Month: March 2016

Our performance refers to Nazi Germany. The two actors stand opposite eachother and one holds up his hand, symbolising a Nazi salute and saying “Heil Hitler”, the other character looks extremely uncomfortable with doing this. The character who is refusing to raise his hand could range from the man’s son, to anything else such as a soldier alongside his commander. The man holding the salute gives the other man a look, manipulating him to raise his hand.

Symbols used: Nazi salute. Manipulative looks.

The symbols used are political and were influential back in Nazi Germany, the point we tried to put across is how easy it was to fall under the Nazi spell by being manipulated by someone who you respect.

Semiotics are extremely effective in theatre. It is an easy alternative to physical attacks on stage, especially when there is a shortage of props.

It’s one of the most used methods in modern theatre. Majority of the time, it’s done in a creative and quite abstract way, but at times, it can come across aggressive too. It all depends on what type of play it is, or what the situation is within the play.

In our performance, it was a situation between King Leer and his two daughters. In front of their formation, there was a man on his knees. He looked frightened and vulnerable, especially because he was at a lower level compared to the King and his daughters. In the scene, the daughters began to irritate their father by repeating the same sentence constantly. He went crazy and began to shout, this was the cue for the daughters to lift the black robe in front of the kneeling man so that he is not visible to the audience. The King now walks over the the man, and makes a sudden movement (behind the robe, not visible to the audience) which causes the man to fall to his death.