Coverting Script to Performance

We also used our interpretation of the script to talk about how that would dictate the performance of the scene:

Converting Script to Performance:

            In this scene, the playwright aims to create a paradoxically creepy atmosphere. Although the room is pink to try to convey an ambiance of happiness and innocence, the song is incredibly depressing. The play is a tragedy, so this is the first glance we get of tragedy. Although the mother has lost her husband and son, that tragedy is not felt so strongly by the audience. Instead this scene foreshadows the inevitable sadness. I think the horse represents death, so the imminent death of Leonardo and his wife’s child symbolizes the death of their relationship. The child is the result of their relationship. In fact, it seems as if the child is the only tether holding the couple together. Therefore, when his life is taken, the bond between Leonardo and his wife is severed. While the mother-in-law and wife are left to mourn and sing their lament, Leonardo escapes the death by riding away on his horse.

            Lorca uses this scene as an antithesis to the rest of the play. The play centers around the wedding of the bride and bridegroom, and then the running away of the bride and Leonardo. This scene shows that Leonardo has this sad life that he is escaping from. It also shows the struggles of his wife. Not only does she have to do deal with what may be the death of her child, but then her husband causes a great scandal by running off with another woman.

            As a director of this play my aim would be to present a paradoxically gloomy atmosphere. The entire room would be pink and the “sun” would be shining into the room, ,as if they are trying to make the space cheerful in the hopes of warding the illness of the child. However, all of the characters would be dressed in black, and the child would have a black lace blanket draped over him. The actors for the wife and mother-in-law would sing their lines in eerie, operatic voices. They would also make creepy movements, such as awkward hand movements and frightful caresses of the child’s face. After Leonardo leaves, the atmosphere would become even more depressing, and the child’s condition would worsen. Throughout the lullaby scene, the wife and mother-in-law would both being trying to get the child to drink water. They would also cradle him protectively, as if trying to guard him against the disease, although they would actually be helpless. This would be a very difficult scene to direct because it would have to be sufficiently creepy and sad. There would need to be an ambiance of loss, and when the person comes in to take away the child’s body, the women would fall to the floor weeping. The scene would end with them lying on the floor, crying. I took a very different perspective on this scene, but I feel as if it would be an effective representation of the lullaby scene.