Concept+Statement

Miller Mrosek, Jonathan Adelman, Rachel Goldberg

Dr. Farley Richmond

THEA 2100H

6 November 2014

Concept Statement We have decided to produce a play that holds true to the original script. The play will be set in North London during the 1950’s. We chose the 1950’s because the play was written during this time period and because the 1950’s represents an era in which the idea of a women having power was not in the mainstream. The script itself dictates the location, since the entire performance takes place in the family’s working class home in London. Thus the set will show only the living room of a working class home with furniture indicative of the fifties.

We decided to focus our play concept around the commentary within this play on relationships. There are relationships between father and son, brother and brother, and wife and husband. There are relationships that almost any audience member could relate to. As such, we want the main focus of this interpretation of //The Homecoming// to revolve around the various independent relationships that exist within a family. We believe that the theme of power is already so prominently ingrained in the dialogue and character interactions on stage that by focusing on relationships we will simultaneously be focusing on the theme power. In order to stress the individual relationships within the family and how those dynamics contribute to the overall family dynamic we have chosen to use things like lighting, costume variations, and setting to emphasize certain interactions and dialogue in order to draw the audience’s eye to these significant elements. The most important relationship we want to stress is the one between Ruth and the rest of the male characters, as this is the most evident and controversial struggle throughout the play. In addition, to ensure that the audience does not leave our production confused we have decided to emphasis and elaborate on certain parts of the play that we feel are the most important such as the first time that Ruth meets the family, the interaction between Teddy and Lenny regarding Teddy’s work, the sexual encounter between Ruth, Teddy and Lenny, and of course the end of the play when the men discuss their plan for Ruth and when Sam and Max collapse onto the floor.

Since we believe that the sexual relationship between Ruth and the other men is the most important central theme in the play, we have decided to focus our advertisements on this relationship, primarily by using risqué posters and flyers. These kinds of promotions will stand out, and may attract younger people who do not usually attend plays. However, the advertisements will also appeal to the rest of the adult population since they too make up a demographic which this play is intended for. The advertisements should also attract people with families to come see this play, especially couples in their 30’s and 40’s who may have children. The suggestive advertisements as well as other promotions that focus on “family” rhetoric would especially help to attract this demographic.