Letters to the Editors
A-Level Distractions
Dear Editors,
No profile this month, I'm sorry to say. It isn't that there isn't anyone interesting left in Swaffham Prior, (no indeed - there are plenty of you out there yet) but I'm buried under an even bigger pile of A Level examination scripts than usual. Since this is a position which confers access to certain privileged information, (mostly contained in huge piles of candidate scribble) much of the process is not explicable; and probably not even enlightening even if it were explained to someone interested, let alone to anyone who's not. So I won't. However - although sometimes it feels like one's brain has taken a few turns in the microwave, there are occasional moments of revelation that make it all worth while. I have collected a few: these are from a year or two ago, so they have lain long enough in the dark to be brought out into the open. Some may not strike a chord (and not just the Gershwin ones) with everyone, but hopefully a few will.
Things you never thought might happen in a theatre:
"Eventually the dance has to end. It ends when the dancers grew old and died"
"John Godber is a writer who likes to confuse the audience. He finds the audience like the performance better"
"The second section of Four Scenes goes into the adolescence, which isn't a great deal different to the childhood section"
Unusual aspects of some contemporary Dance with scenes involving country people:
"some wore formal clothing, and some were dressed as pheasants"
"Their movement is smooth and fluid and shows the rigidity of their relationship"
"The llama showed the flirtatiousness of the female, who was led astray at the end of the section"
"They use flapping movements. This represents the bird in the dessert"
Bertolt Brecht was a German playwright who wanted his audience not to let his plays wash over them, but to think for themselves while they were watching. This may produce some interesting responses for some members of the audience:
"He used many devices to ensure the audience stayed refreshed"
"Not only do the songs liven up the audience a bit, they teach them things"
"One of the things the writer did was to rearrange the order in which his scenes were structured. This could confuse his audience if they weren't paying attention"
"Brecht wants his audience to feel like they are in a theatre"
"Brecht proposes that theatre should stay in the theatre and not get caught up in real life and people's emotions"
"The character experienced a gradual transgression from being an impressionable and weak man."
"He wanted power. Scene 8 showed his erotic state"
"Brecht used many ways which successfully distracted the attention of the audience"
"Each scene has no relevance to the scene before or after"
"The audience became unemotionally attached to the play"
"Brecht didn't want the audience to know why the music was used or what it was for"
"The characters also play a part in distracting the audience"
"The use of music would sidetrack the audience and they would hopefully forget the emotions they were feeling"
"Music was used to create atmosphere but mostly to create confusion"
"The playwright doesn't use specific details about the deaths: like in Kattrin's fatal scene: 'Kattrin falls onto the roof and dies'"
"He often burst out into rhyme, but this was only in one scene"
"Brecht left his play without an ending"
"I think Brecht found what he was looking for as when I read the book I had no emotion at all"
For all you fans of the songs of George and Ira Gershwin:
"George and Ira's songs complimented themselves"
"Gershwin realised most of his songs had standard jazz cadence"
"By adding softer instruments, Summertime gives the beginning of the song a more child friendly sense"
"Gershwin has had a lot of one hit wonders"
"George and Ira lived in the early 1900s where music was popular"
"The song and words were happy. This was unusual as it was written in the American Repression"
"Ira had to consider the songs he was writing were from musicals"
...And a thought to ponder:
"If you were watching a play with no acting it would get boring, that's why they use mime"
PS Yes, I know it wasn't necessarily a good idea to mention speeding last time. And I think Aunty Caroline was being mischievous in raking over the ashes by mentioning burning issues in the editorial last month. So I will take this opportunity to thank the bonfire folk for their forbearance in recent times. It really does make a difference to this corner of the village.