Entry 7

Wednesday, September 3, 2025

Assignment 7: Analysing The use of TEAM 

The Play: https://edu.digitaltheatreplus.com/content/productions/things-i-know-to-be-true 

General Analysis:

The play opens with the sound of a phone ringing, dimly lit light of an actor on the center stage. The dialogue begins as they speak—mentioning the setting and situation of the scene. There are 2 characters on stage, they are labeled as “Man 1” and “Women 2”, their dialogue acts as a narrative of each other, mentioning the characteristics of the person at that moment. There is a solemn background sound, faint but still hearable, adding emotion to the atmosphere.

The camera angle from the video shifts from a full shot to the stage to a close up of the character standing, we are able to see his face and attire—a middle-aged man standing facing upwards, wearing shorts and pajamas with no sandals, and a watch. The lighting barely reaches his face, but proceeds to get brighter and reveal the full character. The man can be seen visibly worried about what the phone call might be. 

As the dialogue ends, the light dims which proceeds to shadow the actor's face in the dark. The phone begins to ring again. The actor on stage begins his line, “Hello?”, answering the phone call. The light from him fades, and a new character appears on stage.

A melodic song from the piano begins to play, as the lights turn back on to reveal a female. The lighting on her is dimly light, able to brighten her whole body while still producing shadows in some areas. The main stage is pitch black. The actor begins her lines, with the piano playing in the background. She mentions the setting and atmosphere of where she is, allowing the audience to visualize. (She is on a train station, in the cold weather of Berlin). She is talking directly to the audience, as she tells the background story of how her current situation happened (facial expressions of joy). She makes a joke addressed to the audience, a burst of laughter comes from them.

Time stamp 4.40 had caught my attention, as the actor continues to explain her travels. Two hands appear from the dark, they rub against the actors arms. The body of the person is not visible. The actor lifts her arms, appears uncomfortable in a way, and the hands disappear into the dark. The arms then appear again at time stamp 4.44, this time one arm is on her waist and the other one on her head. The actor then moves downwards (squatting in a way), and the hand on her head disappears. She places both her hands on her chest and stomach, then the other one goes away. 

She continues. As she is rubbing against her chest and stomach, the hands appear again and she pulls them closer to her. As if they were hugging her, she caresses the hand. When she lets go, they disappear again. They continue to appear, caressing her arm as she speaks. They disappear again.

“When will life start?”, the light gets brighter and the shadows on the actor disappear as she says “and then there he is.” A dim light appears diagonally behind her, revealing a man's body. The light on the female character projects waves and shadows as if it is the moonlight (portraying the scene as if she is at the club since she is currently telling her story of when she was at the club).

The male character then disappears, as the female continues talking there appears 5 other actors facing the back with a dimly lit blue-ish light shining on them. Then they turn around. They begin thor way towards her, she is lifted into the air. The use of the body of multiple characters to emphasize the feeling of flying as she is extremely happy. The other characters portray her family. 

As the story progresses, the lights change. A soft light, multiple lights flying and hanging around the stage as the female character gets lifted again by the other characters. As she is settled down, we can see how the actors carrying her are covered in darkness to show only the main female character. 

The female character then walks backwards, the blue light is shined onto two other characters that use their bodies to express what the female character is narrating. The female then walks off and the stage dims for a second, light comes back on but only from one side, creating shadows of the multiple characters on stage. They gather in a circle, the run away. A different setting then appears. 

The lights then fully come on, showing a husband and wife arguing and teasing. The female character then walks out from darkness, surprising her parents. As Rosie walks to the front of the stage, a chair and table is slid and a new character walks in. Rosie sat in the chair and then jumped up again. The table and chair then shifts, another chair appears along with another character. The two new characters then sit on the chairs as Rosie stands back. Another character appears along with another chair. The table shifts again to the other sides and the character moves into position. 

The characters then drag the tables and chairs, they freeze except the mother and father. Then as the mother pauses from talking the kids move around with the table and chairs again. This is continuous. 

The scene then slows down, then progresses as it portrays a busy household as everyone is hugging and going in different directions. Then there is a moment between one of the brothers and Rosie. Rosie is then standing there, as her father is carrying out pads to create the garden.

There is a moment between Rosie and her father, silence takes over the atmosphere. Unsettling piano melody plays as the setting changes. Multiple people moving around, scraping dirt, throwing dirt. 

Pip, one of the sisters, begins to talk. Narratively talking to the audience. As she continues to narrate a past story, the music continues but it dims. As she continuous talking with the spotlight on her, the background is dimly lit with the father moving busily. The music then disappears, continuing the story. The character looks visibly uncomfortable. As Pip gets on her knees, humming comes from the other side and a character enters the stage. 

Rosie enters the stage, the woman humming was their mother. She looks visibly disheartened and tells Rosie to get a blanket. Pip and her mother then talk. The dad enters the stage, humor is added into the dialogue. 

Rosie then enters the stage with the blanket. She tries to stop them from fighting. She looks visibly uncomfortable as she is positioned in between the argument. Rosie tries to leave the scene, but then is asked to stay by Pip. This fight is built upon past events, the characters can be seen to project the body language of agitated. 

The father then enters the scene and they stop fighting. The mom continues and Pip starts walking away, though she stops as her mother tells her father the news. The father is seen to be the advisor, as he tries to keep things calm and give advice. Pip could not look at her mother as she was talking about the situation. But as her mother accuses her of something, her agitation progresses.

The mother then approaches Pip. The room goes silent. As the mother was explaining about marriages, the camera pans to the father as it shows that he is “taking things to heart” as he is hearing how his wife views marriage. 

As the scene escalates, the mother leaves the scene and Rosie is behind her. The father converses with Pip, then Pip walks away. The mother comes back and Rosie exists the stage. The father exits the stage and the mother picks up the blanket. As she smells it to grasp the old memories, the piano melody begins to play again and the scene begins the transition with blue light. 

The scene then paints two settings, inside the kitchen where Rosie and Mum are and the backyard where the brothers and Dad are. Natural lighting is set in the backyard and room lighting is in the kitchen. The music stops and dialogue begins.