Playing the Character John from Blue Remembered Hills

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Playing the Character John from Blue Remembered Hills

The group, consisting of John, Audrey, Angela, Willie and Raymond;

have heard a bomb siren going off from the nearby prison camp. They

know that this means danger and as they are in the woods, they cant go

anywhere for cover and start to worry about one of the prisoners, or

“Ities” and “Wops” as they call them, having escaped. They decide to

keep an eye out for any dangers but all the talk of these “Ities” had

got them just frightening each other even more. Raymond hears a sudden

noise and the threat sends them running for cover in the long grass,

huddling together as a group.

After a while, they find out that the disturbing noise was in fact

their friend, Peter, running through the woods towards them because of

the sirens.

Having left Angela’s pram behind, John and Peter decide to go looking

for it; and this is where the scene ends.

When we first see the group in this scene, they are all huddled

together in the cover of the long grass. John reassures the rest of

the group that this is a safe place to hide.

(unsure)

“Him wont find us down here” “This is nice and safe. Ennit?”

John is slightly unsure of just how safe they are and in both quotes

he is not only reassuring the group but also himself. I would say the

first quote with confidence and while looking through the grass. The

second line would be said in a lower pitch of voice as he is not as

confident and say “Ennit?” as in an agreeable way and not in an asking

way; even though John is adding this as if asking for support.

“Did – did you see him?”

I would say the first “did” in a nervous way but then adjust my voice

to sound more confident in the rest of the sentence emphasizing the

“see” as it is in italics. I think the reason the writer did this was

because John wants to seem braver than he really is, but when he asks

this question, he wants to know if there actually is a threat before

he appears too nervous.

“They’ll have the guards out after him. They’ll soon catch him.”

Again, here John is reassuring himself by reassuring the group. When

Audrey states, that shooting the escapee is a “Good job”, she shows

just how confident she is and how little fear she has compared to the

rest of the group.

Angela soon starts to worry about the pram, which is obviously

precious to her; John states that it will be fine where it is.

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