The Cradle Will Rock: Play Analysis

The Tuesday, March 28 performance of Ithaca Colleges production of The Cradle Will Rock emphasizes the Brechtian element of distancing the audience from the performance that Blitzstein 's original script lacks. Before the show began, the actors and the stage manager casually roamed about the stage, at times talking with friends in the audience or each other, played a few notes on the piano, and did microphone checks–all out of character. From the spectators ' first moments in the theatre, a clear distinction between the actors and their characters can be seen. Throughout the play, the actors helped move around various props on wheels, such as the piano, a bar counter, and pews. In addition, arching from stage right to left and arching

While the Ithaca College production of The Cradle Will Rock employs interchangeable set pieces on wheels, in the original script, Blitzstein does not delve into how the stage and set should look for each scene–rather he focuses more on the actors ' performances. For instance, for scene two, which takes place in a nightcourt, Blitzstein writes, "The scene is empty, except for the Clerk, busy with papers, and Harry Druggist, who sits alone on the bench..." (123). The stage direction lacks any indication for a specific set design other than the presence of bench amongst an otherwise empty stage. For scene five, Blitzstein writes, "Druggist; and Steve, behind fountain. Druggist is a sunny little man, somewhat vague. He bustles about hi drugstore with a pleasant sense of importance. Steve, his son, is an agreeable adolescent, really much smarter than his father, and a little amused by him" (137). In this direction, Blitzstein emphasizes the personal attributes of each character rather than the setting the scene takes place in. However, at the end of the musical, during the reprise of "The Cradle Will Rock," Blitzstein writes that as the show nears its finish, "All the music and voices come nearer, back-stage and in the theatre too, converging upon the aisles..." (167). Therefore, the initial directions for each scene in the script for The Cradle Will Rock suggests that Blitzstein is more concerned with the actors ' particular performances than the details of the set, which allows for more interpretive freedom in designing it. The last piece of direction is one of very few moments in the written script that evoke Expressionist alienation. The act of having the actors go through the aisles of the audience is similar to Wilder 's Our Town, when members of the audience are characters in the play interact with the stage manager (Wilder 24-26). In the Ithaca College production of The Cradle Will Rock, the actors often walked through the aisles in