The Games Afoot is a ‘murder” mystery play written by Ken Ludwig and exposing the genres of mystery and comedy. In this play, a group of friends who are all involved in the theatre comes together for a dinner party on a stormy Christmas Eve after a series of unfortunate events, involving the murder of two people. Ludwig has written around nineteen different plays and musicals, including Twentieth Century, Shakespeare in Hollywood, Lend Me a Tenor, and Crazy for You, and An American in Paris. Ludwig’s' primary genre of writing is comedy. I have decided to do a designer analysis for this play, focusing mainly on the scenic element of it. The Games Afoot first premiered at the Cleveland Playhouse in Cleveland, Ohio in November of 2011, with Aaron …show more content…
Posner as the director. In 2012 the play was given an official copyright. The play has since been performed at different theatres throughout the country. Some including the Indiana Repertory Theatre, the Repertory Philippines theatre, and Lincoln Community theatre. This play is usually used as a chestnut play in each season. As we look at these characters and the genre of the play, we must ask ourselves of the looks we are first given is truthful. Since this play is a mystery and we are trying to figure out who or who all is behind of it and in a situation like this it could be anybody. It hard to tell who is lying and who is telling the truth in the beginning, but if we look closely we can see some holes in some of the characters stories. For instance, when Martha comes down and admits she was the one who killed Daria she tells Gillette that she canceled Daria’s cab, because “she wouldn’t need it once she was dead” (Ludwig 65). One of the primary characters the protagonist in the play is William Gillette. He is a wealthy actor and writer of Sherlock Holmes productions. In the beginning of the story, we see Gillette as Sherlock Holmes which gives us foreshadow to how he handles a situation further on in the play. Gillette is cunning and intuitive, though has a sense of humor. He is explained to be good looking, but we can also gather that he is caring, due to letting his mother live in his home and how he is so willing to cover up her mess. Directly opposed to Gillette is Simon, the antagonist of the play. Simon is also an actor, but not as smooth as Gillette. Though Simon trips over himself quite often, he is also intelligent in some situations. For instance After reading this play we can conclude that this is in fact a mystery genre.
Structure Exposition :( Scene One, Act One) The exposition starts on page one and extends all the way until page eighteen. In this section, we see most of the characters in the play, but as different characters. The audience finds out that most characters in the play are all actors in the same company. (Act one, Scene one, pg. 18) It is here when Gillette gets shot. This starts off the action of the play because before this the audience does not know that there have been things that have already occurred. This also starts off the mystery of the play, when the audience is forced to ask “who shot Gillette?” Rising Action: ( Crisis: ( Act Two, Scene Two, pg.100) On this page Aggie attempts to kill Simon after he has tried to kill her. This becomes the crisis of the play because Aggie must get caught and exposed for being one of the murderers. Climax: ( Act Two, Scene Two, pg.101) After Aggie tries to convince Gillette that she is a victim of the whole situation, Gillette tricks her into admitting that she was actually the main cause. Aggie tries to take advantage of the feeling Gillette once had for her, so he could believe that she is innocent. After Gillette exposes Aggie the tension becomes highest when Aggie tries to blame Simon. Simon then wakes up and tries to pin everything on …show more content…
Aggie. Falling Action: (Act Two, Scene Two) Aggie is placed under arrest by the inspector and the action is starting to slow down. The audience finds out the motives from both Simon and Aggie and they are taken away. Resolution: (Act Two, Scene Two, pg.105) Martha comes down from her bedroom after Aggie and Simon have been arrested and the inspector has left. It is here that we find out that Martha did indeed attempt to kill Daria. Everyone has finally admitted to what they have done and the audience is aware to all the action on stage, especially when Daria appears in the window alive. In the world of the play we see a group of actors from the same company having a dinner party inside the home of the head actor and writer. They are meeting on a stormy winter night on Christmas Eve in 1936. Also joining them is Daria Chase a well-known stage critic. It is stated that Daria has reviewed almost everyone in the cast and is known for giving critical reviews. It is normal for this group of people to participate in a séance, for in that time séances was a form of entertainment. It is also common for the medium to be viewed as the somewhat crazy lady and a subject for the evening’s jokes. In the play we are told that Gillette has a dog, who becomes important when Martha is trying to protect herself and her son from being arrested. I am going to set this up on a proscenium stage in order to make the set larger, thus giving the audience a taste of the extravagance.
The set will extend to both stage right and stage left. Since Gillette’s house is along the Connecticut River, the set will look bright and tidy, for if he is rich enough to have a house along the Connecticut Upstage center will be double French doors that serve as the main entrance to the house. Beside that will be a French window to show the storm and lights outside. Stage left will be a grand staircase that leads to an indoor balcony above the front door. The actors will be able to use the balcony as an acting space. There will be a big window that sits behind the window to open up the house a little more, make it look bigger, and show the effects of the storm. Downstage center there will sit a large couch with a chair stage left and stage facing the couch but angled where to where the audience can see who is sitting in them. Stage right there will be double interior French doors that serve as the entrance to the study. Opposite on stage left will be a single swinging door that serves as the entrance to the kitchen. Upstage left there is an arch with a bookcase in it that turns around to be the hidden bar that is used in multiple scenes. The stage will be painted to look like mahogany wood, with a Persian carpet in between the couch and the two chairs. The stairs will have a base of mahogany wood, but will also be covered in
carpet.
The setup of the stage was very simple. It was the living room of a home in the early 1980’s. It looked like a normal household, and it had small things such as crumpled up pieces of paper lying around the wastebasket. It also had a couch, circular class table and a recliner in the living room. The dining room was to the left side of the stage and only had the dining table and surrounding chairs. There was a door in the back of the set where characters entered and exited through. Beside the door was a table and stool where Willum presumably worked on his blueprints for the hotel. The lighting design was great; it put you into the atmosphere of the
In the next act the setting is very intimate. During this act you start to see the affects that the girls are having on individual lives. Proctor confesses his affair with Abigail, who then sets up Elizabeth. Abigail claims Elizabeth sent out her spirits to stab her with a needle, when they come wi...
It is not until the climax of the play that we think we've uncovered the truth as to what really happened between Susy and Gary when Susy admits to having sex with Gary on several occasions. She says that we would drive to my place and be gone before my sister got home' and that it was only when Susy decided to end the relationship that Gary became obsessed and began making dirty phone calls to her. Gary settles the case and Susy is awarded $40,000.
The exposition of the play was the baker and his wife learned that they were cursed to be without child by the witch next door. They were cursed because the baker’s dad stole vegetables from the witch’s garden. The witch took his sister and locked her away in a tower. They had to receive a cow as white as milk, a cape as red as snow, hair as yellow as corn and a slipper as pure as gold. Little red had the cape, Rapunzel with the hair, Cinderella had the slipper, and Jack had the cow. In Act I the point of attack was when everyone was trading and trying to find what they “wanted” things stated getting hectic and everyone was running out of time. In Act II the point of attack happens when the giant sets foot on our level which leads to the inciting incident creating an even larger complication for the characters and that’s when they all discover what they had wasn’t at all what they wanted. The climax was after a few characters had died and the last few characters were all together with no hope and the witch sacrifices herself to defeat the giant. Everyone goes their own way and finds their true happiness.
The play is set in the present time during the month of September. It is about the midday and the sun is out. A house is located between Trenton and Princeton New Jersey, pretty much where the corn fields meet the highway. The play itself takes place in the living room of an old farmhouse. A lady by the name of Marjorie is at home by herself going though her everyday actions when she approached by a strange man that enters her kitchen. The man appears to act as if he is confused and at the wrong house and enters deeper into Marjorie's home. She tries to be safe and acts like she has a husband upstairs, but the man is well educated and knows better than that. He knows that it is a lie and travels deeper into Marjorie's personal space. When Marjorie finally realizes that her trickery isn't going to work she tries to escape out the door, but the strange man blocks her way. This man is Raul and his main goal is to rape and possible kill Marjorie. A struggle of power breaks out between the two and in the end Marjorie's using the strongest muscle she has against Raul. She tricks him into thinking that she really does like him, when all that time she is trying to reach for a can of wasp spray to use in defense. Raul is fooled and as his weakness of pleasure shines though Marjorie blocks it out by spraying Raul in the eyes with the wasp spray. She then locks him up into the fireplace and that is the end of act one. As act to progresses Raul brings up the point that the cops would arrest Marjorie before him, because he is the victim of the fight. As the day progresses Marjorie's roommates Terry and Patricia come home from work. By this time Marjorie wants to kill Raul and bury him in the back yard, the obstacle to made when her two roommates don't think that is the right thing to do.
project of the play, of which is touched upon in Act One. It is this
The first scene is a television which automatically brings the modern feel to the film. As the camera gives the sense of the television moving slowly towards us we suddenly break into a quick speedy montage showing the story and some of the characters. The introduction to the play is repeated, once on the television by the news reader and again during the opening montage. This may be to create effect or perhaps to show the importance and publicity this story had. The scene in the petrol station focuses on the rivalry and hatred of the two families, The Capulets and the Montagues.
Act three scene one will be my main aid, for in this essay I will
The first scene of a play usually sets up the basic themes and situations that the remainder will work with. In Shakespeare’s play King Lear, the very first scene presents many of the play's basic themes and images. The recurrent imagery of human senses and of "nothing," the distortion of familial and social ties, the gradual dissolution of Lear's kingship, all make their first appearances in the first lines of Shakespeare's play.
Scene One of A Streetcar Named Desire What is the dramatic significance of scene one of the play A Streetcar named Desire? Scene 1 of this play has great dramatic significance. In this essay, I will be looking at key points throughout the scene that reveal the key features of the plot, characters, theme and imagery plus how it is used to give the audience a taster for what is to come.
is also a scene where many of the themes of the whole play, such as
From the start of Act One, as the setting of the play is announced, an
In Act 1 Scene 1, Shakespeare introduces setting, characters, themes and plot to explain what is happening and to grab the audience’s attention, as well as laying the ground for the rest of play. He also uses literary techniques to make his play more interesting. Shakespeare also does this through the language and style of his writings he gives to the individual characters, and also the very few stage directions. Shakespeare had very restricted assets to work with, and so needed his actors and speeches to work for him. His language gives us clues as to how the characters should act and how they should project their personalities to create a sense of realism. The first scene is important in catching and holding the attention of an audience in any play.
who is a patient in the hospital, in which the play is set. The play
Everybody knows that a play is more restrained than a novel because it is written to be performed in less than three hrs. That is why it should attract the viewer and engage his or her attention from the beginning. That makes the opening scene of any play of such a great importance. The opening scene in a play acts as an expository scene that introduces the audience to the background of the play, its hero, and hints at the main theme. Shakespeare is one of the greatest dramatists who wrote the best expository scenes ever. They are known for their greatness and their capacity to attract the audience or the reader from the very beginning. One of Shakespeare's great opening scenes is the opening scene of Macbeth. Some consider the opening scene of Macbeth a compact exposition because it introduces to the audience the background of the lay, its hero and hints at the main theme. It also shows the atmosphere in which the play is going to take place.