As the narrator my outfit is primarily black because the narrator is a constant reminder of what is to come in the play and so by wearing only black I reinforce the message of doom, by wearing all black I also don’t give anything away about my character and so he remains a rather enigmatic person throughout the play. We know why he is there but we don’t know who he is or where he’s from. I wear black, straight cut trousers with a white shirt and a fitted black blazer. I also wear a top hat which I use to show my change between characters, when I’m the narrator I wear it but when I’m another character I carry it or place it on the floor.
By doing this the audience receives a very clear signal that I’m no longer the narrator, Due to unforeseen circumstances we were not able to have lighting however we had planned what light we would have had, we would have begun with a white light centre stage where the twins lay dead and when the narrator approached them clutching a bible the lighting would turn red to represent the seriousness, I also feel that by using the colour red when the narrator first comes on the audience would being to recognise the narrator as a bad omen, a doom bringer.
We would used light colours such as white and yellow for the twins in their early years to represent and symbolize their innocence but as they grow we would add darker colours such as green and blue to show the change and the fading of their innocence up until the final scene where they die in which we would use red lighting because the audience would be able to relate the red back to the narrator and so the audience could blame the narrator for what has happened.
Scenes such as the ‘pill scene’ would have to be in dark colours such as blue to show how the twins lost their innocence and to show how much they have changed since that very first scene with them. For our performance we were intending to play the song ‘kid’s game’ however, since no body could download it, we decide to sing the song instead.
By doing this I think the song became more personal t5o the characters and so we decided to sing the song again at the end 6to show the irony between the games they used to play ‘the whole things just a game’ when they were kids and the reality that, when their all grown up, it stops being a game and it all becomes real. We also planned to play the song ‘it’s my life’ by Bon Jovi during the scene were Mickey is searching for his pills as we felt that the song represented what Mickey was feeling at the time. The anger, the hurt, the controlling.
The props that we intend to use are minimalistic as we feel that having too many props could ‘over power’ the message of the story because the actors and the audience would get caught up with them and give them more significance than they should have and so, to prevent this, we made sure that the few props we do have are significant. We used a gun and this was important because the gun Mickey is playing with is the same one that he uses to shoot Eddie with later on and we felt this created impact as the audience would be reminded how much has changed since then and now.
We also chose to use a bible and a small handful of money because these remind the audience of the superstitious aspect of the play and how Mrs Johnstone practically sold Eddie. This is further emphasised because the narrator has the bible and the money on him at all times. The final prop we decided to use was the box of pills that Mickey was addicted to because we though that this was an important aspect of the play as when the play was set many people in Liverpool and The UK in general were depressed due to job shortages so we chose the pill box to remind the audience of the play’s original setting.
Our primary use of semiotics was through the props we used because the props that we chose to use all had a significance that went beyond that of their primary role. Another example of the semiotics we used is the way we hard Mickey and Eddie lying on the floor dead as our first scene. By doing this the audience couldn’t escape and/or forget what is going to happen and so they can’t be completely comfortable with the characters during the film, they know what is going to happen and so they try not to get attached by their childish antics eventually win them over until it’s too late.
We use proxemics constantly throughout the play however it is most noticeable during the ‘change between Mickey and Linda’s relationship. As children they stand closely together and are constantly touching each other however when they become teenagers we can see in the ‘school scene’ and the ‘cinema scene’ Linda’s attempts to be close to Mickey whilst Mickey is always moving away from her, signifying to the audience that he is uncomfortable with Linda’s advances as he is always trying to put distance between them.
Another example is the scene between Miss Johnstone and Mrs Lyons where Mrs Lyons stands very closely to Miss Johnstone as she tries to persuade her to giver up her baby which shows that she is trying to be close to her emotionally and yet when she takes the baby she immediately puts distance between them as she feels that that is the best way to protect the secret. She goes about thus by putting physical distance between them and backing away whenever Miss Johnstone approaches her and then even more physical distance by first dismissing her from her jobs and then moving to the countryside. All to keep her away from Eddie.
