The Signalman Middle Ground Theatre Company, Cheltenham Everyman, January 21st 2014 This production of The Signalman performed by the Middle Ground Theatre Company explored the themes of isolation, dread of the unknown and the supernatural, rather that causing the audience fear. The original novel, by Charles Dickens, was based on the Clayton Tunnel Crash of in 1861. This production used many techniques, both subtle and typical, to create an air of tension and suspense for the audience, this was key to creating a piece of theatre to keep them on their toes. The play begins with a stranger (Terrence Hardiman) shouting down to The Signal-man (Jack Shepherd) in his hut; 'Hello! Below there!'
He uses the tone of the character along with dramatic ‘beats’ to allow the audience to better understand what the characters are trying to say. Doug’s monologue in Act One details the incident which put him into the institution, which helps the audience to understand him better. It also explains the inside joke of ‘Go burn a cat’ which highlights Doug’s instability and the danger he poses to both Lewis and the play. This also allows Nowra to question the effectiveness of modern psychiatry and the effect it can have on someone. Doug’s response to setting his mother’s cats on fire was ‘It was the fault of the psychiatrist...he told me I had an unresolved problem with my mother... and I better fix it’.
They are the center of attention. The people gather around. Some are watching, some are taunting , and others provoke both Mercutio and Tybalt, trying to fuel their anger . Oblivious that they are in the ‘public haunt of men’, they don’t stop fighting. In my opinion, Shakespeare included this fight scene as an entertainment for the audience.
However as he works with the patients, he develops a new perspective and insight into certain matters and himself. When Nick and Lucy denounce him for doing a play about love, by declaring that ‘only mad people in this day and age would do a work about love and infidelity’, Lewis is able to realise that love and friendship is more important than politics. He learns about the importance of friendship, clearly evident, that he attends the moratorium, helping the patients prepare for their performance with an additional rehearsal. Lewis also finds strength later in the play, which he was devoid of to begin with . At the start, he is overwhelmed by the patients such as Cherry, Doug and Roy by their 'crazy' behaviour.
(Sauberman) Ultimately, due to misjudgments and mistakes the Iroquois Theater burned down, killing a total of 602 people; because of this, stricter theater fire codes were passed. During Christmas vacation a play called Mr. Bluebeard was playing at the Iroquois Theater; and parents took their children to see it. At the beginning of the second act of the play, a spark from an arc light flared up and caught a drop curtain on fire. At first audience members didn’t think much of the flash of light, thinking it was part of the play. (Taylor) The spark then burst into flames, with the fire expanding rapidly behind the stage.
He really lets you see the beautiful things in something so dark and creepy. Burton’s actions like bullying and judging people for what they look like on the outside and also what they are able to do. He reveals in his film that judging people and bullying can really hurt someone utilizing close ups and lighting to really show expressions on people’s faces when they meet Edward those two cinematic techniques also show what people feel when something happens in Edward Scissorhands. Burton uses close ups in order to express emotions when people are talking. When he uses close ups it really helps convey
Cherry seems to become more nutty when she falls for Lewis. But that’s what the audience wants to see, the normality of people turning mad because of love. Nowra is trying to cut out the fact that these people are really insane and hid it with the fact that love is what is important in this play, for people to understand that love makes you mad whether you are or not. As Julie says ‘Love is hallucinating without the
I think the reason he was made to just appear was to create that feeling for the audience watching the film. It straightaway makes you wonder and think about him by introducing him into the film in such a way and I think it was very effective. When the inspector appears in the play, they say that he looks at the person he is addressing very thoughtfully and hard before actually speaking. When he fist starts speaking he is very polite and thoughtful almost seems a bit dazed. He holds off at first what he is actually there to say and the, when Mr Birling starts getting agitated, he announces what has happened in a very firm and straightforward way.
He speaks carefully, weightily, and has a disconcerting habbit of looking hard at the person he adresses before actually speaking" This continues the idea of how the Inspector has a large affect on people and shows how he is going to interogate each family member later on in the play. This is an effective description as it conveys how Inspector Goole can be rather intimidating in the way he looks and addresses the characters in the
On Thursday the 13th of November, we went to watch a production of Henry IV at the Marlowe Theatre. The actor that personally stuck out to me the most was Jasper Britton, who played the part of Henry IV. The scene where I found his skills to be most apparent was Act I, Scene III. In this scene the actor showed his anger through the way he spoke the lines; his voice shook on certain lines, and also cracked at points, showing the intensity of his emotion. After several lines the actor would pause for a short enough time that audience didn’t lose interest in any way, but for long enough that tension was created amongst the characters on stage.