Ashley’s voice raised dramatically when she said the line “You’ll speak nothin’ of Elizabeth!” This worked very well because it showed that she didn’t want a bad word to be spoken about her. I think this is because Proctor knew that he had already hurt her by committing lechery and now he doesn’t want anything else to happen to her that might offend her. At a few points in the scene, Ashley turned her back on Natalie whilst she was talking to her. This showed that Proctor’s feelings had completely changed for Abigail.
When Proctor says “Put it out of mind Abigail” he uses strong gestures to show his feelings, for example- he has a threatening look in his eyes and his head is tilted slightly back so that he is looking down on Abby. No eye contact is made at that point, but the minute he does make eye contact he turns his head away slowly, showing that he doesn’t want to look at her. I think that the proxemics and the body language worked together very well to show the audience how each character was feeling.
Act 1 (page 36-40)
Laura M.H, Becky, Harriet & Vicky
In this scene, Parris and Hale is trying to make Abigail and Tituba confess to what really happened to Betty to make her act like she is doing. Throughout the whole scene, Becky (who is playing Betty) lies still on the bed. The rest of the characters are gathered around Betty throughout the scene, which makes Betty the centre of attention for the scene.
I thought that status was shown very well in this scene, because Parris was sitting down on a chair next to the bed. This made him appear higher off the ground than Tituba – who was sitting on the floor. This worked well because Tituba has a very low status, which was represented by the fact that she was sitting very low down. Abigail was kneeling on the ground, which made her higher up than Tituba, but still lower than Parris. Hale was standing up, which showed his very high status. I thought this worked very well.
I think that Harriet played Parris very well, as she used proxemics very well and she had a very good tone of voice that portrayed how she felt. When she spoke, she kept her head slightly down but she didn’t break eye contact with others, showing that she was quite scared to see the other people but she didn’t want to seem un-hospitable or rude to the other characters – as they were in her house. In the scene, Parris is trying to deny the fact that witchcraft could be present, and when anyone mentions it, Harriet uses short, sharp sentences in response, which shows that she is being short with others, but she doesn’t want to appear rude to others so she tries to make up for snapping at them by giving them sympathetic looks, as if to say sorry.
Abigail was played as a sly, deceiving character, as she was trying to convince the other characters that it has nothing to do with witchcraft. She tilted her head back when she looked at people, so that she was looking up to people – this gave the impression that she saw herself as being inferior to others, and so she may appear innocent. This worked well, as the audience could see what she was doing because we knew that Abigail wasn’t innocent but that’s what she wanted Hale and Parris to think. When she wasn’t talking, Abigail was constantly watching what was going on, and what people were saying. She was very assertive, and reacted well to what people said. Little gestures with her hands and twitchy movements gave the impression that she was nervous, which worked very well because that’s what she was – because she was afraid of being caught.
Act 2 (page 42-49)
Amy & Ellie
The start of this scene was very well thought out because the proxemics between the two characters showed their relationship. There were only two characters in this scene, therefore the proxemics and the body language were very important.
Ellie played the role of Proctor, and I think she did this very well. She entered the scene in quite a masculine way – with one hand in her pocket, and one hand holding her rifle over her shoulder. Her head was lifted upwards throughout the scene so that she showed her higher status above Elizabeth – her wife. When Proctor walked into the scene, Elizabeth was not present, and he looked around the room confidently, showing that he felt comfortable and at ease. However, when Elizabeth entered he stood up straighter than he was doing previously, and he seemed to be a bit on-edge, as if he was hiding something from Elizabeth.
Amy showed her status well, as when she put the food down on the table for Proctor, she was standing above him, but she quickly sat down next to him and spoke to him at his level. This worked well because it showed the audience that Elizabeth didn’t want to appear any higher that her husband.
Ellie was sitting at the table with both her legs facing forwards, not pointing towards Amy, who was sitting next to her. This showed that she wasn’t using any body language to suggest her feelings towards Elizabeth. However, Elizabeth was sitting on a chair next to the left of Proctor, and she had her legs crossed towards him, so that her body was turned towards him as well. This came across well, as it told us that she has strong feelings for her husband.
Whilst the two were talking, there were some awkward silences. This was done on purpose, to suggest that they weren’t getting along as easily as would be expected. This worked very well, because the silences made the audience feel slightly awkward as well.
Ellie kept her voice at a low pitch throughout the scene, and she didn’t raise her voice at all. This gave the impression that she was trying not to hurt Elizabeth any more by doing anything else to offend her. If I was to play the role of Proctor in this scene I would try to raise my voice a little bit more, for a bit of variation.
Amy spoke in a calm tone, but she varied the volume of her voice quite a lot throughout the scene. She continued to talk in calm tones, but whenever she spoke about something that she was unsure of she would raise her voice to give across the impression that she was worried about something. If I were to play this role I would do the same as I thought it was very effective.
Act 3 (page 88-91)
Rachel, Sarah T, Elizabeth & Bethany
This scene is set in court, and it starts very dramatically with Proctor grabbing Abigail and pulling her upwards, screaming at her and calling her a “Whore.” Rachel (who is playing the role of Danforth) shows her status excellently, as she was sitting higher up than anyone in the courtroom and she ordered silence in the court during the commotion. Sarah played the role of Francis, and she showed her high status by not sitting near Proctor of Abigail, but she was sitting lower down than Danforth – showing that she was inferior to him.
Bethany played the role of Abigail. She spoke in a spiteful tone of voice, and held her head so that her nose was pointing upwards and that she was looking down on everyone else. She made eye contact with whoever she was talking to – showing that she wasn’t threatened by them. When she spoke to Danforth she spoke to him casually, as if she wasn’t bothered by the fact that he was a lot more powerful than she was. This showed the audience that Abigail was a very strong, confident character. When Proctor accused Abigail of being a whore, Abigail gave him a very threatening look and denied it continuously. Because Proctor had no evidence, Bethany showed that her character was very cocky towards the end of the scene – until Elizabeth was bought into the courtroom.
Elizabeth was played by Elizabeth, and she was portrayed as a timid character that spoke calmly and gingerly – as if she was afraid of saying the wrong thing. At several points throughout the scene, Elizabeth tried to look at Proctor, but was told not to by Danforth. This showed the audience that she didn’t know what to say and she was looking at Proctor for help, or advice on what to say. At the end of the scene, when Elizabeth found out that she shouldn’t have covered up for John, she immediately looks at him and keeps eye contact with him, showing that she didn’t want to be taken away from him. I think she played this part very well because she used her body language well, for instance when she was talking to Danforth she had her hands behind her back and was fiddling with her fingers – showing the audience that she was nervous, but she was keeping it so that Danforth couldn’t see.
Rachel kept a high status all the way through the scene, and when she spoke to the different characters she spoke in stern, dominating tones in order to try and scare the others into confessing to her. She kept her shoulders pushed back at all times, and her head raised high – showing her importance and her superiority to the other characters. If I were playing the role of Danforth I would have done the same as it came across very well to the audience.
Act 3 (page 92-96)
Lisa, Grace, Victoria, Vicky B, Jenny, Natalie & Abby
This scene was also set in court, and again, the status was shown very well. Danforth was portrayed as a powerful and stubborn man, and he keeps his head looking forwards at all times, he is never distracted from his work as he takes it very seriously. He stayed in the same position throughout the whole scene – sitting down in his chair. He was higher up than everyone else though, which showed status. However, he didn’t talk down to anybody, which proved that he had a lot of respect for other people in the court, and that he treated other people equally. Even though he knew his own power and status, he showed that he respected others by talking to them in calm, patient tones.
Lisa was playing the role of Abigail – who at this point in the play was hallucinating about seeing a bird looking down on her. Lisa played this part very well, as she stood at the front of the stage, a long way in front of the other actors. She was standing very still with her hands by her side, and her back straight. Her head was tilted upwards, and she was looking ahead and upwards, so that it was above the height of the audience. This was very effective because a lot of the audience turned around to see what she was looking at – obviously there was nothing there, but it proved that she was doing a very convincing job. When Lisa said her lines, she said them in a very curious way, almost slurring her words, as if to show that she was unaware of everyone else being around her and watching her. If I were to play Abigail in this scene, I would try and be a bit more mysterious, and talk to the “bird” with more curiosity in my voice, to show that I was very confused.
Grace played the role of Mary Warren, and during the part of the scene where the girls repeat everything that Mary says; Grace played the part of Mary really well. When the girls first repeated everything that she was saying, the pitch of her voice went higher, to show that she was starting to panic. Also she started to look around herself nervously, and she was looking quickly from left to right, showing that she was distressed and panicking. As the girls carried on repeating, Grace’s voice had risen dramatically, and so had the volume of her voice. By the end, when Grace said the line “STOP IT!” she screamed it at the top of her lungs, and she threw her fists in the air to show how distraught she was. If I were to play the role of Mary Warren in this scene I wouldn’t have been able to improve it any more as I think Grace played it very well.
Act 4 (page 112-115)
Maz & Becky
In this scene, Danforth was trying to persuade Proctor to sign the petition, but Proctor was sticking to his beliefs and not doing it.
Maz played the part of Danforth very well, and she showed her high status in a variety of ways. One way was that she used a powerful, and persuasive voice and she spoke in short sentences showing that she was being impatient with Proctor. She raised her voice quite a lot, so that she was talking in a loud voice, this showed her power and intimidating side over Proctor. Proctor was sitting down in a chair, and Maz came round the back of the chair and stood behind Proctor, with her hands on Proctor’s shoulders, looking over Proctor, showing that he has a much higher status and is far more superior than Proctor. If I were to play Danforth in this scene I would continue to raise my voice, but I wouldn’t speak like that continuously – I would lower the volume of my voice whilst I was asking Proctor questions, so that I didn’t intimidate him too much and so that he wouldn’t be too scared of me.
Proctor stayed sitting down throughout the majority of the scene. When Danforth was behind, Becky looked nervous and she showed this in many ways. One way is that she had previously had her hands folded in her lap, but as soon as Danforth moved behind her she placed both hands on each knee and fiddled with her fingers, showing that she was nervous. Also, when Maz was behind Becky, she lowered her head slightly to talk to her, and Becky moved her head away from Maz, and tilted her head away from her showing that she didn’t want to be in close contact with her. I think this worked really well because it was subtle but it showed really clearly how the two characters felt about each other.
Becky spoke in a smaller voice than Danforth, but she made every word clear and she raised the pitch of her voice in various parts of the scene, which emphasised the points she was making. She sat with her back straight and her head lifted high, but she didn’t stand up at all showing that she didn’t think her status should be levelled with Danforth’s. If I were to play the role of Proctor in this scene, I would have stood up a couple of times throughout the scene, but then sat back down again, this would show the audience that we weren’t of the same status, but it would involve movement into the scene, and it would prevent the scene from being too static.
