Look Back in Anger first impressions

Today we received the scripts for the play “look back in anger.” We were asked to read through it during class to get to grips with the style of the piece and to get an idea of what the characters are like. I read the character of Alison who on first impressions made quite an impact on me as I made an emotional; connection with her story and struggle, I found that she is a woman trapped in a unstable relationship with a sexist tyrant with no regard his wife’s feelings. Alison is constricted by physical barriers such as pregnancy and human condition to remain in what is conventionally seen as normal and compulsory. There is lots of interesting relationships in the play such as the struggling relationship between Alison and Jimmy and the love which Cliff has for Alison which is extremely platonic. At first impression I know I would love to look into the relationship between Alison and her husband as if highlights issues which most women would have faced in a mainly male controlled society. At first glance Alison seems to be your typical unappreciated house wife but I see a much deeper character in her and think she would be brilliant character to get to know and explore. The piece is naturalistic following the work of Stanislavski who taught true to life acting. The opening exercise introduced us to Stanislavski’s work through provoking a realisation into true reactions to certain situations. Daniel took a ten pound note off of me and placed it under a book then told me to enter the room and look for the note as if I didn't know where it was, this opening part to the exercise highlighted how my actions where over acted and not quite true to life. This exercise was repeated but instead of showing me where the note had been hidden I left the room, then I entered and had to genuinely look for the money, this caused my actions to become more natural and genuine and in turn portrayed realism in a very effective way. Now I know that not everything has to be over performed and exaggerated, I just need to be me and be less aware of my actions and just let it flow naturally. As I have not yet read the full script I am yet to see characters develop and relationships become more complex, but I have good feelings about the play and can’t wait to get into it and explore the more realistic side of acting which contracts the theatrical style we have previously been working in for “Wolves of Willoughby Chase.”