1 - Swansong Flashcards
How many sections are there?
7 + introduction
What type of set is used?
A black box set
What ways is the chair used/ what could it represent?
a) A safe place
b) Support for balances
c) A weapon
d) A shield
e) A burden
f) Prison bars
g) Shackles
h) To create levels
Name the props used
a) The red nose
b) The cigarette
c) The canes
d) The baseball caps
Describe the costumes worn by the guards and the prisoner
Prisoner = A plain, red T-shirt, with light blue jeans and black jazz shoes Guards = Matching khaki buttoned up shirts, with khaki trousers and black jazz shoes. They sometimes wear khaki baseball caps
Name the different movement styles used
a) Contemporary
b) Ballet
c) Tap
d) Ballroom (Tango & bolero)
Which side of the stage do the guards always enter and exit from?
Stage right
Who composed the music?
Philip Chambon
Where does the light shine from and to?
From upstage left, along a diagonal towards downstage right
What could the shaft of light represent?
a) Light from a high window - the outside world and freedom
b) Heaven calling - the prisoner’s death
Who designed the lighting?
David Mohr
Who was the choreographer?
Christopher Bruce
When was it first performed?
1987 (by English National Ballet)
What is the theme?
Human rights; prisoner of conscience
What was the starting point/ stimulus?
The work of Amnesty International; saying farewell to a career as a dancer & the novel, ‘A Man’
Describe the accompaniment
Electro-aucostic with digitally sampled sounds (e.g. echos), vocals, a reed pipe and dance rhythms. There are some unaccompanied sections.
Who designed the costume and set?
Christopher Bruce
What is the staging?
A proscenium stage
What was the name of the dance company that first performed it in 1995?
Rambert Dance Company
What is the ‘comical’ section called?
2) ‘Tea for two’
