I now believe that dance is a very important feature of our performance, its something weve never tried before so at first there was a bit of caution and tension towards the idea. But since then Ive realised the special element it brings to the play: VARIETY. I think its important to have a performance that isnt completely speech and movement based, (Even things like slow motion can be boring and cliche to an audience as they are used so much in school plays) the dance was really unexpected to the audience, which I can imagine would be an interesting surprise to the audience. Its also extremely significant story wise, throughout the journey its been non-stop let downs. As soon as they set out Grampa dies, then Grandma, Noah leaves. This barn dance signifies a possibility of success finally for them, and displaying this success through a dance must have really been nice to see, rather than here it through words. I believe a variation of different features throughout a performance makes them so much better.
Props and Set
The Truck
A major prop we used in our performance was the Truck! Personally I was really worried about what it would turn out to be like, in some of our earlier rehearsals they consisted of people just wondering around the truck. However when we got into the hall things really began to come together, BEHOLD THE TRUCK:
The truck is very significant to the whole performance, it goes on this journey of doom with them. Its size is perfect (Although at the start it really is like Human Tetris trying to get everyone in). But again, that does show what it was like for the family, we could have easily made it bigger out of convenience for us, but that just wouldnt of helped get to know the Joads!
Projection
One thing that stands out in all of the performances we have put together is Miss Cordell's amazing use of projection :) Because of the constant journey the Joads go on we really needed to symbolise the setting change, its important we did this because we felt the audience really needed to realise how desperate and committed the family are. So, whenever the Joads moved to a new place we had a different image to show this.
Below: Is a Bill-board displaying government propaganda to move people to California. The inspiring phrase "There's no way like the American way" is a reflection of how good things had been during Americans roaring twenties, a period of wealth and isolationism, followed by the greatest depression in the country after Black Thursday (The Wall Street Crash, October 24th 1929), which I believe was because of to much public confidence in the stock exchange run by a corrupt banking system.
Below: Was used at the start to show the family together, working and simply getting on with life. It acted as an insight to the audience for what things used to be like. In this we all had separate roles to carry out as if we worked on a farm. Me and Phil did some sort of soil turning thing as if we had pick axes or rakes, preparing it for crops. We then near the end of the song that was playing looked up to the right hand corner of the hall as if to be gazing at the sun (Symbolising light, hope, brightness and good - just like their current state).
Below: Is mine and Jays Gas Station! This is an example of one of the many locations the family visit on the journey. At these places they are warned that California is not what they think it will be. Characters like the man going back and contractor who really make life difficult for them are prime examples. Although my favourite is Dani Gillespies crazy women, Elizabeth. For the whole journey there is this sub-storyline of how Roseofsharon is pregnant (Which is very significant as babies are these holy special things which people adore and love), but Danis interesting character destroys this felling and whines about shes bringing that life into a terrible world!
Below: These are a few examples of the dust bowl and its affects, something which made living even more difficult for the family. Although in the play the Joads move towards California, President Roosevelt did do a lot to help these families. He won the presidential election in 1932 by a landslide victory against Republican Herbert Hoover (This is where Hoovervilles get there name from, an insult to the former president). Roosevelt promised Americans a 'New Deal", this scheme created a variety of methods to help families like the Joads, such the AAA agricultural adjustment act, TVA Tennessee Valley Authority - which span across the tri-state area and built the Hoover Dam, and many more.
My acting
I believe I have improved loads since we started the project! My acting skills especially! For example, I used to find it difficult to really take on a role and look deep into a piece of inspiration, but for this it was quite simple and enjoyable. I used to be afraid to try things such as accents but in the Grapes of Wrath I really did experiment with a few tones on Grampa, and then apply a stripped down simple South American accent to characters such as the attendant. A few things which I tried to do for all my characters was make them slightly unique, Ive got a section about Grampa and the Sheriff on here already. But for others like the attendant it was beneficial to build up a personality to them, such as are they from an educated back ground, are they stupid? It was good to show a slightly stupid attendant here to contrast the clearly clever, snobbish owner Jay was being. I showed a lot of thing through movement but mostly posture of my characters.
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