The Stage Techniques Used By Willy Russell To Keep The Audiences Attention In His Play Blood Brothers
There are many ways in which Willy Russell keeps the attention of the
audience in "Blood Brothers". Willy Russell wrote "Blood Brothers"
shortly before its first performance in 1981. The first way in which
he does this is when the narrator speaks in a normal local accent
rather than a posh accent. The narrator also outlines a little bit of
what will happen in the next act in his opening speech.
This play has no set, just props. This will keep the attention of the
audience, as they won't have to wait between set changes. The way the
audience knows where the characters are is by what the characters are
holding, or using, or saying. The absence of a set would also help the
audience pay full attention to the characters. The production doesn't
have a very big cast and at one point they even make a joke about
people doubling up. The milkman becomes the gynecologist and he jokes
about changing professions. In certain parts of the play the
characters use the audience as another member of the cast. Linda and
Mrs. Johnston act as if they are talking to the housing officer and
then pause and answer afterwards. After the pause they answer the
housing officers questions by kind of repeating what the officer says,
Willy Russell has strong views on the classes in society. His view is
that the working class is treated differently to the middle class. He
shows this through having two children put into different families so
they have different chances in life. He also believes people view the
boys differently if they live at certain areas or go to different
schools.
The language used by Willy Russell in "Blood Brothers" is mainly
working class. The characters will talk in a Liverpudlian accent
except for Eddie and Mrs. Lyons that is. Eddie and Mrs. Lyons would
have a "posh" accent.
"Blood Brothers" is a kind of tragedy story. This is because the twins
audience in his play. I will be analysing act one of the play to try
that you cant pick out but know that they are there. You can see the
Live Performance Review of Blood Brothers On the eighth of July 2004 our Drama Class travelled to the New Theatre to see the sentimental Production of the musical Blood Brothers written by Willy Russel .Blood Brothers was musically directed by Richard Beadle and the performance was directed by Bob Tomson and Bill Kenwright. It was designed by Andy Walmsley and the lighting was done by Nick Richings.
but she was also very keen to play Mrs. Lyons as she had never played
Throughout the piece, we see the use of audience as active participants to amplify the didactic message of the play. In the literature we see many instances where the author uses this cognitive distancing as a way to disrupt the stage illusion and make the audience active members of the play. Forcing the audience into an analytical standpoint as opposed to passively accepting whats happening in their conscious minds. This occurs time and time again in the fourth act of the play. The characters repeatedly break down the fourth wall and engage the audience with open participation. We see this in the quotation from the end of the fourth Act of the play:
Willy Russell has wrote plays based in Liverpool because this is where he was brought up as a kid in a working class family, Blood Brothers relates to this and aspects of class that he would have experienced when he lived there. Willy Russell grew up just outside Liverpool, he left school when he was only 15 to become a hairdresser, it was in his early twenties when he decided to go back to school and take his O levels. His plays were about everyday circumstances and his
The Stage Manager is a man of many roles. Usually a stage manager is part of the non-acting staff and in complete charge of the bodily aspects of the production. In Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, the Stage Manager goes well beyond his usual function in a play and undertakes a large role as a performer. In Our Town the Stage Manager is a narrator, moderator, philosopher, and an actor. Through these roles the Stage Manager is able to communicate the theme of universality in the play. The main role of the Stage Manager is that of narrator and moderator. He keeps the play moving by capsule summations and subtle hints about the future. "I’ve married over two-hundred couples in my day. Do I believe in it? I don’t know? M….marries N….millions of them. The cottage, the go-cart, the Sunday-afternoon drives in the Ford, the first rheumatism, the grandchildren, the second rheumatism, the deathbed, the reading of the will-once in a thousand times it’s interesting"(699). Here the Stage Manager is giving insight about George and Emily’s future. He is hinting about their life and fate to come. "Goin’ to be a great engineer, Joe was. But the war broke out and he died in France. All that education for nothing" (673). The incidents discussed about are great events in George, Emily, and Joe’s lives. The Stage Manage emphasizes that the short things in these people’s lives are overlooked. There isn’t realization that it is the small parts of their lives that make a difference. His role as narrator differs from most narration. The Stage Manager’s narration shows casualness. The casualness connects the Stage Manager to the audience. "Presently the STAGE MANAGER, hat on and pipe in mouth…he has finished setting the stage and leaning against the right proscenium pillar watches the late arrivals in the audience."(671) The informality is evident since he smokes a pipe, wears a hat, and leans formally against the proscenium pillar. He also greets and dismisses the audience at the beginning and end of each act. The stage manager interrupts daily conversation on the street. The Stage Manager enters and leaves the dialog at will. He is also giving the foresight of death in the play. His informality in dress, manners, and speech, connects the theme, universality, of the production to the audience.
... morals and personality towards his goals and at the same time trying to pass those values onto his sons, making him lose their respect, which is one of the many reasons that ended up taking his life. For the most part one can see that issues like Willys cannot only be seen or heard of in a play but also in the real world. Everybody in general wants to conform and be liked in today's competitive society, which is one of the reasons why many people don't get to accomplish the things they want to accomplish because they are either to scared or don't have the courage to step out of the social norms and achieve what they what to achieve. If anyone learns anything from this tragic character, one can say that truly knowing ones-self can really help in the long run because if one doesn't know who they are, they can end up leading a miserable life, in a miserable world.
The Techniques Used by Shakespeare to Keep the Audience in Interested in Romeo and Juliet
Hamlet makes use of the idea of theatrical performance through characters presenting themselves falsely to others – from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern spying on Hamlet to gain favor with the King, to Hamlet himself playing the part of a madman – and through the play within the play, The Mousetrap. This essay will discuss the ways in which Hamlet explores the idea of theatrical performance, ‘acting’, through analysis of the characters and the ‘roles’ they adopt, specifically that of Hamlet and Claudius. The idea, or the theme of theatrical performance is not an uncommon literary element of Shakespearean works, the most famous of which to encompass this idea being As You Like It. This essay will also briefly explore the ways in which Hamlet reminds its audience of the stark difference between daily life and dramatization of life in the theatre.
Comedy in Our Day Out by Russell In this assignment I am going to look at the ways in which Willy Russell has created humour within the play 'Our Day Out'. I will pay particular attention to the characters, their dialogue and the events that take place Willy Russell was born in a town near Liverpool, he left school at fifteen with no idea what he wanted to do and nothing but an O'level in English. ' Our Day Out', 'Blood Brothers' and 'Educating Rita' are a reflection of Russell's own experience of education.
They also had an argument on how long ago they both went to a masked
I think that Russell wrote this play because he had a hard time in his
In the words of Harvey Fierstein, “What looks absolutely fabulous in rehearsal can fall flat in front of an audience. The audience dictates what you do or don't change”. Clearly, the success or failure of any work of art depends, almost entirely, on its ability to engage and connect with its audience. Shakespeare, one of the greatest playwrights in history, certainly understood this concept. He targeted his Elizabethan audience skillfully, drawing them in and manipulating the way they interpreted his works. This is evident in one of his renowned plays, Hamlet. Attempts to target the audience are evident throughout the play, but focusing on one speech can provide a greater appreciation for Shakespeare’s deliberate efforts. In act four, scene two, while explaining that Polonius is dead, Hamlet says:
the play draws its readers to identify with Richard and thereby to participate in a