A Review of A View From The Bridge Essay

A get word From The Bridge, a powerful evasive action by Arthur Miller, was staged in the round at the Manchester Royal Ex change over. By producing the play in the round, the action could be viewed from all angles which was a more effective way of word picture the story. It also allowed the entire stage to be employ without loss of action which allowed the stage to be divide into two sections the street and inside the house. These two portions of the stage were quite obvious, being symbolised by the predict booth (a key prop later in the play) and the dining room table. That said, other furniture such as Alfieris desk, seemed a little unnecessary, especially since it had to be brought in from off stage for each of Alfieris scenes. This wasnt helped by the general light in the theatre which could never provide a sodding(a) blackout on stage due to the large amounts of windows in the upper seating areas.The stage lighting was fairly frank with neutral general lights used fo r most scenes. This was developed some in primal scenes such as Eddies cobblers last and the lighting was altered (although not significantly) when Alfieri recited his monologues. However sound was used quite effectively in these scenes with the same effect being used to symbolise a change in the setting. Although the play featured very little props, when they were used, they were used to great effect such as the crates being lowered at the beginning or the characters using real food in the dinner let outy scene and then eating it. This also helps instil a sense of realism into the play and helps the earshot to relate to the storyline.Throughout the play, tension was slowly but cleverly built up to the final climax. The main character doing this was Eddie whose ever increasing hatred of Rodolpho built up the tension until the all important telephone booth came into play. From there Eddies desperation turned to madness and Con ONeills personation of Eddie made him seem like som ething out of a horror film, which only helped to add to the tension. The lighting in the play also helped add to the tension with more menacing and ominous lights used as the play progressed through the second act.All of the characters where depicted beautifully in the play thanks to wonderful acting paired with pragmatic costumes, which made this play a real delight to watch. The costumes worn by the characters were simple but effective, accurately representing the style of 1940s New York. The costumes also helped contrast the personalities between Eddie and Rodolpho with Eddies true working man clothes and Rodolpho in his smart shirts and stylish shoes. The acting was let down somewhat by the voice acting of Catherine (Leila Mimmack) whose accent seem to be very variable, ranging from broad New York to intimately full-on Italian. The voices of everyone in else in the play however were superb and very helped to make the play more realistic and believable. In particular Ian Re dford did a sterling job, brilliantly portraying Alfieris helplessness and narrating the story with scarce the right tone.A moment that really stood out for me was the very last scene in which Eddie is trying to get Marco to give him back his respect. Con ONeill portrays Eddies desperation magnificently and uses every part of his body to make him seem crazy, especially his facial features. The same could also be said more or less Nitzan Sharrons character Marco who is so furious with Eddies, he is practically on fire. This scene is a really shocking point in the storyline which was wonderfully acted by all since the scene featured some all the cast.The scene was let down somewhat by the over exaggerated and unrealistic death of Eddie Carbone. Even though producing a realistic death scene is hard to do in each play, the way Eddie was stabbed and ONeills acting on his death was a bit disappointing. However this may be due to the fact that the play was performed in the round and so not everyone can carry out the death as it was intended. The scene was well rounded off by Alfieri who delivered his consistently good delivery which helped end the scene, and the play, extremely well.