What is one advantage of silently reading a play as opposed to listening to an audio recording?
What is one advantage of reading a play as opposed to watching or listening to it?
Read the excerpt from Trifles.SHERIFF. Nothing here but kitchen things. (The County Attorney, after again looking around the kitchen, opens the door of a cupboard closet. He gets up on a chair and looks on a shelf. Pulls his hand away, sticky.) COUNTY ATTORNEY. Here’s a nice mess. (The women draw nearer.) How would an audio recording of this excerpt help establish the setting of the play?
What is true about both the stage and film version of a drama?
Read the following scene from Trifles.COUNTY ATTORNEY. You mean that they didn’t get on very well? MRS. HALE. No, I don’t mean anything. But I don’t think a place’d be any cheerfuller for John Wright’s being in it. COUNTY ATTORNEY. I’d like to talk more of that a little later. I want to get the lay of things upstairs now. (He goes to the left, where three steps lead to a stair door.) SHERIFF. I suppose anything Mrs. Peters does’ll be all right. She was to take in some clothes for her, you know, and a few little things. We left in such a hurry yesterday. COUNTY ATTORNEY. Yes, but I would like to see what you take, Mrs. Peters, and keep an eye out for anything that might be of use to us. What is one possible advantage of hearing the characters’ voices as opposed to silently reading the scene?
Read the following scene from Trifles.MRS. HALE (resentfully). I don’t know as there’s anything so strange, our takin’ up our time with little things while we’re waiting for them to get the evidence. (She sits down at the big table, smoothing out a block with decision.) I don’t see as it’s anything to laugh about. MRS. PETERS. (apologetically). Of course they’ve got awful important things on their minds. (Pulls up a chair and joins Mrs. Hale at the table.)How would an audio recording most likely convey the characters’ emotions during this scene?
How are stage and film versions of a drama similar?
Read the following scene from Trifles.SHERIFF (chuckling). Married to the law. (Moves toward the other room.) I just want you to come in here a minute, George. We ought to take a look at these windows. COUNTY ATTORNEY (scoffingly). Oh, windows! SHERIFF. We’ll be right out, Mr. Hale. (Hale goes outside. The Sheriff follows the County Attorney into the other room. Then Mrs. Hale rises, hands tight together, looking intensely at Mrs. Peters, whose eyes take a slow turn, finally meeting Mrs. Hale’s. A moment Mrs. Hale holds her, then her own eyes point the way to where the box is concealed. Suddenly Mrs. Peters throws back quilt pieces and tries to put the box in the bag she is wearing. It is too big. She opens box, starts to take the bird out, cannot touch it, goes to pieces, stands there helpless. Sound of a knob turning in the other room. Mrs. Hale snatches the box and puts it in the pocket of her big coat. Enter County Attorney and Sheriff.) COUNTY ATTORNEY (facetiously). Well, Henry, at least we found out that she was not going to quilt it. She was going to—what is it you call it, ladies! MRS. HALE (her hand against her pocket). We call it—knot it, Mr. Henderson. What changes might a director or screenwriter make to the original version of this scene in order to best emphasize the mood?
Read the following scene from Trifles.COUNTY ATTORNEY. Here’s a nice mess. (The women draw nearer.) MRS. PETERS (to the other woman). Oh, her fruit; it did freeze. (To the Lawyer). She worried about that when it turned so cold. She said the fire’d go out and her jars would break. SHERIFF. Well, can you beat the women! Held for murder and worryin’ about her preserves. COUNTY ATTORNEY. I guess before we’re through she may have something more serious than preserves to worry about. HALE. Well, women are used to worrying over trifles. (The two women move a little closer together.) In a film production, where should the camera focus if the director wants to emphasize the men’s emotions?
Read the following scene from Trifles.COUNTY ATTORNEY (with the gallantry of a young politician). And yet, for all their worries, what would we do without the ladies? (The women do not unbend. He goes to the sink, takes dipperful of water from the pail and, pouring it into a basin, washes his hands. Starts to wipe them on the roller towel, turns it for a cleaner place.) Dirty towels! (Kicks his foot against the pans under the sink.) Not much of a housekeeper, would you say, ladies?MRS. HALE (stiffly). There’s a great deal of work to be done on a farm. What is one possible disadvantage of hearing the characters’ voices in the theater as opposed to silently reading the scene?
Did you find these answers helpful?