Blackberry Winter Play Analysis

From the beginning to the end, Blackberry Winter is a play that focuses on a female character named Vivienne, as she confronts the reality of having a mother who has an Alzheimer’s disease. The major idea of this play is to accept both the good and bad moments, and cherish those times. As Vivienne goes through various objects and memories that connect to her mom, the audience learns how she manages this hard process in accepting the illness of a loved one. Even though I never had an experience like the main character, I was fully immersed with her situation. I felt extremely emotional as she sobbed at the end. Not only the fact that her mother is diagnosed to an incurable disease but also the way she slowly reminisced the moments with her …show more content…
Instead of reciting the lines that could have been a monologue, she asked questions to the audience, which made it more entertaining. She made the audience feel that this situation can apply to everyone, not just her. If I had a production that requires sharing a character’s emotions extensively, I would definitely use similar techniques. Although the stage was not big, I thought it was perfect for this particular play. A bigger stage might have detracted when giving attention to the main character. Furthermore, the stage setup was utilized well. With the stage in the middle, they had three sides of audience seats that surrounded the stage. I thought this set up made the play more interactive and able to focus on the main character more closely. The lighting for this play was used effectively as well. When Vivienne told the audience her story, the light on the stage was turned off, and a spotlight was turned on for each animal that talked. Since the animals were in the back behind the stage, giving them a spotlight for each time they introduced their stories was a nice way to shift the focus of the location. It sets apart from the main stage and serves as a nice transition from Vivienne’s narratives. I felt the audience was ready to listen to the white egron and the mole once the lights were completely turned