when two people are in love, nothing can separate them no matter what their age. It made me question why the elders were trying to stop the innmorati from getting married and how that in today's society this still happens. This was the basic stage layout. The play was performed in an amphitheatre style area. The actors made exits from both sides and sometimes moved all the way round the back of the stage to re-enter. They did so in an over the top way, making the audience aware that they were back on stage. The carpet was where the majority of scenes took place and was used
A Review of 'Blood Brothers'.
A Review of 'Blood Brothers' I went to see the musical 'Blood Brothers' at the North Wales Theatre in Llandudno, on Monday, 23rd October. The playwright Willy Russell wrote 'Blood Brothers'. I thought the show excellent and it definitely fulfilled the high expectations I had of it. The play was essentially a social comedy, but it was partially a tragedy also, both the comedy and tragedy themes kept the audience on the edge of their seats. The production was credible and realistic as people were moved to tears by the end of the performance and the whole house gave a standing ovation. The beginning of the show was extremely effective; it showed the two 'Blood Brothers' Mickey and Eddie, lying dead, side by side and equal at last. The stillness created here, by the lack of music was very powerful. The twins were then solemnly carried off stage. The silence and red lighting created a surreal effect. This image was only broken when a gauze screen (that we previously did not realise was there) was lifted and the narrator interrupted the silence with his opening lines. The actor's interpretation of the narrator was exceptional. The narrator represented many themes; as fate, fear, the devil, superstition, God, a messenger and was a constant embodiment of the past. The narrator was ever present on stage; his haunting, shadowy presence was a reminder, throughout the play, of the
How Theatrical Skills were used at a particular moment to create a specific effect for the audience- nation
"How Theatrical Skills were used at a particular moment to create a specific effect for the audience" On 17th December, I along with other students at SHSG saw the play 'Nation' at the National Theatre in London. 'Nation' was a romantic comedy with elements of adventure and thrill. Nation was performed in the Olivier Theatre, which was an arena; this was very useful throughout the play as it had a very large performance stage, which allowed the actors to make good use of space by spreading out. In Act One, the sea storm created a very scary and tense atmosphere by using many techniques such as lighting, props and sound. These techniques were all used to create different effects but the same scary atmosphere. Lighting created a tense atmosphere for the audience by having the stage dim with hints of blue lights, which represented the sea. Then suddenly, by having flashes of bright lights shooting down at the stage created the effect of lightning and by them being unexpected and sudden scared the audience, which created a successful scary atmosphere. It was successful in creating a scary atmosphere as the key point in a scary atmosphere is trying to 'scare' the audience and in Nation the director achieved this. The director used the dark stage and beaming lights to represent a sea storm, he succeeded in doing this, as the audience were able to identify a storm. The use of
.......We Band of Brothers
Ray Crumpler 1/14/05 0:30 .......We Band of Brothers Directors Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg produce a Global Award winning mini-series, Band of Brothers, based on the book written by historian Stephen Ambrose. Stephen Ambrose's book Band of Brothers inspires Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg to make this moving story into an HBO mini-series. Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg retell the remarkable story of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment in hopes the viewer will appreciate the sacrifice of the men who fought in World War II. Band of Brothers is a 10 part HBO mini series telling the real life accounts of the soldiers of "Easy Company" 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. As the story develops, their acts of unparalleled selflessness are a continual reference to its title: Band of Brothers. This film re-enacts the tribulations of the men of Easy Company from the first day of basic training, to the invasion of Germany, until the end of World War II. The men of Easy Company undergo some of the toughest fighting of WW II to include the infamous "Battle of the Bulge." Thus, developing a story told from the battle field seen through the eyes of the soldiers. The series starts out with the men of Easy Company learning to deal with different approaches to leadership. They begin their training at Camp Toccoa in Georgia under the command of Lieutenant Herbert Sobel, played
Compare & contrast the opening scene of Shakespeare's Macbeth as portrayed by Roman Polanski and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Which do you think is more successful?
Compare & contrast the opening scene of Shakespeare's Macbeth as portrayed by Roman Polanski and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Which do you think is more successful? Before watching any of the above versions I read the brief script for the first scene. From this piece of the script I would expect each of our extracts to fulfill the wishes of Shakespeare: set in 'an open place' and with 'thunder and lightning.' Yet these are the only stage directions so the production and direction of this scene is left widely to the director. The first scene is a very important part of the play, and yet it is only thirteen lines long it is in it this scene that we are introduced to the three witches who provide the undercurrent of evil and demonic tendencies which run throughout the play. The first version we watched was the Royal Shakespeare Company's. At the beginning the colour of the screen was predominantly red - symbolic of the suffering, dangers and bloodshed to come in the play. The tones of red fade to black, white and shades of grey. Set on a heath, there are thunderclouds overhead which create a sense of foreboding the darkness of the clouds symbolises evil. The thunder and lightning give a sense of evil happening, lightning is clearly seen in the background and the flashes of light let us catch glimpses of three shapes on top of the dolmen which takes up most of the stage
Part 1 Assessment on Blood Brothers by Willy Russell
Part 1 Assessment on Blood Brothers by Willy Russell We have recently been looking at and acting out certain scenes from a play called Blood Brothers by Willy Russell. It was written in 1981 and set in Liverpool. Because of this, the costumes of the characters were quite old fashioned and the set appeared quite dated when we went to the theatre to see the play. Blood Brothers is about two twins that were separated at birth into two very different families. One child was raised in an upper class family as an only child; the other was brought up with his true mother in a poor family with many brothers and sisters. As the play progresses the two twins accidentally become friends - not knowing that they are in fact brothers. As the dramatic irony continues so does the play which builds up into an impressive climax finishing in an unexpected twist. The play is very quick paced and tends to skip years at a time to keep the audience engaged in what is happening on stage. It has a very clever, well thought out style and makes sure the audience connects with the characters on stage, feeling their emotions' yet still enjoying the humour. During the rehearsal process I have adapted and developed the character of Edward Lyons. Within our separate groups we acted out selected scenes and developed them to make an effective piece which hopefully impressed the class as the audience. As a
Explain how different staging of 'An Inspector Calls' can make the audience react to the play differently.
Explain how different staging of 'An Inspector Calls' can make the audience react to the play differently. The way a play is staged is very important to how the audience views the story and the characters. We have studied 3 versions of 'An Inspector calls'. The original 1946 production, 1954 film version and the 1992 Royal National Theatre production. I will take each of these in turn and see how they are staged differently and how this affects the audience's perception of the characters. The first production I will look at is the original 1946 production. When the curtain rises it is performed as written in the book, this means that we are immediately in the Birlings' dining room. There is an engagement party in progress, we are let in on their conversation, this makes us feel like part of the family - but we are still on the outside to a certain extent. When the Inspector arrives, he interrupts the family's party and we feel as if our evening has been disturbed as well. We only hear about Eva Smith/Daisy Renton in this version when the Inspector questions each character. This interrogation causes a whole story to unfold about her character but we never actually meet her in person. In spite of not meeting her, we still feel quite sorry for her as we hear what happened. In the 1954 film version, once again we are in the dining room. I think that we as the
Why are Biff and Happy unhappy?
Why are Biff and Happy unhappy? In 'the Death of a Salesman' we already know that Willy thinks of himself as a failure. He tries to escape the reality by living in the past, having illusions. Biff and Happy, Willy's sons have respected Willy as the ideal father, their idol, until Biff finds out that all these were lies. In the middle of the Act 1, both Biff and Happy regard their father as a great man, a man to look up to, and a man to respect. To the boys he was seen as an ideal father, as he was never present to control the two and he was keen for them both, Biff in particular, to fulfill their potential and become great men. However, as the play progresses, the idealistic image of Willy Loman seems to evaporate through the test of time as we can see at the beginning of the play Biff is angry with Willy. Both Biff and Happy are unhappy because they are both lost. Biff has not only lost all confidence in his father but trust as well. Biff used to be a man with dreams, dreams that can make him happy but life didn't go the way he wanted, he knows that his father had an affair with 'The Woman', Biff felt betrayed. He probably doesn't want his mother to know about this because the family will fall apart but keeping this truth inside him makes him suffer. From the flashbacks of Willy, we also see Biff having a stealing problem, he maybe wants to relief stress so this shows that
Response to play's and other types of drama - In this essay I am going to compare my play with three comparatives.
AQA GCSE Drama: Response to play's and other types of drama In this essay I am going to compare my play with three comparatives. The play I performed was devised from the story of "Ashputtel", originally written by The Brother's Grimm in the 1900's, and re-written by Carol Ann Duffy. The other three texts are, The "Just So stories", originally written by Rudyard Kipling in 1902 and later adapted by Jamilla Gavin, "The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka in 1915, also, "The Grimm's fairytales" by The Brother's Grimm, written in the early twentieth century. My performance, based upon the story of "Ashputtel", was set in the 1800's, in possibly Germany or Austria, and was similar to "Cinderella". The original form of the story was narration, but was adapted, and a variety of forms were used. It was physical theatre; using stylistic movements, robotic movements, repetition, simultaneity, chorus, and sound collage were used. The "Just So Stories" are about two children whose parents have left them in the care of their Uncle and maid. It is set in the 1900's, "Uncle Ruddy" acts as a narrator, and he tells the children stories about animals and metamorphosis. It was naturalistic but fictional. It was aimed at children, delivering morals in an enjoyable form. The many forms used were similar to my performance, using repetition, narration, and chorus. The forms were
