Directing (19) - Scene 1, Scene 2 & Photographs

In these past two lessons we have run a couple of scenes without scripts and took photographs of us in costume for our programme. We ran scenes one and two quite a lot, as a way to help learn lines and to get used to not having a script in our hands. Also, we find these scenes quite daunting as it is the first time the audience meet our characters and thus we want to create the desired first impression. The last scene is also crucial as the audience sees how the whole thing started and what the characters used to be like. We want the audience to feel completely different about Robert and Jerry at the end to at the beginning. We want our audience to dislike Robert at the beginning (as he comes across as arrogant and stubborn) but like and sympathise with him at the end (he is caring and clearly loves his wife dearly). Meanwhile, we want our audience to like Jerry at the beginning (as he is a bit soppy and is clearly besotted with Emma, he seems to have been caught up in it all) but dislike him at the end (as they realise he started this all and is horrific in how he confesses his love to her). We don't really mind what the audience thinks of Emma - personally we don't like her at all, though we do feel sorry for her a bit at time (i.e. in scene four and scene nine).

We did a photo shoot to promote our play but also as an exercise. We used this photo shoot as an exercise to create freeze frames that we found interesting and would hint at the characters and their situation. We felt that the photo in the centre in the top row, shows the characters before the affair - Emma and Robert seem to be in love with each other, whilst Jerry is staring at Emma. The other photos are all during the affair, as Emma doesn't look comfortable with Robert and is often looking at Jerry. However, we used the bottom right image for our promotion as it shows Emma as comfortable in the middle of them both and the relationships are well portrayed - the fact that Robert's hand is on my shoulder shows he is possessive and perhaps controlling (which is the aim for the second scene), whilst Jerry's hand is on my waist and thus presenting their relationship as intimate.