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Movie Analysis : `` Doc `` Essay

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In Sharon Pollock’s play “Doc”, memory is a central aspect that the entirety of the play revolves around. Memory is staged as fluid, dynamic and as an important element in one’s understanding of one’s self. In this play, it is through memories that Catherine gains a new perspective of herself, other characters, and past events. This representation of memory is developed through dramatic techniques such as set and setting in the way the play is staged to transcend both time and space through the shared memories of Ev and Catherine as well as certain props. This representation is also shown through the technique of plot and design in the way the timeline of memories shifts as Catherine sees her childhood memories in a new light.

First of all, an important aspect of “Doc” is the set and setting and how it relates to Pollock’s fluid representation of memory. The present is set in Catherine’s childhood home, while the past has a more ambiguous setting as Catherine and Ev are catapulted back in time through their memories of the past. Before the play even begins, Catherine’s childhood home already seems to have a spooky feel to it as the stage directions state “In the black there is a subtle murmuring of voices, with the odd phrase and word emerging quite clearly. They are repeats of bits and pieces of dialogue heard later in the play. The voices are those of Katie, Oscar, Bob and the young Ev; they often speak on top of each other” (Pollock 1149). This initiates a haunting
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