Our Country's Good Directing Choices

Today was severely dull, so unfortunately so will my blog. I am totally sincere when I say that the main highlight of the day was buying new school trousers and a set of spectacle screwdrivers. I had home study, so not a lot of time was spent at school today, not that anything interesting happened at school.

As I have nothing else to say on the subject of my day, I will comment on a few of my personal directing choices for Our Country's Good in preparation for my Drama and Theatre Studies exam. I am afraid that if you unfamiliar with the text, not a lot of this will make sense

In the first scene, much like a performance I saw, I would have the convicts sitting and lying on a lower level of the stage, with Lt. Ralph Clarke on a raised platform, to show that he is of a higher class and social status than the convicts. In order to give the audience an idea of the conditions the convicts were in, I would have them all within very close proximity, leaning against one another to show their restricted space. I would stage Ralph, Sideway and the flogger such that the latter two would be off-stage and unseen, so the audience can only hear the punishment and discover for themselves what is going on.

In the first scene with Harry Brewer and Duckling Smith, I would remove all props which can be moved from the stage and place Harry and Duckling centre stage in order to show their isolation. In order to maintain a minimalist set, I would not use a real rowing-boat, but instead direct the characters to sit very close to one another, facing opposite ways, with Harry miming a rowing action to provide the illusion that they are in a boat. While Duckling sulks, I would have her constantly looking out to the water, away from Harry to show not only her anger towards Harry, but also her desire for freedom. To begin with, she would only look up at Harry when she says the line "I don't want to be watched all the time" to show that she finally has something real to say to him, but otherwise not looking him in the eye even when he is accusing her of infidelity.

You can expect a lot of posts like this for the next month or so, as the exam period is rapidly approaching and I want to be as prepared as possible when the time comes.