Yerma live theatre Flashcards
Yerma Info
Young Vic - 2017
Designer - Lizzie Clachan
Director - Simon Stone
Set design
Traverse stage with two glass walls - like actors are in a glass box
The floor is an off white colour - giving the box a very sterile atmosphere evoked by the box
Director Simon Stone wanted to make the stage small to get the audience leaning forward and sucked into the charcters on stage
“A scientific dissection of a modern woman’s descent into personal tragedy. We watch her as if ‘she’s under a microscope or inside a terrariam” - Simon Stone
Very expressionistic set as we are seeing the world from Yermas perspective
key set design moment (looking after sisters baby)
The room is fully furnished for the first time - Luxury kitchen island, black marble with wooden top, Grey Couch, Wooden dinning table, Coffee table, plant pots.
Not only does this tell us information about their economic status
Suggests that her life is complete once she has the baby hence why the stage is filled with furniture - she feel furfilled
When she returned the baby the stage went back to being empty, Emphesises her “problem”
Acting
Billie Piper played Yerma - Very effective naturlistic acting style
She delivered very conversational dialogue making it seems extreemly naturlistic to the audince
Her gestures appeared to be very sponntanious - all this was effective in making it seem as though we as the audience were watching it all for the first time
Acting moment (yerma and husband in their garden after wedding)
Billie piper was extreemly effective in portraying joy/happiness and desperation symultaniously througout the scene
example was whe she sung ‘ and my empty woomb’ - She ussed a hhigh pitch and slow pace, she points at her womb ad then gestering with finger guns. This was all extremly effective in convaying her insecurites of her inability of being able to get pregnant
She was also effective in showing how it upset her the fact that her husband was never usally in - “Home for three whole days” , again this is delivered as a joke, and shows hesitation by implimenting a pause before. This again was an effective use of her personality to show her underylying insecurities
‘A woman and her garden’ - impression of david attenbourgh - again shows her personality but also ironic as the stage type is as if we are watching them through a microscope, almost as though her life is like a documentary
Sound
The sound opens with spanish music, during all blackouts there is spanish choral singing - shows the origin of the play.
Scene changes are accompanied by female voices singing. They become increasingly discordinate as Yerma begins to lose her mental stability
Sound (Glastonbury scenes)
Electronic sound amps - effectively shows location (glastonbury festaval)
The sound was loud and discordant - very symbolic of her mental state and how it is starting to deteriate
The music is very heavy base and cymbals - gets increasing loud and distorted for the audience - creates a very intense feeling of uncomfortablility in the audience members and makes us feel as though she is truley losing it.
Sound is very artifical rather then naturlistic - suggests the drugs she has take - but also the change in her mindset towards fertility)
