Style and Technique: Stage Set and Stage Directions

Style and Technique: Stage Set and Stage Directions

Layout and Furniture

  • The Morrison’s living room is the primary setting. Cluttered with worn-out furniture and lacking sufficient space, reflecting the Morrison family’s economic hardship.
  • Key objects like the sink, gas cooker, and coal bunker demonstrate the austerity of the Morrisons’ living conditions.
  • The description of the single bed shared by Maggie and John symbolises the lack of privacy and overcrowding in the Morrison household.

Importance of Stage Directions

  • Detailed stage directions in the play show the playwright’s meticulous attention to detail and set the scene for the audience.
  • These play a crucial role in depicting the family’s life. For instance, Maggie’s constant busyness around the house denotes her ceaseless effort to maintain the household amidst adversities.
  • Stage directions detailing characters’ actions or emotions, along with the cluttered surroundings, create a larger image of despair and hardship. Examples include Maggie cleaning while talking, or John returning home exhausted.

Implication of the Set

  • The setting serves to enforce the themes of the play, primarily emphasising the impact of poverty and the struggle to keep up appearances while barely surviving.
  • The scarcity of space can be construed as a visual metaphor for the suffocating workings of poverty and the family’s frantic struggle against it.
  • Ena Lamont Stewart’s nuanced stagecraft elicits empathy in the audience, making the predicament of the Morrison family palpable.

Quotations for Discussion

  • “Beneath the window is an old couch strewn with various articles of the children’s clothing…”: This denotes the constant domestic turmoil and the process of squeezing in multiple activities within cramped spaces.
  • “The room…is living-room, kitchen, scullery, dining-room, and at night a bedroom…” This points to the tenement flat’s multifunctionality, indicative of the family’s restricted living conditions.

Impact of Lighting and Sound

  • Lighting and sound in the play also underscore the mood and the characters’ emotional dynamics.
  • The dimness of the lighting echoes the grimness of the Morrisons’ life, while sudden loud noises, such as the kids’ cries or the thud of Maggie collapsing, create an atmosphere of burgeoning panic.