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Theatre Critique Of Friday Night Cafe 's The Yellow Wallpaper

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Theatre Critique of Tuesday Night Café’s The Yellow Wallpaper

Even before taking their seats in the theatre the audience is transported into the constraining and chaotic mind of our protagonist, Jane. Jane has been locked in in a room with yellow wallpaper by her husband as “treatment” for her hysteria. Her hysteria is played by a nameless character beside her. In combination with symbolic blocking, the set and décor of this production create the perfect environment to capture the inner turmoil of Jane and her relationship with the madness.
One expects when walking past the doors of a theatre to encounter a stage and perhaps someplace to sit. However, when walking through the theatre doors one is confronted by a fabric wall and a dark hallway created by hanging pieces of yellow curtains and blankets stitched together with visible seams and patterns overlapping haphazardly. The people you saw enter before you disappear and you’re confronted by the question of where to go next. You walk along the dark makeshift hallway until you find an open wooden door, through which you finally see the stage and realize that you were only a few feet away from it the entire time. This makes up the audience’s first interaction with the The Yellow Wallpaper.
This design choice was a seamless way to draw audiences into the story and the mindset of the characters within the play. In surrounding the stage and audience with the “yellow wallpaper” the theatre experience becomes more intimate.

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