Premiering at Belvoir Theatre, Lally Katz semi-autobiographical play Back at the Dojo, unravels the wonders and difficulties of the human condition, and the fragilities and delicacies that life presents us with.
Upon entering the theatre, you are immediately swept into Mel Page’s logical and authentic representation of an Australian hospital room. Every detail - from the waiting room chairs, the sick bed, the toilet, the brightly lit corridor to the paneled windows complemented by the iconic venetian blinds and coved vinyl floor - all immaculately refined to create the perfect location for this ‘ravishing and nourishing story’. The plot is inspired by stories of Katz’s father’s life, her mixture of true stories, of magic realism, and Katz’s
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It is also during this space, that Danny meets Lois (Catherine Davies), his beloved wife, now, fighting for her life in the hospital bed.
There is something powerful about having Lois and Danny’s life played out vividly around them as they sit in a hospital room facing the end of their life journey. Using this mechanism of storytelling, Kohn marshals all the forces, with a deft hand, to amplify the poignancy of his message.
Back at the Dojo offers a myriad of characters, examining the profound connection that exists between generations. The cast is refreshing, through their success of transformational style acting. Shari Stevens brings life and energy to the stage through her energetic interpretation of Lois sister, and Fayssal Bazzi’s portrayal of Lois’s troubled brother is evocative.
As this performance drew to a close, Patti and her grandfather embraced each other, leaving me with an everlasting image of these two people inextricably connected by their grief and loneliness. Perhaps, it enlightened me to the power of love, through connection to family, but nonetheless it was a powerful moment, that resonated deeply with
The Waiting Room incorporates the observational mode trait of long takes to illustrate the chaos that occurs in the waiting room and behind the scenes of the hospital. Moreover, the long takes in the film provide a glimpse of each patients’ background story and allows people to express their concerns instead of revealing character individuality, which may help the viewer infer why the health care system in America is failing. The long takes help decipher, “The body language, and eye contact, the intonation and tone of the voices, the pauses and “empty” time that gives the encounter the sense of concrete, lived reality” (Nicholas 176), that depicts each patients’ harsh reality of what it is like living with no health insurance. For example, there is a scene where a little girl and her mom follow a nurse into a room, the camera follows them and the viewer can see the
Hospitals are meant to help some people heal physically and others mentally. In the novel One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey published in 1962, readers are introduced to a mental hospital that has goals that do not align with helping people. Within the hospital, characters with varied personalities and opinions are intermixed with three main characters playing specific roles with supporting characters close by. With the characters’ motivations, themes develop such as the emasculation of the men in the hospital by an oppressive nurse. Symbols, such as laughter and the “combine”, are also pertinent to themes as the readers watch the men transitioning from being oppressed to being able to stand up for themselves causing change in hospital policy.
In the next stanza, the poet describes “A figure walking towards cloaked in blue/ Beeping/ Tubes/ Needles.” The poem addresses the routinely and monotonous aspect of being in the hospital for long periods of time. It is a critique of the biomedical model and how the hospital system is created where patients are tended to by multiple doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals. The patients and healthcare professionals are unable to form a relationship that consists of what Kleinman describes as “empathetic witnessing” (Kleinman). Therefore, detachment between patient and health workers is developed and established, to which the patient cannot recognize or know the people assisting them. In addition, Grealy discusses this in her earliest accounts and appointments with doctors. She states that there is a layer of “condescension” and is an “endemic in the medical
the rest of the century. As you watch these videos notice how musicals come to represent
To illustrate the mental institute, the narrator describes remembering “the trapdoor… and find the girl tied to a bed (Ellison 74).” Many medical facilities have a seclusion room where they isolate patients who are violent or self-destructive, with medical restraints, according to Gale Springer from the American Nurse Today. The girl tied to the bed symbolizes the use of medical restraints and “her clothing torn to rags (Ellison 74),” suggest that the girl was doing harm upon herself or to others. One may think the narrator’s comment on “everything was fixed (Ellison 75),” was about the constant visits to the “bingo hall” looking the same. In the perspective of a mental institute, an
“This one was hardly bigger than a garage. The table was cluttered with limp- looking magazines and at one end of it there was a big green glass ashtray full of cigarette butts and cotton wads with little blood spots on them. If she had had anything to do with the running of the place, that would have been emptied every so often. There were no chairs against the wall at the head of the room. It had a rectangular-shaped panel in it that permitted a view of the office where the nurse came and went and the secretary listened to the radio. A plastic fern, in a gold pot sat in the opening and trailed its fronds down almost to the floor. The radio was softly playing gospel music” (O’Connor 3). As the Turpins waited Mrs. Turpin began to describe the other waiting room occupants to pass the time. Mrs. Turpin can be seen as a larger woman who is proud of her means and then there is her husband Claud who can be described as a “florid, bald, sturdy and shorter than Mrs. Turpin (O’Connor 1). Next was an unnamed blonde child whose attire consisted of a dirty blue romper, the boy’s mother was seen “wearing on a yellow sweatshirt and wine- colored slacks, both gritty-looking, and the rims of her lips were stained with snuff. Her dirty yellow hair was tied behind with a little piece of red paper ribbon” (O’Connor 5). The next woman is called the “stylish woman” by
No matter where we are in the world, there is always some kind of relationship that we will come to attain in life. Whether it be with blood relatives or complete strangers, a relationship would develop within one another. A kinship is broadly identified as a term describing any kind of relations or connection with others. In ethnographies such as The Righteous Dopefiend and Raw Life, New Hope, the characters have mostly been identified as impoverished-living in a completely different world. Although one setting is in San Francisco and the other is in South Africa, every person interviewed in both of the ethnographies develops a kinship with people that care and show compassion. Reading these two ethnographies, one can compare and see its similarities
When people such as Deborah miss a family member so much, they can do anything to make a dedication to the one they
Establishing Baz Luhrmann’s acclaimed Red Curtain trilogy, Strictly Ballroom explores the notion that “a life lived in fear is a life half lived,” through his effective use of characterisation, setting, symbolism and cinematography. The coming of age piece follows two ballroom dancers through their battle against conventionality, during the height of the rigorous 1980’s Australian dance culture. Furthermore, an emphasis on exaggeration is portrayed within the film to exemplify the notion of regret, which directs viewers into an animated like perception of theatre, as urged by Luhrmann.
Winton conveys the previous mistreatment of indigenous Australians to continue to permeate the conscience of modern day Australia. Magic realism is employed through Winton’s portraying the “invasion” of the house on Cloudstreet being depicted to echo the indigenous response to the first fleet through the house “protesting” through “floorboards” “grinding” subsequent to the Pickles family “step[ping] inside”, empowering his message by presenting an almost palpable reaction to his audience. Moreover, Winton further incorporates magic realism in illustrating his concern for the enduring effects of the mistreatment of indigenous Australians through the “girls” and “hags shadows” lingering in the house’s library. By presenting such an extraordinary
I remember a time when Bumma and I stood in her herb garden in the backyard. As we discussed stories and memories of the past, I pondered what exactly made that moment so special to me. Yes, their house and garden were beautiful, and I loved to spend time with my various grandparents, but this particular setting had always been different. As I called my grandmother over to look at a certain flower, it clicked. That silly nickname I had given her when I was young had cultivated and blossomed, attaching itself to memories and emotion, and becoming a firm foundation in my life. Of course I love all my grandparents and relatives, but the ones that I have special nicknames for certainly hold a place in my heart.
Enchanted by her serene radiance, I did not disturb her. Suddenly she began to speak in a whispered hum that was more like a song, unique in a dwelling full of ranting outbursts. She spoke of years long past, swimming in the pond with her sister and dancing in the moonlight. I could picture all in my head, like I was watching a movie. Then she began repeating the story she had just told me, and I realized that she was merely talking to herself. Although this discovery disenchanted me at first, I soon realized that, although the woman was talking to herself, she still had so many fantastic stories stored in her mind. The residents of the home all had some life flittering in them and numerous stories to share; they just need someone to listen to them. After my experience at the home I knew that one of my goals in life would always be o help make sure that people were receiving proper treatment, and not merely stuffed away and drugged up.
When watching the characters prance across the screen, one of the first things that strikes the viewer is how childlike the patients are. Their squabbles, presided over and regulated by the mother-like figure of Nurse Ratched, are quite similar to those that occur between siblings everyday. Their fixation on trivial occurrences and objects betray an infatuation with discovery concerning their environment. In this film universe, each patient is represented the same way, a far cry from their portrayal as slightly strange individuals whose conditions render them unique as seen in the
Flashing red and blue lights accompanied by an alarming siren in the distance is signaled when the double doors of the emergency room burst open. Pushed by several nurses, doctors, and other medical staff, a lone hospital stretcher with a bloody, wounded patient flies through the medical center towards the doors to the operating room. This image is what generally comes to mind when you think about an emergency room. Many people believe that the hospital’s emergency room is a dark and scary place. While this is true, the common misconception is that the emergency room is a place clear of humor, when in reality humor is present, even necessary, for many reasons. Many television shows, like the show ER, are based in the setting of the
"That girl, you know she can be very stubborn, but I know that singing always came first before her very own life. Like mother, like daughter, I heard people say," The Grandfather had a far away look in his eyes, which reflected pure sadness.