woman in black

WOMAN IN BLACK

The stage of the performance 'woman in black' was very basic has it only had minimal props such has a basket and two chairs which was used for more than one thing e.g. at one point in the play the basket is used has a horse and carriage. This Forces the audience to use the imagination which is very Brecht. Also the use of minimal props forces us has an audience to imagine the set ourselves which also prevents us from getting emotionally attached to the characters.

Later on you find that there is also a backstage with a few more props which helps show the location they are in. (which in this case an old house). This was very effective staging has it helped the illusion of thinking they was actually in the house. The layout of the set allowed the play to flow at different paces which raised the tension to make the jump scares even bigger, e.g. when the Actor playing has Arthur Kipps hears a noise which leads to a door with nothing but the spot light focused on it the slow pace of it sets the tension high and then in a quick turn of pace (everything happening in a flash) a loud scream and the door flying open makes everyone jump.

The Fact that there is only three characters (The Actor, Arthur Kipps and The Woman In Black) makes this performance very Breachtian has this called for multi-role-play by Arthur kipps who changed roles throughout the performances Which alienated the audience and didn't allow us the audience get attached to a character and made us aware that we was watching a play.  To alienate the Audience even more an make them aware they was watching a play in a play they did everything on the stage e.g. getting changed and setting up the stage, But kept it at a level where we was still aware of the main storyline. The effect of the characters going in and out of the story constantly reminds us that we are watching a play and made us believe that the woman in black is not real. This also gives the audience a false sense of security has we don't know whether to believe that the woman in black is real or not. This also made the woman in black unpredictable has no one known in the audience when she would show up this also helped build up the tension.

The audience are once again forced to use their imagination when spider the dog is introduced as there is not a real dog on stage. Another effective technique used in this play is when Arthur kipps describe the scene as the actor performed this. This technique can also relate to the scene when Spider is introduced because without the description none of the audience would have a clue what’s going on and they wouldn't be able to imagine what’s going on and the illusion will be spoiled.

Throughout the play the lighting was dark and scary this was used to effectively make the audience jump on the edge of their seats and build the tension. Their wasn't many points within the play where it looked light, nice and calm. This added effects such has background noise was there to set the scene and give the audience an idea of what was going on. A good example of this is when the carriage is going down the road and  you can ear the noise of the horse trotting along the rode than you hear things breaking and a woman screaming. So just through noise the audience new what was happening It made the audience imagine a horror scene which it was trying to get across, and this left the audience knowing how dark this play is.

Personally i thought the actors was great and they told the story of the "woman in black" in a dark evil way and it was effective has most of the left shaking in their boots. Arthur Kipps was great in the way he made me believe he was all these different characters and not just this one character trying to be lots of different character. Both actors showed the emotion in a effective way the audience could see how they was feeling by the way they handled certain situations. e.g. when The actor (playing has Kipps) was spending the night in the old house  he showed how scared he was by the way he paced around the house.

 Overall I think the performance was great  the change in the pace and the tension throughout left me on the edge of my seat. and I found it really effective by the way they did a play in a play. But I believe that the woman in black could of done more with the audience e.g. walked around the seats while she had no part in the scene this would of raised the tension  and maid it ten times more scary.

The techniques used throughout was very Brecht which alienated the audience and left them thinking what they have just watched. This also helped raise the tension  and make the atmosphere more tense.



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essay

OUR COUNTRY'S GOOD

For this essay i will be talking about the themes e.g. language, characterisation etc. in the play our country's good by Timberlake Wertenbaker.

Language: 

In one of our workshops we had to try and understand how the language is used within the scene and how we could use the language to interpreted the relationship between John Wisehammer and Mary.

The challenges of staging this scene in relation to language was trying to show how the relationship developed throughout the scene e.g. it starts with Wisehammer basically talking to him and in the Mary acknowledges him and they form a relationship.  

Wisehammer is trying to signify to Mary that he likes her but Mary doesn't acknowledge this e.g  "Wisehammer: Friend  That's a good word. short, but full of promise." But Mary Just ignores this and carrys on reading her script. It also seems that Wisehammer is a bit desperate has he trying so many ways to get Mary's attention.

Wisehammer also seems to talk about words that relate to the convicts which is ironic has the play is about convicts e.g. guilty and innocent which signify's that Wisehammer and Mary believe that some of the convicts are wrongly accused or that some of them deserve to be their for the crimes they have committed. aslo Wisehammer could be using words such as injustice as a way to make Mary and the audience believe he is innocent but Mary is challenging this by saying such things as guilty.

With the language used throughout the play their is signs of Breacht and Stanislavski. For example in scene 11 Side way states  that you shouldn't be natural on a stage "Natural! On stage! But Mr Clark!" this is Brecht.

Non Verbal Communication :
In Act 2 Scene 6 their is a strong part  of the play where friendship, status and pride take part at once. These are the main themes of the play  and they are shown with next to no verbal communication. I personally think this is the strongest part of the play because Liz has her reputation and pride to keep, Which she doesn't show with verbal communication but body language and facial expressions instead. Through out the play Liz looks down on Ketch and sees him has a bad person because of his job within the camp. But in this scene with a small gesture a bit of friendship i shown between  her and Ketch. In our workshop we had to show how we interpreted Liz and how she would keep her pride. we thought  that the most important bit  which we showed  was at the end of the scene when she was willing to give up her pride and status so she could be part of the play.

Vocal awareness :

   

  when i performed this in one of my workshops i tried to use my tone and pace to show how lonely and sexually frustrated Ralph his. I also use a pause so it allowed the audience to soak in all the feelings Ralph is going through.

. Throughout the scene Ralph is going through lots of different emotions  and he shows this by is pace ("Ralph's tent. candlelight. Ralph paces") also one thing i pick  from this part of the play is that he only mentions is son in one line "I hope to god that their is nothing the matter with you my tender Alicia or that of our boy" this makes it look like he he doesn't care about his son.

Characterisation:
   Their is a lot of mixed personality going on in the play 'Our Countrys Good' At the start of the play the officers argue about how the convicts should be punished/treated, but at the same time they are shooting birds which is very ironic because they are talking about being humane. E.g Captain Arthur Phillip believes the convicts should be educated by theatre. But the other officers disagree e.g. Collins believed that hanging was the best option. The characterisation on the convicts side is shown in a similar way they all disagree with each other and none of them like each other. This is in the beginning  but throughout the play you see relationships form which you wouldn't expect.  For example Ketch is disliked by all the convicts because of the job he has been given which he personally hates and all the convicts look down on him,But later on in the play  you find out that the convicts start to like him.

In one of our workshops we worked on the opening scene and we showed by levels and movement who had the higher authority this changed throughout the scene and this helped us understand what these characters was.

Social,Historical,Cultural context 
Crime and punishment has changed a lot since 1450. In the 15th and 17th century  whipping was still used a lot to set a public example to warn of other people from committing crimes.Their was also punishments  called public showing  which got the public involved  e.g. a criminal would be locked in a a wooden plank with legs and the public would throw things like rocks and fruit at them this is also known as a public humiliation. Members of the public would see this as a form of entertainment. Towards the beginning of the 1900s the shaming punishment was out of use so was whipping. Transportation to Australia was a lot more common than what it use to be.

This Historical background relates to the play because the convicts in the  play are transported to Australia  and also their  are some stupid punishments given to people e.g. "Their is also Dorothy,82, who stole a biscuit" this woman was put up for hanging. their is also the sign of the public entertainment shown in the play "the sooner the better i believe their is much excitement  in the colony"

In my workshop we did a group debate about how crimes and punishment have change through the years and if we agreed with the punishments that was given personally i had mixed opinions. than we formed a split stage of a modern day court and a 19th century court and we showed what we thought had changed. Doing this activity helped me understand how much crimes and punishment have changed.(1185)

The Visual,Aural and spatial elements:

My set is their to show how the living standards and the environment was. Also added features such as rope to show that they are basically castaways and theirs no way back. The bars are their to remind them and the audience they are convicts. its also their to make the officers they are basally convicts with power.

Interpretation:
 we had to perform harry speech in the way that we interpreted it. I saw it as a desperate unstable man I tried to show this in my speech and my movements e.g. when he started hearing voices I would drop to the floor and curl into a ball and show that stereo typical crazy person. I also see that Duckling is his only comfort so when he speaks of her it is ant in a nasty way but a desperate way. also at times  he would go on a aggressive rant.  


The Response To A Practitioner:
Their is signs of both work of practitioners within the play of our country's good. the fact that its a play in a play makes it very Stanislavski as it is natural because you see a play forming. the staging is very Brecht as you can see them move the staging and that is unnatural. personally i believe Stanislavski  
approach would be better for this play because it can relate to real life events and i personalty believe that a Brecht approach wouldn't work.




Word Count: 1361