Dealing with Clair REVIEW

Plot

A couple (Mike and Liz) are selling their house and have an estate agent named Clair, sell the house for them. The buyer (James) is the leading buyer and begins spending more and more time introducing himself into Clair's private life. He ends up exploiting her, as the theme of female exploitation is a theme scene a lot in this play (most clear when direct audience address by Mike, when claiming his wife was crazy for asking if he would rape another woman).

Set

There was an interesting set up as the houses are clearly smaller than the people. This worked well because it meant the setting was clear when the characters were outside, in the garden of the house.

The houses were also used as stools or stairs, as the house (upstage right) was often used so that characters could get up the stairs, while characters often sat on the other houses. You can also see the small cars at the front, used to show the road. The stairs at the back was intended to be the upstairs of the house, as there were many references making it clear that they were shouting up to bedrooms either side of that platform. Under the platform was a room where a man seemed to be hidden. This room was set up with a desk, and a tape recorder/speaker on it. There is a door downstage left, which is the exit to the house. The wall on the left is translucent, so you can slightly see everything going on behind there. Whenever the door opened, you could see trees there, as that area was presenting the garden.

Characters

Clair was the protagonist of the story, as she was the estate agent. Mike and Liz are the owners of their house (the large house downstage) and are intending to sell it. James was a character involved as he was the upper-class male that intended to buy the house. Looking at the image above, James is the middle character, while Mike (left) and Liz (right) are surrounding him. All wearing upper-class clothing, however the couple may be doing this to present a good image of themselves to the buyer.

Lighting

Variation between standard lit up stage, to blue tint towards the end. This was used to show the disturbance in the equilibrium.

Significant moments

The direct audience address was significant moment, as it was not the style you would have expected. Along with that, the ending scene was very significant, as it was shocking. In this scene, you could see Clair's arm reaching out from side stage, clearly connoting she was being abused by James.

Overall

I found the storyline very interesting, however slightly confusing to understand. When the final scene came, I was shocked as it was not what I was expecting. I was confused by some on the characters as well, as I couldn't understand the Italian girl, along with her 'husband'. I really liked the way the set was put together, as it gave the actors a lot of different opportunities to use proxemics in a unique way. However, I found it weird when the Italian girl went to sleep by opening the small house, as that provided a comedy element when I don't think it was appropriate.