DUE BEFORE EXAM WEEK!
On your end-of-year drama exam, you will be asked to write about your work in class this year. One important area of work in our class this term was on a key scene from Death of a Salesman. Please write a 15-20 minute essay answering the following question.
Next year, you will need to submit one piece of "repertoire" group work as IGCSE coursework. Since in your literature class, you will be continuing to work with Death of a Salesman, it is likely that some of your classmates will want to further develop some scene other than that between Willy and Howard from Death of a Salesman for this coursework. If you were to develop another Death of a Salesman scene into a coursework piece, what would you do? Try to be as detailed as possible in your answer. What would be your ideal cast for such a scene? (Who would play what roles?) Why? What advice would you give to the actors playing each of these roles? etc.
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Recalling a movie I, to be honest hardly remember all the scenes, however I liked the one where willy just comes from boston and talks to his wife. In this scene I would probably play a wife since she is a female, I could work with anybody being willy as long as that person puts in effort. I would be wearing an old fahsioned dress, and willy would be wearing an old fashioned suit. We could also use makeup to add some age to our faces and that would be good. In 6th grade we learned how to make lines with eyeliner(brown) on forehear and everywhere where wrinkles go, and the result was very good. We would have to learn our lines quickly and then work on it many many times to get it right. In whole I think ti will be good.
ReplyDeleteI think the scene in Death of the Salesman what really cool is when Willy and his girlfriend is in a room in Boston. They talk to each other and they are lying on their hotel bed. When they are doing that then there is his son Biff who sees his dad and is talking about his exams etc. when he hears laughing in the bathroom. He sees her and he asks his father who she is she needs to leave from Willy and Biff starts crying and he walks away.
ReplyDeleteThe scene is really cool to do in groups one is Biff and the other guy is Willy and one is that girl. The props would be easy a suit for Willy and for Biff just normal guy clothes. The girl needs a lot of kind of sexy make-up and a small nice dress what looks like a dress to sleep in like pyamas.
The stage looks a bit like a bedroom so matrasse’s and blankets and maybe a table I think that would make it perfect!
I would probably chose the scene where Willy flashes back to where Biff discovering his affair. I would cast Martin as Biff because he would be able to show the anger and disappointment in the body language and facial expressions ( I think ) I would cast Luke or Onur as Willy because he would have to be trying to sort of rush Biff out of the room while trying to prevent his girlfriend from leaving the bathroom. I would cast Christina as the girlfriend because she seems to be similar to the character, sort of giggly and very girl. I would have Willy wearing business pants with an untucked dress shirt and his tie loosened around his tie. I would get Biff to be in jeans and a football jersey and the girlfriend in either a slip dress or a bath robe. I would set up tables with sheets to look like a bed and have Willy's briefcase in the corner. The girlfriend wouldn't really be behind a bathroom door but maybe offstage until she enters. Biff would come in with a backpack and wouldn't stand by the door like John Malkovich did in the movie but more move around the room making Willy more agitated about the girl in his bathroom. Willy would have powder in his hair to make him look old and wrinkles and the girlfriend would have red lipstick. Biff wouldn't wear any make up thought : P. Like the Romeo and Juliet scene however I would make sure that everyone learned their lines so we could play around a lot with movement.
ReplyDeleteI would really like to do the scene of where Willy and his two sons are playing ball whilst Willy is discussing with Linda and the sons about Biff flunking math. It is the flashback of Willy where his cousin, the multi millionaire comes in and Willy tells the boys to go and build a wall or something. It would start off with them going to the car and getting the ball that Willy got for them and it would go on to the part where Bernard comes in and tells them the news. Then they would play around and Willy until they are sent away as Willy starts to have hallucinations. The character of Willy would be played by a strong character of a person with a very imaginative mind a strong spirit and enthusiasm. He would also love his kids. Linda would need to be a bit more relaxed in this scene and a very kind person. I would also need a Biff who would be played by a strong character like Martin. Happy would also need to be a show off and try to get lots of attention, but with a negative effect. The man with lots of money must be tall and a very posh man. He would also need very expensive equipment and shoes. Everyone must learn their lines.
ReplyDeleteIf I was to develop another scene from “the death of a salesman” it would be in the first act in one of the first scenes of the play where biff and happy are discussing about their lives and their dad, Willy. For this scene the stage would be inside their room with two bed-looking props in there where biff and happy are sitting on. I would be acting as Biff and Anne-mieke as Happy. I would like to play biff because he has a very dramatic kind of nature. Anne-mieke would act as happy because she is, for one, a very good actress (:D) and also because Happy has a very confident character which I think would fit for Anne-mieke’s acting skills. Happy is very confident of himself, knows what he wants, knows what he is. In their discussion he tells biff how he’s more the one who is good with girls while biff is not. This is a bit rude to biff since he’s the older one, but happy acts extremely sure of himself like that. Now biff is kind of the opposite, he has no idea what he’s doing with his life, what he should do, but he is very concerned about his father, willy. Biff has a very sense-full nature. So If I would be acting biff I would have to act a bit worried and concerned, but also depressed.
ReplyDeleteIn Death of a Salesman, I’d like to do the scene where Willy has a flashback and is playing with his sons that are in High School.
ReplyDeleteI think that the person playing Willy should be acting a bit mental to show that he has been having issues recently. Biff will need to be very happy and excited. Happy wil have to be trying to impress Willy a lot. I would play the scene outside as this would really help the scene progress. I would have Biff and Happy running around the area with Willy in the Middle.
Willy would be wearing a shirt and Jeans whilst Biff and happy would be wearing converse shoes, shorts and a sports top. Biff and Happy’s clothes will look dirty to show that they’ve been playing a lot. Linda should be in the background just outside the door to show that she isn’t really interested.
I think this scene requires a lot of good acting to work and a lot of movement which would be very difficult. But this scene could look great.
The scene i would most likely choose would be the flash-back to when the Loweman's life was going great. When they were in the backyard and the 2 boys were playing football while Willy just came back from his good job, and his wife is very happy working as a house wife.
ReplyDeleteI would cast Onur as Willy, as he can act very well and played the part of Willy perfectly. I would cast Sara as Linda ( if thats her name ) as i think she would fit the part well. Id cast Martin to be Biff, as he looks like a jock/footballer type, and myself as Happy just because i'd have to be in the scene.
The scene should be played outside, in full 'olden time' costumes, and proper make up done, to make everyone look their part : a 15 year old boy turn into a 50 year old man etc..
If everyone knew theirs line, the scene would be perfect coursework in my opinion :).
I would re-video each other once again and learn the lines more better. I will also, use more props and costumes.
ReplyDeleteI would remain to be Howard as I know the character much better than Willy. I would also want to continue this scene as my coursework as I find it an interesting piece of work to use and Believe it can go pretty far and improve much better than what it has become so far.
I would use more stage directing in this scene to make it more easy for the people to understand these scenes of Death of a Salesman.
using more props, makes it much better to imagine and therefore I believe it has to be done very well in order to be able to send it out to IGCSE!
one of the scenes i liked most In Death of a Salesman is when Willy has a flashback.
ReplyDeleteHe plays with his sons that are in
high school. to make this scene work the people who will be acting the parts of the charachers
should have a similar characher
that way it's easier and more realistic
by mike
Exam Revision #5:
ReplyDeleteI also really liked the scene where Willy flashes back to the time when his sons were happy and they were just playing football in their garden, and the geek comes in and asks one of the kids to come studying with him.
As Willy, I would cast Gamlet because he would be good at talking really quickly to his children. For Biff and Happy, it doesn't really matter who takes the roles becuase they are really easy to play. As Linda, I would cast Evelina because she would be good at being really calm. As the geek, I would cast myself, because I could probably make a really good geeky voice and make it believable.
I would need a background poster to show that we are outside in a garden, and I would need some chairs, some flower pots, and even a football so the actors can throw it at each other, just to make things more believable.