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Dramatic Techniques Used In The 7 Stages Of Grieving

1168 Words5 Pages

One of Australia’s most popular and celebrated Indigenous plays, The 7 Stages of Grieving written by Wesley Enoch and Deborah Mailman, is an Australian performance that explores the history of indigenous backgrounds taking its’ audience through an emotional journey of anger, love, humour and loss. The one-woman show performs the relation of one woman’s grief through reconnoitring issues of forgiveness and reconciliation. The aim of this production was to employ the theatrical devices while successfully engaging the audience to understand the experiences of aboriginal people through exploring the dramatic languages to facilitate dramatic action and meaning. This is conveyed and employed through the conventions of Indigenous Theatre Conventions, Epic Theatre, dramatic elements and production elements. Many dramatic elements were employed within the production of The 7 Stages of Grieving. The play makes effective, theatrical use of symbolism to enhance the dramatic meaning, for example; the photographs and the Eucalyptus leaves are both highly evocative and sensory symbols. The photographs were a symbol of the woman’s family; this was represented in a …show more content…

Some of the many production elements included; projected images and multi-media, various lighting techniques, sound and music, props and the use of space. The 7 Stages of Grieving is textured through the use of sound and music. The production not only employs the use of sounds, but also soundscapes; for example the aboriginal chants. Soundscapes are not only atmospheric and ‘set the scene’, but are also powerful theatrical techniques that engage the audience, for example; the hearth wrenching gun shots and the ‘beeping’ from the electrocardiogram during the doctor report. This instantly engaged the audience on an emotional level connecting them with the

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