Friday, March 15, 2013

Prompt 7: Noises Off


So although miscommunication and miscues are a big thing in this play, the one image that I can't stop thinking about is the idea of the sardines. One it's used in the play as a prop and talked about all the time, but also it's a metaphor for the characters performing in the play. Of course people know to be sardines as little oily fish in cans, but the idea of these fish being packed into the can is where I'm going with this. Usually the term is used when people are packed on a bus or subway train. The characters who are performing in the play are doing this show for a long period of time and must be together, packed in like sardines.  The idea of sardines kept popping up everywhere and it was driving me crazy so I knew that somehow these were important other than just being a prop in the show. That’s why the characters of the play are considered the sardines being packed together for the duration of the show.

For my tag line it would have to be containing chaos. Going back to my motif, sardines are packed tightly together and don’t get out of hand. However, these ‘sardines’ of the play have been packed together so long that eventually things start to get uncomfortable between them and chaos ensues. It doesn’t help either that there are several love affairs going on between cast and crew members of the show. Poppy, Lloyd, and Brooke are part of a love triangle and Poppy is eventually pregnant by Lloyd. Garry and Dotty have issues in the second act of the play. Overtime this tension slowly builds and eventually explodes from trying to be contained for so long.

2 comments:

  1. Taylor, this is a really interesting motif to choose. I actually didn't notice or think that the sardines were important at all. I kind of just thought they were a prop and mentioned so much because that prop was used a lot. But, going back to what you said about everyone being packed like sardines on the stage/set, how does the fact that they are all together in one place relate to the central idea of the play. Sure, there's always a meaning that repeated things have in scripts, but how do they contribute to what the play is actually about? In other words, elaborate on how people packed like sardines on a stage could affect how the show progresses, and in this case, the show wouldn't progress, which is exactly how Noises Off! concludes. Again, so interesting to notice such a strange element of the script!

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  2. Lots of people saw the sardines motif, but you have an interesting spin on it. I like the metaphor you’re going with here and I think it’s an idea that can be taken further, though I’m not too sure at this point where it would go. It’ll be something I think about next time I read the play that’s for sure.
    ‘Containing Chaos’ is a sort of general idea for a ‘tag line’ but not an untrue one. I think you could also relate to the sardines motif easily.

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