Essay On Stags And Hens

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Stags and Hens - personal performance review Drama coursework!!! The practical piece that I performed on 16th December ‘04 was a play written by Willy Russel called ‘Stags and Hens’. It was written in 1978 and is set on a hen/stag night in Liverpool for what was at that time, the present - reading the play, however, and comparing it with the portrayal of present day Liverpool I noticed no obvious changes. Another play that I have studied is ‘Blue Remembered Hills’ by Dennis Potter. This play was written in and is set in the heart of Devon in WW2 year 1943 with a cast of 5 boys and 2 girl characters; all of which are children around the age of 7. Composed for a cast of 5 female and 5 male characters, ‘Stags and Hens’ highlights …show more content…

They move with head held high, shoulders back and pelvic area thrust slightly forwards. In conversation they are safe enough not to have to think about what they say before hand because people listen to them due to their high position, this results in them talking a lot more than most of the other group members. I linked Eddy with Peter and John from ‘Blue Remembered Hills’; he has the arrogant bully side to him that Peter has: “Say that once more and I’ll know your tith back your throat!” but he also seems to have a sort of wisdom to him that John shows: “Hey! Leave him alone!” John has the position in the group where he can defend people with out becoming vulnerable himself. I mentioned previously about how Eddy seems to be more morally aware. Obviously these two characteristics appear differently in the characters seeing as Peter and John are only seven years old. My character, Kav, assumes a lower status in the group, but he is not the lowest. He is clearly positioned above Billy, but below Eddie and Robbie. He appears to be fairly insecure and not entirely sure …show more content…

One of the dramatic devices that Potter and Russel have both used in their plays is foreshadowing. This subconsciously prepares an audience for a significant climax using similar smaller events/actions/suggestions that act as a rehearsal, and build up to the main event. In ‘Blue Remembered Hills’ the children ferociously capture and kill a squirrel; this foreshadows their much more horrific persecution at the end of the play: the killing of Donald. In ‘Stags and hens’ Bernadette says “Ey, wouldn’t it be awful if the fellers turned up as well?” This foreshadows the next part of the play, where the men do end up at the same club as the women. However none of them are aware of this until later in the play. This is also an example of dramatic irony. This is when the audience are aware of something that the characters are not, and is to create tension; there seems to be so little space between the characters and the audience yet the space is immense – the cast are usually in a completely different world, which makes the build up huge for the audience. They start to ask

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