Module A: Experience Through Language
Elective 1: Distinctively Visual
What does the syllabus say?
• In their responding and composing students explore the ways the images we see
and / or visualise in texts are created. Students consider how the forms of
lanagage of different texts create these images, affect interpretation and shape
meaning. Students examine their prescribed text, in addition to other texts
providing examples of the distinctively
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This module requires you to have:
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That means you will consider the way
language and visual images are used to shape meaning.
How composers have used visual images to send messages or portray meaning
how emphasis of particular aspects of a character, relationship or event that builds
meaning
What does DISTINCTIVELY mean?
• Distinguishing characteristics
• Something which serves as a mark of difference/separation-Peculiarity/
individuality
• Particularly perceptible
• Prominently
• Something which is classed as separate -Characteristically
• Strong enough, large enough, or definite enough to be noticed
• Uniquely
What does DISTINCTIVELY VISUAL mean in the
context of the rubric?
• Anything WITHIN THAT TEXT that provokes an image you can physically see or
imagine.
• It provokes an image WITHIN THAT TEXT which is connected to a CLEAR attitude/
value/ perspective.
What provokes a response from an image?
(Visual Grammar)
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Colour
Framing-included/ omitted?
Composition
Character and object positioning
Body Language, facial expressions, posture, gestures, hairstyle, clothing, etc
Vectors-Focus/Placement
Lighting
Shot type, angle & distance
Symbolism /icons (setting, object, costume, make up)
Absence of written text
Subject choice-Who? What? Where? What?
How is distsinctively visual created in a
performed text (play)?
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Music
Sound effects
Tone
Pace
Volume
Silence
Pause
What is said
Language used (see written)
Absence of visual
In your revision you need to remember:
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the way the playwright has combined
physical characterisation
visual imagery
language
stage directions
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to fully understand
the plot
important themes
emotional characterisation
the writer’s purpose
John Misto’s Purpose –
• To convey the experiences and suffering of the female POWs.
• Educate Australians about their history.
• Tribute/Memorial to the women: When he wrote the play, Misto was concerned
that the pain and suffering that many women endured at the hands of their
Japanese captors after the fall of Singapore had been forgotten.
• Evoke emotions in the audience: Shock/Anger, Sadness, Empathy, Confronted,
Happiness for their final triumph of being free, little moments of joy and hope.
• ‘It is precisely the playwright’s intention to startle his audience with
unquestionable facts.’ – Vera Hams.
• ‘There is no national memorial to the many Australian nurses who perished in the
war. ..the government had rejected all requests for one.. I do not have the power
to build a memorial. So I wrote a play instead.” – John Misto
Overview
• The play centres on the relationship between Sheila and Bridie, two
elderly women, who experienced the trauma of a POW camp in Malay
and who have had no contact since the end of the war. Bridie’s
brashness and confidence create a strong physical presence. Sheila is a
more remote and mysterious character and seems composed and
collected. However, she is still governed by her memories. John Misto,
through the visual medium of his play, explores their relationship, the
effects of the past and the intimacy, dignity and triumph that occur
when both women acknowledge their pasts. John Misto also examines
the importance of the governments and society’s acknowledgment of
events that occurred in our history and the fact that we cannot move
on until we declare our past.
Structure –
• The Play begins on a dark silent set, which evokes in the audience the
darkness and pain of the characters memories as well as suggesting
their stores have been hidden for too long. Out of the darkness with
come truth.
• Prison camp story is narrated in chronological order.
2 Acts
• 1st Act is longer comprising of 8 scenes.
• It follows theatrical custom by providing a major climax before the final
curtain of Act One, which resolves some of the suspense and mystery,
but leaves the audience to wonder what direction the play will take
after the interval.
• 2nd Act is shorter with 6 scenes and shows progress and finally the
resolution of their tensions and going public with what they feared to
talk about before.
Double Hander
• A term used to describe plays in which only two characters appear. Only
Bridie and Sheila appear on stage.
• Reinforced in the title. A Sonata is a musical composition for two
instruments (or two characters).
• Very tight construction, very few combinations possible on stage.
• Double hander usually means the plot of the play is very concentrated. No
subplot.
• The action is entirely focused on the relationship between Bridie and Sheila.
• Tend to lend themselves to language games. Repartee, humorous dialogue,
question and answer questions, one-liners, and quick short exchanges lead
to lively and clever verbal entertainment.
Character Contrast.
• Usually a feature of double handers. Action of the play could be interpreted
as a resolution of their contrasts.
• Bridie is initially much more confident, assertive and buoyant than Sheila.
• Sheila is quieter, more reticent, and more serious than Bridie.
• Once Sheila shares her secret with Bridie, the character contrasts could be
seen to lessen. At the end of the play, an emotional harmony between the
two women has been achieved.
• Much of the tension in a double hander arises from who is to be the leader
as usually one character assumes a higher status than the other.
• Initially this is Bridie – determines the agenda of each scene, asks the
questions, bosses. She feels that she has been the one betrayed. Sheila
become the focus of dramatic attention after she reveals her secret. The
tension is resolved in reconciliation.
Alternating/Contrasting settings,
• Alternating settings of the TV studio and the motel room tend to set up contrasting
rhythm of public narrative followed by private disclosure.
• This sets up an expectation in the audience that the intellectual story is being played out
in the TV studio, but the emotional narrative comes later in the motel room.
• Each is impersonal and comparatively bare providing a neutral place for the memories to
unfold. So as to shape images more potently though dramatic conventions and makes the
tension between the two characters more obvious.
• Obviously set in the present but is also very much about the past, to educate the audience
about the past events to understand the enormous impacts they had on their lives.
• The gap between the ‘official’ history and the ‘real’ history of one important event in their
wartime experiences at Belalau is give considerable emphasis in this variation in the
alternating pattern.
• E.g. Scene 10, where Sheila is waiting in the TV studio for the afternoon session why
Bridie joins her. Their intimate, animated, accusatory conversation is in stark contrast with
the safer, factual accounts given when the microphones are ‘On Air’.
Distinctively Visual –
• What we see on Stage,
• What we see in our Imagination,
• Descriptive Language.
Audiences reactions –
• The dramatic devices of the mixed media are being used deliberately
to make the audience think about how history comes to be presented
the way that it is.
• One of the purposes of the multimedia presentation of the women’s
stories is to invite the audience to question why such real or harrowing
experiences occupying so many years and resulting in so many deaths
are not officially recognized and recorded, let alone commemorated.
Techniques – Social realism
• Play is based on historical events.
• Pacific part of WWII from 1941-1945.
• Even though the characters are fictional, it is based on the real experiences
of real women.
• In order to imaginatively recreate the reality of a past, some of the action
occurs through mixed media that accompanies the spoken text or dialogue
to help us visualize and imagine the nature and times of the photographs.
• The dramatic feature of social realism is emphasized by the use of songs
from the wartime period, photographs from the 1940’s projected onto the
back wall of the stage and voice-over and other sound effects.
Symbolism, The Shoe Horn.
• Is a prominent symbol in the action of the play. Small discreet object
but it comes to represent larger ideas. It symbolic meaning seems to
evolve. Initially family love.. First appearance is when they are adrift in
the sea representing the will to live by ‘tapping’ Sheila to keep her
awake.
• Bridie also carries the belief that Sheila obtained quinine by
exchanging the shoehorn but therefore creates much conflict
internally in Sheila and has much strain on their friendship. In the end
though, it comes to represent the enduring nature of the women’s
friendship and love.
The Kowtow.
• Symbol of obedience and submissiveness. Is seen in the first seen with
Bridie during the interview. A large photograph of women prisoners
maintaining a deep surrendering bow to the Japanese guards is
projected onto the back wall of the stage for a lengthy period
reinforcing the power relationship between the women and their
captors.
The Choral Orchestra
• Organised by Miss Dryburgh. Symbol of the triumph of the spirit over
the oppression of the camp. Much more than a musical experience.
Humor,
• Despite the seriousness of the subjects there is considerable humor in
the way Bridie and Sheila describe their wartime experiences.
• Often a way of deflecting the fear surrounding the incidents.
• Shows that although there is many hardships they still have hope and
their lives to pull them through.
• E.g. Lipstick Larry and the needlework by Bridie pg.40. The powerless
women score a ‘point’ against one of their captors. This is short-lived
and Bridie is given a beating soon afterwards. Sound effects/voice over
is used here and as the scene ends and blacks out we here Bridie
crying and being beaten by Lipstick Larry, the characters faces looks
sad as they suddenly remember this part of the memory.
• E.g. Lavender street story pg.44. After the description, she says ‘That
night turned me off blind dates forever.’
• E.g. Message from the Prime minister pg.67. Compared to the
circumstances they are in they are told to “Keep smiling”. An example
of the Blackest humor. After all the maltreatment they had been
subjected to they are still able to laugh. Nonsensically, the next day
they are made to stand in the sun for hours and are ordered to never
smile again.
• E.g. Absurdist humor pg.82. the women are herded to the top of the
hill in the middle of the jungle to listen to a Japanese army band play a
Viennese waltz, the Blue Danube, for 2 hours. “ The Geneva
convention says: All prisoners must have culture. You womens have
just have yours.”
Voice Over
• Rick the interviewer,
• young Sheila and Bridie singing
• Bridie getting beaten by lipstick Larry
• Sheila giving herself up to the Japanese.
• By superimposing the voices of Bridie and Sheila when they were in
the camp over the contemporary action and dialogue, the past and
present are blended together.
Sound Effects/ Music
• The music has an effect that enhances the images and each scene’s
mood establishing the reality of the past and conveying the power of
memory.
• Complement the stories and reminiscences of Bridie and Sheila.
• Can feel things much more deeply: Jungle crickets are broadcast
during Sheila’s account of how she was abused in the soldier’s
barracks. This insect noise comes to represent the deepening inner
turmoil and emotional horror as she submits to her sexual ordeal. The
deafening noise is a wonderful theatrical rendering of Sheila’s
attempts to stifle and deaden any memory or feeling of the event.
Reaches the crescendo. Example of expressionism.
Background Photographs/ Projected Slides
• Often create a juxtaposition with what is being said or are used to support.
• The slides educate the audience about the war and help convey more
effectively Misto’s themes – The pain of war, power and memories.
• They also establish authenticity of Bridie’s and Sheila’s experiences, as well
as allowing the audience to understand and relate more closely with them.
• Complement the stories and reminiscences of Bridie and Sheila.
• One of the purposes of the multimedia presentation of the women’s stories
is to invite the audience to question why such real or harrowing experiences
occupying so many years and resulting in so many deaths are not officially
recognized and recorded, let alone commemorated.
• The projected photographs are intended to comment on the stage actions.
Interview.
• Complement the stories and reminiscences of Bridie and Sheila.
• Half the play is in the TV studio, being interviewed for a TV
documentary.
• Formality to those events on stage. Each women is highlighting events
that are almost impossible to put into words.
• The public domain of the TV documentary also imposes some implicit
restrictions on what a person will reveal.
• A recording interview can have an inhibiting influence on what will be said. E.g.
Sheila doesn’t tell the truth about how she got quinine for Bridie and Bridie
opposes it initially, but eventually they tell it on camera (self censoring the darker
moments of the prison camp). It is only in such a public forum as a TV
documentary that she feels she can fully honour Sheila’s actions to get quinine.
• Ironically, Rick’s documentary was the vehicle for the truth ‘being expressed’.
• The interviewer Rick represents how women were controlled by unseen forces
during the war as he is the one who is able to ‘call the shots’/who direct the
interview although is only present through a voice over and is never seen. With
Rick also not present on screen creates the focus on the women as this is their
time to have their war experiences in the spotlight.
• The Interview/Documentary is a Dramatic device in which women recount their
experiences. It was a vehicle and reason to bring Bridie and Sheila back together as
well as a reason to relive their memories and talk about it.
Flashbacks/Memories,
• May help to deepen our understanding of what happened so long ago,
their memories also alert us to what has been omitted.
• Occurs through the median of the interview, is helped to be felt by the
audience with the use of voice-overs and background photographs
from the time or from their youth.
• E.g. Young Sheila and Bridie in the water singing Jerusalem. The
present Bridie and Sheila join in connecting the present and past
together and shows that their memories are still with them today.
Stage Directions - Conflicts
• Bridie is angry at Sheila for not trying to keep in contact for 50 years.
Sheila told her that she was in England but she was really in Perth.
• Sheila has internal conflict within herself because she is holding her
secret and her experiences close to her heart as.. ‘I never really left
[Belalau]”.
• Bridie is angry at Sheila for giving herself up to the Japs for the
Quinine, and for not telling her.
• Sheila realises Bridie would not have done the same for her.
Others
• Costumes: Does it change as the play progresses? How is colours, style
and texture used?
• Lighting: How is shadow and illumination used to represent ideas?
• Character Gestures and Mannerism: how does what characters do
represent their personality and thematic purpose?
• Line Delivery: tone, pace, volume, pausing, intonation..
• Dialogue
• Monologues: Bridie has two monologues alone on stage twice, Sheila
is alone on stage twice but is both times silent, showing Bridie’s more
confident, and Sheila’s more reserved nature.
Themes – Friendships
• Between Bridie and Sheila and how much they gave up for each other
and wouldn’t be here today without one-another. Sharing of the
caramel; Sheila giving herself up for Bridie; Sheila gave up her dinner
for Bridie when it was her birthday...Bridie saves Sheila when they are
in the ocean. Sheila gives her virginity to the Japs in order to obtain
quinine when Bridie is almost dying from malarial fever, however
Bridie believes she traded the Shoe Horn
• also = ignorance because she doesn’t consider how the Shoe horn
would have been useless to the Japs.
Survival
• The Shoe Horn Sonata.
• The Choral Orchestra – “We forgot the Japs –we forgot our hungerour boils-.. everything.. We rose above the camp- ..above the war..
Fifty voices set us free.”
• The choral orchestra gave the POWs a ‘reason to live’, creating a sense
of hope and showed that they still believed that the war would end
and they would finally be set free.
• The shoe horn survives the whole war and many years after and so
represents survival and the will to live. Represents the enduring nature
of the women’s friendship and love.
Resilience
• Choral Orchestra: Defying the guards, the reactions of the viewers –
including the Japanese (in Paradise Road).
• Bridie, who does not know how to swim, keeps Sheila alive when they
are stranded in the ocean. Depicted through the dialogue.
• Sheila shows a great sense of resilience when talking about the things
that got her through the war. “I’d remind myself I was part of an
Empire – and if others could endure it, so could I.”
British imperialism/ ignorance/ lack of help
from government
• The non-recognition from the Australian army could have also have
been driven by an inability for the winning men to accept
responsibility for what happened to some of their women.
War and atrocities
• Treatment/Punishments: Kowtow, Burning of the women when she
tries to access the Quinine, Kneeling in the sun surrounded by spikes.
• Health/Deprivation: withholding of the quinine, food, medicine,
malaria, dysentery, Beri Beri. Toilets - Lack of Hygiene, Lack of respect,
“We had to squat – in front of everyone.. They wanted to humiliate us”
(Bridie) “Plenty of Room in the Graveyard..”
Heroism
• Sheila gives herself up, and therefore her dignity and self respect, to
the Japs for Quinine for Bridie. Bridie presents Sheila’s sacrifice as an
act of heroism by a brave young woman in a place of war (through the
interview). Visually represented that Bridie is trying to comfort Sheila
by squeezing her hand. An emotional climax, much more than the
interviewer could have expected. “They don’t give medals for stuff like
that” (Bridie).
• Adrienne defends herself against a Rape (in Paradise Road).
• Chinese POW risking her life to obtain Quinine, she is caught and burnt
alive as a symbol of retaliation from the Japanese.
Attitudes to women.
• There is a view that, until very recently, war was a male adventure,
macho and patriarchal. From this perspective it is not a surprise that
the suffering of women is not recorded or heeded or even
remembered.
• “The Japs would come around and beat us for the fun of it ‘useless
mouths’ they used to call us.”
• It was though demeaning by the Japanese soldiers to watch over
women prisoners so they felt no honor could be attached to that job.
• The women had no business being in the wrong place at the wrong
time. Perhaps in the official view, civilian women and children had no
business being in a war zone.
• Lavender Street/ Comfort Women/ Officers Club: “The Japs wanted us
because they knew they couldn’t have us, But they could pick and
choose from the Poms.” (Bridie) No respect for the women. “ The
Japanese weren’t scared of much but tuberculosis terrified them.”
They managed to escape the night with the Japanese by faking disease
– used an old bloodied handkerchief.
Revising the Play – Scene One
Revising the Play
Revising the Play