The Spitfire Grill - Grade: A PDF

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Summary

Essay on the performance of the Spitfire Grill...

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The Spitfire Grill The characters in The Spitfire Grill expressed typical pedestrian-like movements during most of their scenes. However, each of them used a minor amount of at least one of Laban’s eight movement types at some point during the play. Hannah, played by Charissa, is an older woman with a growing pain in her hip. To express this, Charissa would limp on her right leg, creating dab-like movements. During one rehearsal, she started her limp with her left hip, but switched to her right hip the next time she returned to the stage. During the first several scenes he was in, Joe used movements similar to press or wring. He provided an image of a buffalo with is tough and stubborn motions. Played by Trent, Joe’s movements were slow, direct, and heavy. In the song “Forest for the Trees” when Joe proposed (sort of) to Percy, he reminded me of a kitten with playful, jumpy and excited motions, similar to Laban’s flick movement. Ellie played Shelby with a soft, hesitant walk in the first several scenes where she was present. Her shoulders folded down, Shelby expressed Laban’s press movements when upset and float movements when excited. Caleb, played by Chris, led his movements with his shoulders portraying a gait similar to that of an athlete. One of the few characters who did not simply express typical pedestrian actions, Caleb had wring motions. During dress rehearsals, he had to begin wearing his pointedtoe boots (which Chris was unaccustomed to), so his gait became more strained and almost dablike. Peyton played Effy, who acquired the most cheering from the audience during each show. Effy’s movements were perky and energetic, flick-oriented motions. Her behaviors were indirect,

quick, light, and free. Her personality and Peyton’s ability to portray this personality with her actions provided an image of a raccoon, rather nosy and attracted to new and exciting things. Eli, played by Cody, reminded me of a lost puppy, especially during his scenes with Percy and Hannah. He used press and wring movements when climbing up and down the hill upstage. With a wide variety of Laban’s movements, Emily, portrayed the main character, Percy. During Act I, scene 1, Percy used direct, sustained, and weighted movements. She provided imagery of a brick wall with guarded, almost stubborn movements while talking to Joe and Hannah. However, when singing “Ring Around the Moon,” her movements became Laban’s glide movement as they were more free and light. In Act I, scene 2, her movements represented punch movements with precise and heavy actions. On stage, these actions came across as guarded and aggressive. Percy had punch movements into “Coffee Cups and Gossip,” but these quickly became float movements during “Out of the Frying Pan” in Act I, scene 3. She used punch movements, since her actions were weighted, but direct. Her float movements were hesitant but still free and light, providing an almost surreal image of herself. During Act I, scene 4, Percy listens patiently to Shelby’s songs, with light and soft, floatoriented movements. In Act I, scene 5, Percy is only briefly on stage as she cleans the counters and then exits stage right. Percy and Shelby enter the stage for a moment as Shelby teaches Percy how to knead dough in Act I, scene 6. Percy’s movements become dab-like in Act I, scene 7, with direct, light, and bound actions. In Act I, scene 8, Percy bustles around the Grill, performing daily tasks with pedestrianlike movements. During “Shoot the Moon” in Act I, scene 9, Percy portrays flick movements

throughout the scene. In Act II, scene 1, Hannah, Percy, and Shelby were acting drunk, so their actions were sluggish and weighted. By the end of the scene, all characters used pedestrian-like movements. In Act II, scene 2, Percy represented Laban’s wring movement with heavy, bound, sustained, and indirect motions. Percy was not present in Act II, scene 3. Percy used float-oriented motions in Act II, scene 4, including indirect, sustained, light, and free actions. She was also not present in Act II, scene 5. In Act II, scene 6, she begins with float movements as she enters the Grill after her scene with Eli in Act II, scene 4. Toward the end, her actions become slash with heavy and indirect, but quick motions. In Act II, scene 7, Percy’s movement uses glide: direct, sustained, light, and free. At the end of the scene, Hannah, Shelby, and Percy look back at the Spitfire Grill sign, creating a lovely and nostalgic end moment to the play. As one of the most important scenes in the play, Act I, scene 9 deserves a more in-depth summary than the rest. Effy enters with flick movements, carrying a handful of letters to Hannah. Hannah snatches them from Effy and sends her out of the Grill with flick movements. Percy enters the Grill from the upstage curtain, holding a tray with a stack of letters. Effy re-enters the Grill with more letters and Joe, Hannah, Percy, and Effy pass the letters back and forth. Joe throws a handful into the air as Effy exits with one letter. Percy, Joe, and Hannah sort through letters from the tray and toss several in the air. Joe exits as Shelby enters with a handful of letters and Hannah, Percy, and Shelby go through them. Joe and Effy enter with a wheelbarrow holding three mailbags full of letters. Effy clears the Grill of one of the tables and pushes the girls out of her way as Joe tosses the mailbags in the center of the Grill floor. Joe, Hannah, Percy, and Shelby whisk Effy offstage. They perform a dance (which Heidi described as a Pagan sacrificial ritual). At the end, they throw letters in the air.

Throughout the show, the deck crew performed interpretive dances to most of the songs, along with Hannah and Shelby (during the scenes they weren’t onstage for)....