BLATHER REVIEW

The Wall, pt 2 (side 1)

Part 1

A few seconds after "The Gunner's Dream" concludes, the opening chords of "In The Flesh" thunder through the darkened theater. There are narrow, colored spotlights roaming the set as if searching for something. Tiny glimpses of the set are revealed as the spotlights make their way around.

Then a spot hits a lone figure just as he begins to sing:

So ya, thought ya, might like to
go to the show.

He's dressed in black pants, a pink shirt, an army helmet with the chin strap hanging loose, and a white vest (almost like a life preserver) with dark lines on it to form the white bricks of the "wall vest".
He has a wide smile and a look in his eyes that's a bit menacing. He is essentially daring us to see this show. Or, perhaps, just warning us that this might not be a "fun" evening.

After he finishes his brief intro his spot is turned off and a film begins to play against the wall backdrop. Its World War II air combat footage, and as the music culminates we hear the roar of engines and the crash of a plane
Imediately there is complete silence but for the tolling of iron bells as the spotlight is on a woman, facing the audience, dressed in black and holding the hand of her son -- perhaps aged 10. And there's also a preacher just off to their right. The preacher says some appropriate words, and ends with:
"...that the only way to avoid the pain of loss is to reject the joy of love, and hopefully none of us would ever choose that."

The preacher disappears into the darkness as the spot follows Mother and Boy Pink to stage left where they reach a bed with ornate brass posts. Mother sits on the bed with Boy Pink in front and in her arms with a framed photo of Daddy (The Gunner). She sings sadly:

Mother loves her baby,
and Daddy loves you, too.
And the sea make look warm to you, baby
and the sky make look blue

She then hugs him a little tighter as she looks out and above as if searching the sky for danger.

but, oo oo ooo oo, babe
oo oo ooo, baby blue
oo oo ooo oo, oo ooo, babe!

Mother then relaxes a bit and smiles at Boy Pink, even hitting the tip of his nose with her finger, drawing a smile from him, as she delivers her warning about "the thin ice of modern life".
As she finishes with the line "...as you claw the thin ice," the music intensifies, and brightly colored spotlights scan the set, as images play on the wall of various scenes of destruction, and some pictures of WW2 era London - with those blimp things in the sky.

As the tense music of "Another Brick In The Wall, Part 1" begins, very small spotlights show pieces of the wall background while we see Boy Pink and Mother (probably no longer on the bed). The feeling is starting to get a bit claustrophobic as Boy Pink "sings" (it will be the disembodied voice of the actor playing Adult Pink who'll be doing Boy Pink's singing), with the photo of Daddy in his hands:

Daddy's flown across the ocean
leaving just a memory
a snapshot in the family album
Daddy, what else did you leave for me?
Daddy, what'd you leave behind for me?!
All in all it was just a brick in the wall
All in all it was all just bricks in the wall

The thing about this scene is that I don't want it to get too "busy", but I don't want it be too uneventful, either. It might work as is, but I think it needs something else. I'll keep thinking about it...

Anyway, the music stays at the same tense, thumping pace, but changes key to begin "The Happiest Days Of Our Lives", and for the first time the entire set is presented.

The wall is built of white bricks that about the size of a carton of copier paper; say, 12"x12"x18". It's a crescent going from near stage right to extreme down stage to near stage left. There's room on the sides for actors to stand outside the wall at various moments in the play while still being visible to the entire audience.
The wall is highest down stage, and tapers at the sides. There are piles of "loose" bricks that have yet to be built into the wall.

Toward the back of the wall is a platform with ramps on each side, and on which sits a desk. At stage right is the bed and probably a few other pieces of furniture -- but not much. At center stage is a chair or stool, and stage left is left pretty much open.

The Schoolmaster is seated at the desk as the next song begins, but soon ventures out into the stage left area to deal directly with the students.

Since it's probably not practical to have a bunch of kids practice for one small scene of a play, I think the kids will have to be imaginary. A good actor can make this a memorable scene. F'rinstance he could pull the collar of a kid's school uniform and show, with his body movements, the resistence caused by the weight of the invisible kid.

This could also be a good point to bring some comic relief. As the song moves into "Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2" I'll have the Schoolmaster shouting at the kids all sorts of sarcastic and hostile things. Like:

We don't need no education
You wanna ask me if I want fries with that?!
We don't need no thought control
Double negatives are DOUBLY negative!
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Oh, yes, that's a BRILLIANT book report!

Well, I'll come up with some good ones later.

At the end of the kids' chorus, y'know, where it goes into that long guitar solo? That's gone. After the kids sing their final "all in all it's just another brick in the wall", the drums pound the beat for a few measures and BAM! we are thrust into The Final Cut's song "The Hero's Return".

If you're not familiar with The Final Cut then you're missing out on one of Roger Waters' three best efforts (The Wall and Amused To Death being the other two).
"The Hero's Return" is the Schoolmaster's answer to the kids. I can't describe the music or vocal delivery and do it justice. It's an intense piece musically, and sung with real anger and frustration.
The Schoolmaster will sing to the audience with images (probably still slides, not moving pictures) of WW2 London shown on the wall. You'll have to hear the song to find out why I want to put this in the Schoolmaster's mouth, but the lyric goes like this:

Jesus, Jesus, what's it all about?!
Try and clock these little ingrates into shape!
When I was their age all the lights were out!
There was no time to whine and mope about!

Even now part of me flies
over Dresden at angels one five
Though they'll never fathom it,
behind my sarcasm desperate memories lie

Then the music suddenly becomes quieter as we shift to Mother holding Boy Pink in her arms and looking quite frightened:

Sweetheart, Sweetheart,
are you fast asleep? Good.
That's the only time I can really speak to you.
There is something that I've locked away:
a memory that is too painful
to withstand the light of day.

Back to the Schoolmaster:

And when we came back from the war
the banners and flags hung on everyone's door
We danced and we sang in the streets

Schoolmaster and Mother together:

and the church bells rang!

and we hear the tolling bells again, and nothing else. They ring solemnly as Mother holds onto Boy Pink for dear life and the Schoolmaster scolds his students ("How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?!") as "they" exit toward the back of the stage and disappear behind the platform.

The stage becomes quieter and dimmer as the Schoolmaster exits, eventually leaving Mother and Boy Pink in a wide spotlight. Pink is sitting on the bed and drawing with crayons while Mother is miming washing the dishes or something. The song "Mother" begins. But I think I want to write about in it's own post just 'cause I think this'll be the first real highlight of the play.

Be back in an hour or so!!

Posted by Tuning Spork at August 25, 2004 09:20 PM