I am writing a play that goes up in October and am looking for some metaphorical/literal images. What do you mean, you ask? Well the play is called "Seed" and deals with the seeds of disfuction. It starts in the present and travels in reverse chronological order to the seed of the main characters problem. What I am looking for are strong images that represent suppression, bondage, rage, shame and the like. Example: Literally covering the stage in egg shells to represent the inner emotion...or...Wrapping the main character in tight plastic as she tries to explain something until finally it covers her whole head. Possibilities. It has to be do-able on a practical stage. Anyway, I thought this crowd might have some cool ideas and of course if I like them I will most definitly rip them off. I would love to hear any ideas you have. thanks.
― jennifer barclay, Thursday, 22 June 2006 21:07 (nineteen years ago)
This all sounds a bit heavy-handed to me, but I could try to come up with some stuff. Let's see . . .
For supression: plain rubber gloves. I'm a big fan of subtlety in metaphors.
For shame: make the actor up so it looks like someone has just beaten the shit out of them, or just something as simple as a long, bleeding scratch on their face. If you want to go really over the top, make it look like someone has razored the word "whore" into their chest.
For bondage: I don't know, a leash? Maybe a noose around their neck? One of those choker necklaces would be significant enough.
For rage: that's going to be a little more difficult. I can't think of a way to visually suggest rage without being corny and stupid. When I feel rage, my back tenses up, my chest gets tight and I feel a rush of warmth across the back of my neck and shoulders. It's a creeping, violent feeling, almost intoxicating. Maybe that'll help. Why don't you explain a little more about what's going on in the play?
― your hair is good to eat, Saturday, 24 June 2006 12:21 (nineteen years ago)
Thanks...I like the rubber gloves idea. I'm trying to develop a visual underscore to the play. I'm big into mixing art forms so while the play is kind of reverse linear, i want to mix that with surrealistic visuals that are not explained in the narrative. Images that evoke an emotion or just make the spectator curious. There is a lot of dancing in the piece as well. Please don't think musical but rather it is interwoven into the piece because it means a lot to the main character. I may also get some musician friends together for some sound collage work on the piece. Not sure.
Basic story breakdown...
Father's funeral, two sister and a brother...none are really getting on well, they all seem kind of selfish and petty. As we travel back we start to see the seeds of these strained relationships: Father is an alcoholic, one sister is the pretty angel while the other is the older responsible child and the brother ignores everything. Eventually we get down to the second to last scene in which we find out that the main "pretty angel" character was molested by one of her father's drinking buddies and the brother saw it was about to happen but took no action to stop it. And so the suppression of the secret begins, the resentment of the brother for ignoring, the older sister for not being there and the father for his lack of attention and care. The very last scene is pre-"loss of innocence" and is only a visual scene in which the main character is simple smiling and being twirled around by her father. Whew. Sorry, it's hard to break down in this way. There are other little things that happen here and there but those are the basics.
There is no happy ending. In the end we simple understand how and why the characters have arrived in this place. Where they proceed from the death of the father is anyones guess.
Also...I'm new to this whole forum thing so if I am bringing up topics outside of what I should please let me know. I'm sure there are protocols that I am not aware off. It just seemed that there were a lot of writers and artists and I wanted to tap into that. But please let me know if I'm going out of bounds.
― jennifer barclay, Sunday, 25 June 2006 01:47 (nineteen years ago)
There aren't really any bounds here, so don't worry about that. :)
― Matt Rebholz (Matt Rebholz), Sunday, 25 June 2006 03:51 (nineteen years ago)