The play I saw was The Woman in Black by Steven Mallatratt, based on the novel by Susan Hill. It was a matinee performance in The Lyric, Theatre Royal on Thursday the 21st of May 2015. The Woman in Black follows the tale of Arthur Kipps, who has hired an actor to help him become confident in telling his ghastly tale. The Theatre Royal is a regional theatre, this means that different performances come down to perform for a certain amount of time.
Before I watched the play, I expected it to be terrifying and nightmare inducing, using different dramatics elements to strike fear. I was unsure on how they’d effectively use minimal props and actors and the final scene where the wife and child died. I thought that the timing of the performance would
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As well as this, the actors getting ready to walk onto stage behind the curtains was also visible, this ruined the believability and realism of the performance.
Dividing the stage was effective because it emphasised the actor’s use of proxemics and showed the different rooms. There was also a staircase that contributed to the actor’s use of levels. They also used the apron of the stage by placing planks across it; there was a particular scene where this was effective when Kipps suddenly fell down a hole in the planks. At the beginning they used the space effectively when the actor came out of the audience, it made the audience feel they were part of the performance.
The set was bland and minimalistic, this improved the effect of the performance because it placed emphasis more on how ‘the imagination is a prop’ and you don’t need a fancy set to make a good performance. It also emphasised the large wooden door that was always on set and never moved, making the audience curious of what was behind it. I believe the door was a symbol for when everything went wrong for Kipps, which is why it was so prominent in the performance. This symbolism stressed the curiosity and confusion of Kipps. The use of fog in the marsh scene also reflected a sense of uneasiness and confusion, sharing the feelings of the characters with the
Stage directions are also used to reveal the humour and action on the stage during the entire performance. At the end of act one, scene two, the audience is and the rest of the patients are told by Doug that there is a fire in the bathroom, where Doug himself, had just exited. Stage directions are used to capture the madness as the characters run off of the stage trying to stop the fire, and as Cherry attacks Doug, and starts to strangle him.
The set consisted of separate panels made to look like the walls of a subway station, as well as stairs on either end of the stage and benches for the characters to sit on. There was an immense amount of detail in it, with the walls graffitied onto as if it were actually part of a subway. The costumes were reflective of the characters’ backgrounds. For example, the lawyer, the businessman and woman, and the professor all wore suits, as to indicate their professionalism. On the other hand, the homeless girl wore dirty clothing, reflecting her state before her death. The lighting in the play helped create the atmosphere of being in a subway underground. It came from different parts of the set, including the sides, with some of the lights being different colors, which gave it some variety. As a whole, sound was not particularly prominent in the production. At the beginning and the end, there is the sound of a train, as to indicate its departure and arrival. Additionally, there was also a sound queue with the conductor calling out, but it was barely audible due to a technical error. No special effects were implemented in the
“The Producers” is one of the most famous musicals in Broadway. Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan adapted the musical from the 1968 film of the same name. The musical is about two producers that oversell interest in a Broadway flop in order to become wealthy. The musical consist in play with in the musical. The producers, Max and Leo, choose the worst play ever written and the worst director. However, the play turns out to be successful and Max goes to jail and Leo escapes with the money to Rio. The two more important external event in the play are the event when Leo decides to help Max and the moment when the play becomes a success.
The technical aspects of the production such as scenery, properties and costumes also played a keynote in the productions success. The scenery was fabulous it truly made the play. It was very realistic and extremely vibrant. Almost the entire play was performed in one setting, except for the railcar and dance scenes. The house, the main setting, was magnificent with painstakingly placed detail in every corner. All elements in the house matched wonderfully, for example the furniture, the photos on the wall, the telephone and even the trash can. Little bits of detail were everywhere adding to the beautification of the set, for example the lace decorations on the chairs, the etched glass above the front door and even the Christmas tree.
The set throughout the play was non-naturalistic as the props used were to represent things, for example they used the sofa’s to represent cars on the stage, which had headlight on the front of the sofas or when they used the
In the rehearsal scene, there were references to the sound technician. This was a Brechtian technique of the audience being aware of a play within a play. Most sound effects were specific and recorded, like the city hustle and bustle, the screams and the voices when reading things aloud. However, the one sound that stood out to me was the music box. Being the only live sound we hear, relates to the naturalism of the nursery and how Jennet Humfrye’s love for her son is infinite. Music boxes were commonly a gift for a child, or a token of love for a partner in the Victorian times. The idea of love is additionally demonstrated when Kipps is reading a letter alongside Stella. This shows his remembrance of her voice and how much he misses her. The ticking of the clock at the beginning of the play reminds the audience of a countdown, a signal that something is about to happen. This relates to the rhythmic rocking of the chair, similar to a heartbeat, echoing around the house, resembling Nathaniel’s pulse. This again adds humanity to the nursery. When Kipps stops the chair from rocking, everything is silent which signifies the death of Nathaniel and how in reality he is gone. Contrasting to the naturalism, there is repetition of the Woman’s screams. These created an abstract soundscape that made the audience feel frightened, mimicking the discomforting feeling of the horror genre. The ‘Pony and Trap’ sounds came
I know that it is a small stage so you couldn’t do much to it, but I wish they at least put up an actual door instead of a pretend door so that you could distinguish between houses. In the end I really did like the play because it kept me interested and wondering on what was going to happen next. My boyfriend came to the first half of the play, but then had to go to class for the second half. Since the ending caught me so off guard I had to tell him what happened in the second half. The play was like a delicious dessert that you could not just stop halfway in; you have to keep enjoying it until the very end.
Sadly when I arrived at the theater I was not even sure I would be able to focus on the show, for my mother who was meant to see this production with me yet was unable to. Due to unforeseeable circumstances that neither one of us could for see and so with all of this hanging over head I was really hoping to get a laugh from this play, which it did. This was not the first time that I had come to see a play at Boise Little Theater, but definitely this was the first time that I had done it on my own. Which was a tad
This was the first play or theatre performance that I have attended. I was unsure of what to expect, but I heard great things about this play. Furthermore, the first aspect of this production that caught my attention was the design of the set. The design gave the feeling of a run down urban neighborhood by making the outer parts of the stage look like an old brick building. The building looked like one you would find in a low-income area or projects. The scenery of the play set the stage for what type of production this would be. I especially liked the way they carefully chose not to place just any kind of props on the stage. The dusty
Before the performance begun, there was a couch positioned on the center of the stage. Behind the couch, a rectangular entrance was opened revealing a hallway where the actors entered. Falsettos, had changeable scenes that constantly used the rectangular entrance. It easily drawn the audiences’ attention when the actor entered because the lighting drenched the entrance, cueing the actors to enter. The vacant couch placed before the performance began could be distorted into chairs, short end tables, and a love seat. One scene I remembered that distorted the couch apart into an assortment of furniture was Marvin’s visit at the psychologist’s office. Before the scene was cued, the couch was distorted into a love seat, and a chair. These props conveniently made it a less hassle changing furniture pieces. Also, the back wall had photo images of framed pictures and books that were projected to make the set livable.
The space was a well-constructed thrust stage however, the stage was not raised off the ground and the seats appeared to be mobile which lead to the belief that this is an Environmental Theater. As for the layout of the stage, there was a couch and a table in center stage for the first two acts, a door to the unseen outside front of the house upstage right, there were two large double doors upstage center leading to the backyard garden, and a raised floor upstage left containing a piano, a bookcase and a door
The set and props where very compact and were built and moved on and off by the cast because they are designed to be transferred by one person. The props where all cleverly done, for instance they made a bridge out of three ladders, a train out of four boxes and a house from just one door. The door I thought was one of the best props used because the cast managed to make a fairly small stage appear huge just by moving the door and pretending each time that it was a new room every time they passed through it. At one point in the play Richard and Pamela ask the scottish landlords for a sandwich and they come back with a loaf of bread cut in two with one slice of lettuce in the middle, this was such a simple idea but made a big deal and a laugh out of it
The lighting of any production is the most important part in my thought. the lighting puts you in the mood that you have to be in, in order to fully understand that part of the show and to actually live it like they do. For example, when they were in the park and it was raining, they had their umbrellas, and the background effects of rain made it really seem as if it was raining in the theatre. The lighting was always focused on every part of the stage, especially on those who were the main parts in that scene.
Throughout the play, I enjoyed the role of music used to set a comic atmosphere and replace the dialogs during comic scenes (e.g. when they chase each other around). I also thought that they made a good use of light to indicate the moment of the day the scene was happening or to set the atmosphere of the scene (e.g. pink colour during the romantic moments). Lastly, I liked the way the play ended. Even though it was a little messy with everyone running after each other off and on stage, and this policeman coming out of nowhere, which really surprised me; I couldn’t think of a better way to end the play.
The setting of the play helped to develop the mood. First of all, the abundance of props brought the story to live successfully. For example, the bed and door created the forgotten, quiet feeling in the old man's room. Next, the floorboards were lifted up so it actually looked like the