Every character played their part extremely well but the character which stood out most for me was Mrs. Boyle, Juno who is played by Sinéad Cusack. After reading the text I imagined Mrs. Boyle to be a larger, younger women with a hugh personality and a lot of energy. This image of Mrs. Boyle in my head was very different to how she was in the play and yet I was still drawn to her performance. She was an older woman in the play, thin and not as lady like as I imagined. She always seemed to be upset or angry over something and I could tell this by her husband Mr. Boyle, he seemed to constantly be letting her down. She also came across to me as a very powerful ,lady at times and cared very much about her family.
Many things had upset Juno. Her husband drank everyday and wouldn't work, they had everything taken from them from being in a hugh amount of debt and her daughter, Mary, got pregnant. As Juno tried to keep her family together through these difficult times I could see how some of them were hurting her even more.
The part of the play when Juno got back to her spirited self was when their family came into some money and she decorated her house with expensive furniture and furnishings. I could see this was something Juno had imagined for a long time as it put her whole family in a good mood which put a smile on Juno's face.
The powerful Juno was seen when Mr. Boyle's friend, Joxer, was over drinking with him. Juno sees Joxer as a bad influence on her husband and they do not get on. This is shown in a particular scene when Mr. Boyle and Joxer hear somebody walking up the stairs so Joxer jumps out the window to avoid being told off by Mrs. Boyle. This shows me how Juno can be strict and bossy, if she causes a man to hide from her but it tells me that she only puts on this powerful, scary side of her because she cares for her family.
Another caring side of Juno is shown when she finds out her daughter, Mary, is pregnant. She knows how scared Mary is to raise the baby without a father and to face her own father and yet sticks by her daughter all the time. "Your baby doesn't need a father because it'll have two mothers which is far better", this is my favourite part of Juno's performance as is shows me the type of caring person which Juno is, under all the hurt and anger she has she would do anything for her children.
The set was another thing which interested me a lot. I was amazed at how realistic the stage looked with all the set and props. The kitchen was to the right hand side and very small with two narrow doors showing two bedrooms. The left hand side was completely bare as they did not own much furniture and the bed was to the left background of the stage. Their table and chairs was in the middle of the stage so the whole stage was used and showed their apartment off well. The scene when Mrs. Boyle was frying sausages had the audience very intrigued as it was very real and performed perfectly.
The lightening used was also impressive as I will never forget the image of Juno in the apartment, when it was completely bare and dark, just staring out the window with the light of the moon shining on her, reflecting her shadow onto the ground of the apartment behind her. It was a very emotional and breath taking image as I began to feel sorry for her then. Without the lightening used, this image would not have been successful and therefore would not have been an impact on the audience so fortunately it was.
The main themes in the play were conflict and poverty.
The character which seemed to cause the most conflict was Mr. Boyle. He is very irresponsible and has a poor attitude to work. Mrs. Boyle seems to constantly be getting upset and angry with him because he wont work and just wants to drink everyday with his friend Joxer. Juno knows this is wrong for her family because they need money and she does her best to get him work but he always lets her down by coming up with excuses. This causes many rows between them. Mr. Boyle also lets his family down by not supporting his daughter when she gets pregnant. At first he is furious and wants nothing to do with her but then cant even help her when he looses out on a lot of money which leads the family in a lot of debt and this is when Juno is very disappointed and can no longer try to hold her family together.
At the beginning of the play it was very clear of the poverty they were in by their apartment. It was very small and bare. This got even worse by the end when they had their new furniture and furnishings were taken away. All they had left was the bed in the left hand corner. I felt very sorry for the family at this time and especially for Juno because it caused her to leave her husband and live with her sister. It just shows how the poverty they were stuck in tore their family apart.
Personally I enjoyed the production of Juno and the Paycock a lot more then the text. I found it a lot more interesting and better to understand. I imagined each character different so the production of the play really helped me to understand and become aware of life in the 1920's.
Sean O'Casey's overall vision and view point on the world was the problems and situations people come across. He takes a simple Irish family from Dublin and describes their family problems, such as conflicts and poverty, to show people today how much better it has gotten since the 1920's. In my opinion, Sean O'Casey saw 1920's Dublin as a time when people were struggling to cope, it was during the war of independence which made things more difficult for people as their was a lot of conflict and violence going on outside their own homes so therefore work became harder to get and families were then lead to poverty.
This play was very enjoyable, not only to read but to see the play itself in the theatre and I recommend you to read it or see the production as it was very interesting, well performed and very enjoyable.
No comments:
Post a Comment