Big Fish Play Analysis

St Joseph’s College Geelong produced the 2016 production of Big Fish. It was performed at the Geelong Performing Arts Centre on the 11th, 12th and 13th of August by the students of St Josephs, Sacred Heart and Clonard College. The year 9 theatre studies class of Clonard attended the matinée performance on Friday the 12th. The Playwright for Big Fish was John August and the music and lyrics were written by Andrew Lippa. This performance was produced by John Shawcross and directed by Janine McLean. As Big Fish was a musical production, a choreographer, musical director and a vocal director were needed. They were Christie Walter, David Gallaher and Tania Spence respectively. The story of Big Fish was originally written as a novel by Daniel Wallace

This is introduced in one of the first scenes when Edward meets the witch (Molly Athanatos) who shows him how he dies. This structures a great deal of his life, as he “knows” how he is going to die and isn’t afraid of putting himself in danger in order to do something right. The witch taught him that death is a part of life and it isn’t something to be afraid of. Edward tries to pass this message on throughout his life but, for the most part, he is unsuccessful. He does, however, make the point that his life should be the focus, not his death. Dreams and imagination are quite a regular occurrence throughout Edward’s life. He dreamt up his life as a child and thought about what he wanted to do. He wanted to be out in the world, so he did just that. An obvious example of how imagination was used would be Edward’s stories. He made his life just that little bit more magical and interesting by altering or exaggerating people’s personalities and actions. It made him satisfied with his work, but it also gave him a chance to tell a good story. Edward loved being able to tell stories, but he loved his family more. His family and the idea of love, in general, is frequently visited. Will does love his father, but was afraid Edward doesn 't love him (the same fear Edward has about Will). The love that Edward and Sandra shared was incredibly strong, proven by their simple interactions, but especially through

Dooley was clever about the choices he made when trying to portray his character. His use of voice varied throughout the show, as he went from young to old, sick to well, happy to angry. He spoke with an American accent because the story was set in Alabama. When he was fighting with Will, his voice was very loud and forceful. It was very obvious how angry he was. When he was telling one of his stories, he used a very proud tone and spoke faster, more excitedly. He used his hands a lot to help tell the story, and they seemed to be moving quite fast. He also faced a lot more to the audience to help get a reaction out of them and to establish a connection with them so that his death is even more emotional, which seemed to always work. As Edward got sicker, he started speaking less, and it was always quieter and slower, with pauses between lots of his words. His movements became smaller and more disjointed to show his ageing state, which was effective. Edward was meant to be a character the audience liked. He was cheeky and told jokes, and always respected others. Dooley used his whole body to embody his character. And when he told his stories, he used such a friendly tone which made the audience believe Edward was talking to his best friend. There was always a tension between Edward and Will, which was portrayed convincingly, especially after the song “Two men in my life”, by having the two speak and move very stiffly.