The 39 Steps is a play set in 1930s Great Britain. It follows Richard Hannay, a Canadian visitor in London who is both the narrator and central protagonist of the play. He meets Annabella Smith at a theatre production in London called Mr Memory, where he learns that she is on the run from foreign secret agents and Richard agrees to let her stay in his apartment, however during the night Annabella is murdered and being the main suspect and standing accused of her murder, Richard flees to Scotland in search of a secret organization regarding the “39 Steps” and to prove his innocence. On his way he meets Pamela. she is unsure about Richard’s supposed innocence and is his skeptical counterpart. Richard and Pamela’s circumstances mean they are …show more content…
She wears all black, including a black hat, and has short blonde hair. This is typically what a women of a higher social status would look like in this time period. Short hair was in fashion in the 1930s and was popular with upper/middle class women. The fact that her gown and hat were both black implies that at some point during the play, a murder would occur which she would somehow be involved in. There are multiple murders throughout the play, two of them being in the last “Mr Memory” show. These two murders could be a reference to how Richard let himself be involved with two women dressed fully in black (Annabelle and …show more content…
The play is extremely fast paced and the given circumstances are very problematic for Richard, and the lighting is a good contrast between the two. The spotlight during Richard’s monologue in both the exposition and denouement of the play highlight the key reasoning of what Richard’s inner thoughts are and contribute to the performance in the fact that it draws the audience’s attention to what Richard is saying so they can clearly understand the key messages and values of the play.
Multi role is a frequently used technique throughout the The 39 Steps, with Four actors in total portraying over 100 characters, giving the play a fast paced, comedic value. The actors each had base costumes with subtle changes such as a hat, cane, or hairstyle to indicate when a new character was onstage. These are both Brecht techniques, each commonly used in theatre to separate the audience from the action onstage and alienate certain
Mark Lambeck uses the drama’s setting to relate Intervention to the audience. Specifically, he uses a vague yet understandable modern time. An audience can relate knowing they could experience the same thing on any given day. The location of the play is also a place an audience could easily find themselves. It is vague place that could represent almost anywhere, perhaps in where the audience is. In the current world, one could easily find themselves walking down the street on their cell phone. The characters are constant...
The lighting along with the music becomes dim and depressing when Doris reminisces because they also need to reflect her mood. There is also a great use of blackouts in the play. The blackouts represent a
Lauren Alleyne uses the rigid form of the sonnet to navigate through the healing process after being sexually assaulted. Ten years after that night, she writes the sonnet sequence Eighteen, which deviates from the typical sonnet form in the aspects of the speaker, subject, and format. Playing off of the standard sonnet form, Alleyne is able to recount the emotions of that night during the first sonnet in the sequence. The typical sonnet tends to objectify the female body or one’s lover; in this sequence, the sonnets address what happens when an individual acts on these objectifications and assaults Alleyne. Alleyne deviates from the standard subject and speaker of the typical sonnet form to begin the healing process; the process begins
This shows the difference between two classes in a Thatcherite Britain at the time to the audience. At the Johnstone’s house the lighting is always dim, not well lit, to show the gloominess and poverty in their lives. However the lighting in the Lyon’s house is always very bright. This is to show to the audience that the life of the Lyons is brighter than the Johnstones. In parts of the play (especially I found when the narrator was speaking)
The use of lights throughout the play did not vary often. Throughout most of the play, bright overhead lights portrayed the play’s main set room: a small town beauty salon. The lights created an atmosphere that was not only cheerful, but also warm and inviting. On each side of the stage, warm, more natural lighting was used to make the small outdoor areas more realistic. Lights were also used to convey
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. 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.
Alice decides to meet with an artist, Mr. Crewe, who invites her to his apartment and then assaults her. Alice stabs the man with a bread knife. She thinks he is dead, and escapes the crime scene. Later a man, Tracy, is accused for the murder of Mr. Crewe. Alice knows this could be unfair but fails to confess. In The 39 steps, Hannay is accused for the murder of Annabella Schmith. In The Lady Vanishes the idea of the wrong accused man is not that explicit, in fact in this film is shown the idea of the wrong woman, when someone in the train tells Alice that Miss Froy is back in the compartment and results to be Madame Kummar with the English lady´s clothes. Similarly in Rebecca the wrong woman is buried in the family grave while Rebecca´s body is in a boat in the bottom of the ocean, still in this film Maxim De Winter is wrongly accused for her death when is found that she was suicidal. The idea of wrongness in Hitchcock´s films is applied not only in terms of justice but also of relationships and the way the audience judges the characters. In the majority of the mentioned films the couple relationships at the beginning are form for convenience and are wrong in appearance, as the man is older than the woman and the relationship formed lacks of true feelings. Regarding the wrongness in the audience, Hitchcock manipulates the emotions and the information they receive, so that the characters are severely judge by the audience even though they are
A very important stage direction is the colour and brightness of the lighting, Priestley used this dramatic device very well. At first the lighting is described as ‘pink and intimate’. This shows a ‘warm’ and ‘joyful’ atmosphere. Although the audience get the idea that there is just a screen covering up their secrets, so they are actually looking through ‘rose tinted glasses’ and that there’s more to it than what meets the eye.
scene ii, ll.46-50). This quote from the play also shows the importance of night and
The Woman in Black is a gothic novel by Susan Hill. The protagonist is a lawyer named Arthur Kipps, the story is about the turmoil and tragedies he faces during and after being sent to work at the infamous Eel Marsh House. The harrowing experiences that Arthur is subjected to by the woman in black evoke sympathy in us for Arthur but after we find out the woman in black’s history everything changes and suddenly we feel sympathy directed towards her. Hill causes the levels of our sympathy to fluctuate due to the awful things the woman in black inflicts upon Arthur. The woman black is a ghost haunted by the death of her beloved son, she is filled with malevolence and goes on a vendetta; if she can’t have a child no one can. She is turned into
In James Martin’s book, The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life, he outlines the different paths through religion that people can take. In the chapter, “The Six Paths”, he outlines each path, describing how they work, and what the benefits and pitfalls to each are. The six paths are: belief, independence, disbelief, return, exploration, and confusion. I tend to view myself more closely aligned with disbelief, with a dash of confusion and exploration thrown in. Through my experiences in life, I end up finding the most disagreement, personally, with the Path of Belief, and Disbelief. I find the pitfalls heavily outweigh the benefits of those paths, and in such I have commonly found a non-welcoming, elitist environment among people on those paths of religion. Before explaining my positions on
Instead of a powerful physical image, like Queen Elizabeth I, Richard implements elegant soliloquies, engages in witty banter, and attunes the audience to his motives with frequent asides. This flexibility demonstrates Richard's thespian superiority and power over the rest of the play's cast, making him a unique character in the play, but why does he do it? This constant battle between characters to claim mastery over a scene leaves the audience with a seemingly overlooked source of power for an actor [clarify/expand].
The lady in black is first mentioned in Chapter I. Mr. Pontellier is surveying the cottages when he notices that a lady in black is walking demurely up and down, with her beads (468). In this example the rosary beads suggest that the lady in black is religious. I believe that this character is a symbol of religion. While everyone else is relaxing, she is busy praying. It is also worth noting that there are several passages which suggest that Edna is rebelling from her religious upbringing. For example, just after we meet the lovers, Edna shares a memory with Madame Ratignolle. She describes herself walking through a meadow as a young girl. She says, "Likely as not it was Sunday... and I was running away from prayers, from the Presbyterian service, read in a spirit of gloom by my father that chills me yet to think of it" (480). Similar to the description of her fathers service, the lady in black is serious and serene.
The lighting played a major role in setting the tone for both the theatre performance and the movie. In both the film and play, the lighting was dimmed and the non-important elements, such as background elements, were often hidden in the shadows. In the film the murky lighting also hid Todd in the shadows, in order to increase the suspense and further emphasize his intimidating demeanor. In the play,
The lighting was also very effectively used to show the coming and going of cars on the set. The reflection of lights on the front door of the house were used resemble those of an automobile. Even the final scene had just enough absence of light that the shadows of the characters could be seen sitting around the dinner table and praying by candlelight. At the very end of the performance the candles were extinguished consuming the set in blackness in turn signifying the end of the production.