Blog post 600-800

Select a passage from a novel you have chosen to study which deals with despair and euphoria. How might staging, design and acting combine to register one of these experiences for an audience?

I want to talk about the despair in this story that is about Desiree notices Daniel is going to marry Andrea. Desiree feels despair because of this, in the text the author writes Desiree as a person whose eyes grew sunken. Desiree is also very weak because she hasn't eaten food and rest for about two weeks, she feels so bad. I think in the book there is a quote talks about the despair of Desiree is that" That night, Desiree Dieu-Donne was removed from that rooms of Daniel and put into a small room of her own at the far end of the hall." I think at this time Desiree feels so bad because she was betrayed by Daniel, she thinks she was taking care of Daniel, but Daniel just going to marry another woman. In order to make Desiree looks very pitiful, Desiree should make up just like the description in the text. For the costume part, I will let Desiree wears a dirty white dress in order to show Desiree hasn't changed the dress for many days because of Daniel. White dress can easily present the dirty part so that the audience can notice or focus on the dirty part easily. Desiree's hair looks messy and she bares her feet to show she doesn't want to make herself beautiful for Daniel anymore. On the stage, I need three characters Desiree, Daniel, and Andrea. ( The costume for Daniel and Andrea should be very fancy because I want to show they are rich people and Desiree is poor)The scene should be like Andrea talks to Daniel that" let's keep her, what a beautiful black girl." Then Desiree was taken to a small room that is on the middle front of the stage. Then Desiree begins with her monologue to show her true feelings. While Desiree is giving a monologue, Daniel and Andrea should stay in another room and do some romantic things, the room is placed on the back of the stage. So that the audience can clearly compare Desiree with Daniel and Andrea. When Desiree is giving a monologue the white light should point on Desiree, for the back of the stage, just give dim light, the light doesn't have to be very bright just enough for the audience to see it. The main light should point on Desiree, other places on the stage should just be black. The second scene should be Desiree goes to find Daniel to talk about their relationship( for this part I want to use the normal light because these two characters have the conversations in Daniel's room), Daniel just ignores her. At this time, Desiree truly feels despair. Desiree can just go back to her small room and die in that small room, then the stage will turn all to black. The main color for these two scenes is black, I think black can present despair better than other colors. When she read the lines her voice should be weak and the volume shouldn't be very high so that the Audience can easily notice that Desiree hasn't eaten food and she doesn't have the energy to talk. But I also want to use the words to show Desiree is very angry but she can't do anything to make Daniel love her and marry her. Desiree will change her volume to show that she is angry and despair. Also, add some movements during the monologue, for example, look at the back of the stage to show how jealous she is. Add some facial expression to express her emotion better.