•Woolgatherer

•Rose: Kristen Stewart • Cliff: Ryan Gosling

• The Spine, also known as the main action in the play, was the conversations

between Rose and Cliff. It is in these conversations where the audience is

able to see the relationship of the two characters. The main action that

stands out the most in the play is when Cliff returns to Rose’s house. In this

scene, Rose is wearing Cliff ’s sweater and the bed appears as if someone was

sleeping on it. Rose and Cliff get into a heated argument where Cliff believes

that there is some other man in her closet. In actuality, Cliff realizes that the

closet was filled with other men’s sweaters.

• The two central themes throughout the play are the loss of innocence and death. In

the play Rose recalls a story from the past. One day when Rose went to the zoo,

some boys were antagonizing her and throwing rocks at a bird. Rose tried to stop

the boys from hurting the bird but the boys were successful in killing it. Rose calls

the police and the boys run away. Rose is then taken to the hospital to make her

calm. Hinted throughout the play, from the way Rose acted and the way she

communicated, the audience realizes that the boys did more than antagonize Rose,

she was actually raped. In this process, along with the death of the bird, a part of

Rose was also killed, leaving her in a somewhat mental state. All in all, the theme of

loss of innocence and death is portrayed clearly with the play from the way Rose

behaves socially and privately.

• The style of the play is Naturalism, with a sense

of lower class; the play has scenes of real life

possible scenarios which represent the style of

naturalism.

• The directional concept used in the play is Concept and Central

Image. The Image that is portrayed through the whole play is the

killing of the bird. This memory that Rose holds onto is affecting

her life, socially and personally. This image represents the reason

Rose is in a mental state and is a constant story point throughout

the play. The killing of the bird acts like a metaphor that ties all

the questions the audience has about the play.

In the beginning of the play, as Cliff and Rose are about to enter Rose’s

apartment, that is when the lights go from completely dark to slowly

illuminating the whole stage as they open the door and walk in. The audience

can see the neatly made bed, the boarded up window, and the closet. We can

see Rose and Cliff make conversation, then finally they sit down at the table

with the chair and crate, as you can see the shadows as they discuss where who

is going to sit.

As their conversation progresses in Act one, Rose and Cliff both

have a monologue. Rose has one when she specifically talks about

her incident at the zoo with the crane birds, and Cliff has a fairly

longer one when he talks about his life as a truck driver. For both

of these monologues, the light would slowly dim out and the focus

of the light would shift onto the table where Rose and Cliff are

sitting and talking. After the monologues are through, there will be

a pause and the lights will turn slowly back on as to reveal the rest

of the apartment. This shift creates a more intimate and dramatic

setting for Rose and Cliff as they both explore and find out more

about each other’s lives.

In the end of Act one, as Cliff leaves, the lights will fade

out fast. As Act two starts, it is supposed to be night

time and the mood is supposed to be more romantic as

Rose is laying in bed when Cliff comes back to pursue

her. For the beginning of this act, the lights will be dim,

and there will be blue lighting as to show night time and

add to the romantic aspect of the scene. We will be able

to make out Rose’s shape as she lays in bed.

Since the windows are made to be boarded up in Rose’s apartment, there are no

visuals to be used to show sunlight from there. But the overall lighting can help to

depict what time of day it is and where the setting is. The whole set of the play is in

Rose’s apartment.

Continuing Act two, Cliff comes and when Rose opens the door for him, he locks her

out of the apartment. The lights will still be blue and dim, but as he finally opens the

door to let Rose in and they are both together, for this part I would like Rose to switch

on a lamp light, as to show that there is still more luminosity than before, yet it is still

night time and a little dim to keep the romantic mood in place.

As this play is very realistic and revolves around a developing conversation

between these two characters, the rhythm and transition of the lights will be

very smooth and to the point. There will be no flashing or colorful lights, just

times to focus in and out as to show the depth and dramatic factors of their

conversation. The only color change in light will be in Act two, as to show a

blue, dim light for creating a night time, romantic mood. For the most part, the

lighting will stay the same unless it is used to enhance the conversation between

Rose and Cliff.

• Studio apartment

• Twin bed

• Boarded window hidden behind cheap curtains

• 1 table with 1 chair

• Old, rusty white refrigerator

• 1 crate

• 1 cloudy glass

• Closet stuffed with old sweaters

• Peeling wallpaper

• Moldy concrete floors

• Dead plants in a small pot

• Dusty ceiling fan

• 1 beer bottle

MOOD & STYLE

• In Act I the brightness of the lighting will add to the sober, straightforward

scenery of the play. Rose’s apartment is fairly empty and consists only of the

bare necessities. For the most part, the apartment is clean besides the smell

of mildew in the air. However in Act II, there are clothes all over the floor,

Rose’s bed is not made, and the lighting is darker to emphasize the darkness

of the night along with the darkness of the scene. The messy scenery in Act

II goes with the unraveling of Rose and Cliff ’s emotions in the act, creating a

messy environment to go with the arguing and screaming.

REALISTIC THEATRE

• This set is going to be realistic because it is going to reflect Rose’s apartment. Since she lives in a studio apartment, her bedroom is going to be the main focus of the set. The bed is going to be placed on one side of the room, right across the closet full of men’s sweaters. The boarded window with the cheap curtains covering it is located on the wall next to the bed, and the white refrigerator is located against the wall opposite of the window. The table with the cloudy glass and beer bottle is placed next to the refrigerator and there is one chair, and one crate on either side of it. There is one dead plant in a small pot placed in the middle of the table.

LOCALE & PERIOD

• The locale of this play is in a studio

apartment, which is just one room, Rose’s

bedroom. The old refrigerator and lack of

furniture indicates that Rose does not have

much money. The time period is in the

present, although Rose lives in an old

apartment in an underprivileged area in

Philadelphia.

DESIGN CONCEPT

• Rose’s bedroom is neither congested nor too roomy, but it has just the right

amount of space for two people to comfortably walk around.

CENTRAL IMAGE

Style and Historical Period

• The style of the play is casual, lower class set in northern America. More specifically, the style of the play is naturalism through which the play follows a real life scenario.

• The costumes stem off of this style and thus the characters wear casual worn clothing.

• The time period is not historical, but rather occurs now. The play takes place in South Philadelphia.

Characters• Rose and Cliff are the main characters of in the play and are infatuated by each other. No other characters

are seen in the play. The minor characters are talked about through Rose’s and Cliff's speeches. The minor

characters include an old lady who often eavesdrops on Rose, a group of boys who killed Derricks at the zoo,

and the truck inspectors Cliff mentions.

• Rose is a young woman who works at a candy counter at a Five and Dime. She lives in a shabby studio

apartment. This implies that she does not have much money and has a low status in life. She is also portrayed

as neat and orderly yet still naive and stern as she rarely catches on the jokes Cliff makes. Moreover, Rose is

also fragile as a person, as can be noted as she worries about being cut due to her hemophiliac condition.

• Cliff is a young man who has a tough life working as a truck driver. His position in life is also low. He comes

across as having a fun and playful personality as he is seen constantly making jokes despite the fact that they

bother Rose. He also has jealousy issues when it comes to the idea that his girl may be with another man.

This can be seen when he is talking about contemplating his girl with another man on his truck drives and

more importantly, when he accuses Rose of having a man hiding in the closet.

Symbolism• One of the main important minor characters mentioned in the play is a group of boys who throw stones at

rare white birds called Derricks at the zoo where Rose often visits them. Every time Rose mentions the boys

throwing the stones and killing the birds, it is obvious that the event is very traumatic for Rose. It becomes

somewhat apparent throughout the play that the Derricks symbolize Rose as they are fragile and white which

shows innocence whereas the boys represent brutality taking innocence away by killing the birds. In other

words, the act of the boys throwing the stones at the birds and killing them represents the boys raping Rose

and 'killing' her innocence.

• Furthermore, Rose constantly mentions Brenda throughout the play while referring to different women. In

reality, Rose uses the name Brenda to tell her own stories of heartbreak. It is not clear whether Brenda is

using an alter-ego to block out painful memories or if she just does not want to tell Cliff about the other

men she has liked. It becomes obvious after a while that Rose is Brenda when all the young women Rose

talks about are named Brenda, Rose says Brenda gave her a man's sweater when in the end Rose has a closet

full of men's sweaters implying the sweaters of men she has liked before, and especially when even Cliff

catches on towards the end of the play and asks if Brenda did the same things as Rose.

Costumes• In Act 1, Rose would wear a dull brown colored unisex poncho with dark

jeans. Her hair will be slightly pulled back and set neatly. She looks slightly vulnerable and has a petite body type.

• In the Act 2, Rose would wear Cliff ’s gray sweater. Her hair would be loosely tied with a white ribbon but would look messy. She will also have red lipstick on.

• In Act 1, Cliff would wear a dirty dark gray sweater with a small hole, due to a burn, on the back of the sweater. He will also wear jeans that are not particularly clean. His hair is not combed and somewhat messy. He also has light facial hair and a medium body stature.

• In Act 2, Cliff would wear a white short sleeve undershirt with the same jeans he wore in Act 1.

Works Cited

• Wilson, Edwin. The theatre experience. 12th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011.

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