"Laura is still huddled upon the sofa, her feet drawn under her, her head resting on a pale blue pillow, her eyes wide and mysteriously watchful. The new floor lamp with its shade of rose-colored silk gives a soft, becoming light to her face, bringing out the fragile, unearthly prettiness which usually escapes attention." - stage directions.
For this blog, I am going to answer a question from page 1119 in my book.
How do the various physical effects - theatrical components such as sets, lights, costuming, makeup, gestures, stage movements, musical effects of song or dance, and so forth - reinforce the meanings and contribute to the emotional effects? By what means does the playwright indicate the nature of these physical effects - explicitly, through stage directions and set descriptions, or implicitly, through dialogue between characters?
In the quote I've listed above, the stage directions have a huge impact on how the audience portrays what is happening in the play. The audience realizes by these movements and so forth that Laura is incredibly nervous and the situation she is in is making her on edge. In other plays, like William Shakespeare's plays, the lack of stage directions, gestures, etc. make it a bit difficult for the audience or reader to understand exactly how some characters are feeling and the emotions they are portraying which we might not see if we were not watching the play first-hand. This play is unique because there are lots of theatrical components that help the audience to fully grasp how the characters are acting and feeling. The physical effects are indicated by the playwright explicitly through stage directions and set descriptions. This is portrayed by the quote I have used above. The playwright makes all of these physical effects obvious and clear to the reader. He included a brief overview at the beginning of each scene to sort of set up the scene itself. Then, embedded in the dialogue are stage directions and descriptions to further those physical effects.
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