Music And Music In Refugee By Milan Dragicevich

863 Words2 Pages

Over the last two weekends, UMass’ theater department put on their original show, Refugee, written by Milan Dragicevich, with music by Tim Eriksen. The department’s new play dealt with issues surrounding generations of a family, starting with two sisters from a refugee camp during WWII. This production featured multiple types of sound effects along with lots of musical underscores which were played live each night. Additionally, characters all had a relationship with music and used song to communicate with others. Sound plays a large role in UMass’ production of Refugee, as its original score adds to the overall tone and creates a more intimate environment for an audience while highlighting the theme of connecting family without direct communication. Loud crashes and sound effects which occur a few times in the production create a startling effect which grabs the audience’s attention and realistically develops a tense atmosphere. In the opening scene, sisters Savra and Mara interact and set up their current situation when their …show more content…

As the play flashes between the sisters and their grandchildren’s lives, music continually appears and serves as a mode of communication for each character. Savra’s side of the family listens to different types of music while connecting with other members in the area to get over their differences. Additionally, Mara’s grandson runs a pirated music shop, where he DJ’s throughout his first scene and repetitively speaks about his connection to music. Therefore, playing music throughout the scenes with each family’s side demonstrates how while everyone might be different, they all share a common passion. Since Eriksen composed his own music, it added an extra significance to scenes between Savra and Mara since intimate and new music served as an undertone to symbolize their

Open Document