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pigeonwit · 5 months

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thoughts on billie the kid: act 1

this is by no means a synopsis or a review, just my thoughts and things i wanted to share while i was watching. it will cover a lot of the plot though, so spoiler warning!!

the whole cast was on stage for gez and conway’s pre-show speech and when they were done they all filed off for olivia to take centre stage, all giving her little shoulder pats – and then jodie steele fully slapped her ass with her binder.

‘poor white trash girl’ the ballad of my fellow working class bitches who were always just normal enough to be tolerated as long as we didn't complain too much.

right off the bat we see billie is popular, but… no she's not. her friends clearly love her - they seem to get along and kelly, her best friend and school valedictorian, is very humble and proud towards billie upon finding out she's shooting for a scholarship at a community college despite kelly herself having been early accepted to duke. she even shuts down another of their friends, candy, when she tries to make a subtle dig at billie’s first choice being a community college. but that’s just it. billie IS different to these wealthy ivy league girls, from her hand-me-down jacket to working nights at a truck stop to keep the lights on. they get to giggle at her adorable dreams of going to a community college. they get to smile approvingly at how hard shes trying. they get to say ‘did you tell them about your moms… SITUATION?’ as if the only reason billie could get a scholarship is because shes a sob story. and kelly stops this - when she sees billie as an ally. when she doesnt, shit hits the fan. but thats getting ahead of myself.

brodie is a genuinely kind and doting boyfriend, and im really glad they went that route with him. there are so many characters where it would have been easy to follow the tropes, from brodie to billie's mother to mrs banks. but brodie is such a sweet guy - he takes care of billie, keeps her books and ‘emergency yoghurts’ (i think i heard that right?) in his locker, he makes up silly cheer routines to make her laugh. im glad they made brodie this kindhearted, softspoken boy whose only crime is being FRIGHTENED. and also betraying billies trust but we’ll get to that.

in all the plans billie and brodie make together, its clear brodie’s taking a backseat. billie makes the plans. billie's getting them both out of here. brodie’s just along for the ride. now you can absolutely read this as billie being taken advantage of, because with how scared brodie is, i do see that as part of it - but i think it also goes to show how stifling your own queerness creates a lack of awareness as to who you are and what you want from your future.

when billie finds out about the sexting, shes obviously horrified and devastated. brodies her one support in such a chaotic life, and we’ve seen firsthand how much he loves her. we also see firsthand how much billie trusts kelly, to share her deepest embarrassment with her and trust she wouldn't tell anyone. something i like that they added is that when billie goes to confront brodie, she isnt an automatic feminist girlboss about it. she is genuinely conflicted about what brodie did to her because she loves him so much and loves that he loves her. she even begins to believe she’d be ok with the cheating as long as brodie still loved her, which is what causes her to seek out his sidepiece so that she can try and force ‘her’ into leaving brodie alone. i like that billie is flawed here, i like that she'd actually go through with this humiliation if it meant she could just have someone support her - it really hammers home how desperate she is for some stability in her life and how much disrespect she’d put up with just for someone to show up for her, which i think you can also see in the way her friends treat her.

something interesting in the show is that while i thought brodie and david KNEW they were texting each other, they actually have a rule of ‘no names, no faces’ set by brodie. i dont know how he found davids number, but david does mention at one point "these footballers, they always do this. make a new account just to mess with me." so like. were they legit on grindr? guys… still, them not knowing who the other is makes me really curious about their relationship and what they shared. david calls him ‘football star’ so he must know brodie plays - i wonder what else they shared with each other beyond just dirty messages?

(also, david canonically cant spell for shit - as billie reads their messages she exclaims “oh, come on, brodie, you couldn't’ve cheated on me with someone who can READ?”)

the acoustic version of ‘confederate fag’ really gave me the wrong idea of the song - which is of course the point, to recontextualize the material - but oh my god hearing it the way its meant to be heard?? i’m stunned. the story is that davids been out of school for a week because he tried to commit suicide. well, now hes decided not to let anyone's words get to him ever again, so hes hyping himself up to go back to school (‘been in bed for six days, and on the seventh, i rested’ is a line thats been driving me crazy… yep thats an accurate depiction of my mental state!!). the title comes from the fact that he tore down the confederate flag their school hung from their flagpole to commemorate the ‘honorable soldiers who died defending their rights’ and graffitied it.

“okay, david. first day back, and we are serving reclaimed slurs, reclaimed hatred, and, uh… (leans forward to awkwardly spit on the flag, obviously grossed out but looking quite pleased after he does so) pride.”

confederate fag is such a hyped-up, blood pumping, fist clenching, kick your ass song that fills me with so much determination - fuck yeah!! hes not gonna back down!! hes not gonna lose to some dumb fucking bigots!! hes better than them!! and hes not going to let them kill him before he gets the life he deserves!!

“yeah, you can try and kill me [flips off kelly and candy] OHHH but i got there FIRST!!! 😜😜😜 HAHA!!!” i mentioned this before but YES BITCH RECLAIM THAT TRAUMA, THEY TRIED TO KILL YOU BUT THEY COULDNT, IT WAS ALL FUCKING YOU AND THEY DONT GET TO TAKE CREDIT FOR IT!!!

as he sings, the cast freezes around him as he manipulates them, flipping off kelly and candy, tearing pages from teachers clipboards, and drawing lipstick over a jocks face. he also runs upstage to sing into the stand-mic and as he sings the final chorus the cast do these limp puppet motions of saluting and pumping their fists. really shows that david's hopes for a better future are flimsy, half formed and not all the way real, but visible enough for him to keep on hoping.

so peaches mouse and david (when he wasnt in the hospital) all sold drugs together. they seem like a gang, but they really make it clear that theyre a family - the drugs are just to keep them all afloat as they try to skip town. but peaches, my QUEEN peaches, is the one who bites the bullet and says ‘enough is enough, david is not safe here and we are leaving NOW’. she sells the last of their amount for 3k and decides shes getting her family out of winchester creek forever. and while i do love peaches so much, a lot of her character revolves around this, a very fierce older sister need to protect everyone and fix all their problems singlehandedly. and god i wish she’d just get a break from it man. or at least be allowed to express some frustration with that at all. but she seems to really take pride in protecting her family, so i wont overstay my welcome on that topic.

this protectiveness manifests in her literally sabotaging herself to protect her family. when mouse is harassed by candy at school, who frequently misgenders and deadnames them as she tries to buy vicodin off of them, peaches scares her away even after she tries offering them more money and winds up losing a customer. i truly do love that scene so much. get her peaches!! she deserves NOTHING.

“peaches” is a flawless song, you've all heard it by now. hannah victorias singing is unreal and she is truly the glue of the show. more peaches appreciation!! this lesbian gave us EVERYTHING!!

during the lyrics “show her some love!” mouse dances around peaches making heart-hands and gesturing for the audience to hype her up. yes!! appreciate her yall!!

when david shows up at school hes immediately cornered by candy and mary-beth (the religious nut played by yuki sutton, whose comedic timing and delivery is flawless and who deserves the world itself). the scene is skin-crawlingly uncomfortable in the best of ways.

“we had to have two whole classes for suicide awareness for you, david!” “… we’re very aware now!”

“now i know why you did what you did, david, you dont have to say it… it was SATAN! and i just can’t believe that after all he did to you, youre… still… dressing like that?” “of course he is, mary-beth, hes still a homo! aren't you, david :)” “STILL?! you mean after all that time in the hospital they still didnt fix you?! david you should get your money back…” (sidebar - ryan kopels stonefaced reactions to this were just so fucking funny.) he tries to sneer her off, but she grabs him. “no, i mean it, david. you're sick.”

the show really knew how to use mary-beth as a character, and yuki sutton REALLY knew how to play her. she provides some much needed levity with all her bible-thumping insanity and her sheer dedication to the hysteria (“AND GOD SAID THOU SHALT NOT LIE ABOUT GUN CONTROL!!!!!!” “its not his fault, he werent raised right! hes never even been to SEAWORLD!!!”) made the entire theatre fucking WHEEZE. but man when she says “you’re sick”, those two simple words, it just… UGH. its chilling. just how much she CARES when she says it. its brilliant and its awful and i love it. GENIUS.

also david gets to get in candys face and yell BITE ME at her which was therapeutic for me.

i find it so heartbreakingly sweet that peaches is confused as to why david is late because “you were supposed to come in with mouse!”. do they all travel in packs to keep each other safe. “no one walks alone” type deal. cause thats… so beautiful and so sad.

“how are you feeling, david…?” “... better now im with my family.” and he RUNS to hug peaches and mouse… oh it HURTS and i love it. ugh and theyre all so excited to leave… mouse gets so excited at the prospect of becoming a hot LA surfer dude :’) you deserve it babyyyy

so funny that billie just GRABS david to come talk to her. No conversation, they barely know each other, she just grabs him and says ‘i need to talk to you’ without stopping as she walks.

peaches: david, you gonna be okay…?

david, looking billie up and down: yeah, i think i can take her.

when billie drags david away to talk to him mouse gets so defensive and like. they're right to be, kelly and her friends have consistently been assholes to them, but also its so funny to see mouse’s little self trying to square up on their tiptoes to say ‘watch yourself, CHEERLEADER’ like peaches come get your chihuahua.

it is… so disheartening seeing david’s face drop upon seeing brodie’s phone. football star was important enough for david to text him on the day he was supposed to go back to school after everything and he wholeheartedly believes it was all a joke just to mess with him.

“so brodie’s… not gay?” “him? no. he’s just an asshole.” “... oh, thank GOD!!”

i love that the show does take its time establishing that even though billie's more self aware than her friends, she's not immune to the rhetoric of her small town. she's against gun control at first and fully carries a pistol with her. when david mocks her for being relieved brodie isn't gay, she says “oh no, being gay’s fine for you! but for brodie, it'd just be freaky”. she GENUINELY thinks that none of her friends would turn on brodie for being gay because ‘people love him!’. and its so… SO heartwrenching to see the way david glares at the floor as she says that. ‘people love him!’ … and didnt anyone love david?

david: stick by your boyfriend. if he really is gay, he's gonna need all the help he can get. and besides [spoken with the bitchiest tone, the haughtiest head-tilt, and a cunt matched only by god herself] he ain’t my type 🙄

[and then he lifts his heels and swivels his ankles in a little twirl as he goes to walk offstage… bbygirl i want to STUDY you…]

“david reckons you said all that to mess with him. but i said no, not my brodie. so which is it? are you a bully… or are you just… 🥺 GAY 🥺???” ugh billie my wet puppy of a girl i LOVE you

“cowboy cheerleader” my beloved. brodie has spent so long living in the background because he’s been too terrified to be himself. But he really did want what’s best for billie. He really does love her.

you really do get the sense that billie and her mother are two people who love each other and so desperately want something from the other that the other is just not able to give due to their situation. betty is fighting her addiction – sidebar, oh my god this show does such a good job at showing that addiction is not a character flaw, oh my god – and doesn’t want to lose billie to college, but she has not given billie much reason to have faith in her. she’s still in contact with her dealers, she doesn’t seem to care about billie’s hopes of a scholarship, and so billie is so used to her mother letting her down that she (justifiably) assumes the worst in her, something that could be solved so easily if her mother just SHOWED UP – but how can she when she thinks billie wants to so badly to be rid of her? Whenever they speak to each other you really get the idea that they both care about each other and are trying so hard to show it but they just can’t meet in a way that makes sense to the other. billie always assumes the worst in her mother (again, justifiably so) and her saying “brodie was always too good to be true” so easily becomes “so what, he’s too good for me?”. but man they are both trying so hard to reach one another… and they get there, eventually.

also betty immediately being supportive of her brodie-bear… outcasts unite baby. she knew what was coming and she wanted him to know he was safe with her.

the show does a great job of showing that billie is well within her right to be upset at brodie for lying to her and cheating on her, but she also understands that brodie needs the support he always gave her, so even though there is an obvious shift in their relationship (her being uncomfortable being touched by him and making the same jokes they used to make) she still decides to be there for him and make sure david, peaches and mouse won’t tell anyone what they know.

and on that topic, it’s interesting that upon finding out the other now knows who they've been texting, both brodie and david assume the other is going to throw them under the bus. david panics that this is another football team prank and kelly’s already going to gossip about it - and brodie panics that david’s definitely told peaches, who’s for sure going to gossip about it.

“do we really have to be here? i knew i was texting a boy but... i just thought he was a nice boy? not some satanist like david frances…” “david frances is not a SATANIST! … PROBABLY!”

upon finding brodie and billie at the creek:

peaches: well, there goes the neighbourhood. david: oh, what the hell are you two doing here!? mouse: yall know there’s no starbucks around here right?

i love these fucking queers SO MUCH-

david looks so shocked and so touched that billie would actually stick her neck out for brodie and pretend they’re still together after everything. his admiration for her really starts in that moment.

"and another thing-" "ugh, seriously? has anyone ever told you two you're kind of hard to deal with?!" david you are everything to me

billie: so – look. we’re gonna go ahead and tell everyone that nothing’s happened, that we’re still together, but you gotta do the same, okay? peaches, actual gremlin: [gasp] SECRETS! secrets and LIES! mouse, actual gremlin x2: dirty, dirty CLOSET secrets!!!

i love these losers so fucking much…

“welcome to the gang!” “not quite.” “yeah, you are the only one not looking the part here…” “if you wanna be in our gang, sandra-dee, we need to get you a leather jacket!” STOP these queer kids welcoming brodie into their group… letting him know he’s not alone… i’ll CRY

i wanna talk about brodie and david... look the point of the show is not the two-second-long sexting-based relationship between david and brodie. they both seem very okay with leaving it be and just respecting each other as friends and comrades as they go to live their own lives on their own terms. but god i really want to know if they talked about the anonymous texting. i want to know if they talked about being the only two gay men in town. i want to know if they talked at all. there’s this quiet understanding and respect between them as they sit next to each other and drink and just look at each other, really seeing each other for the first time, and i really want to know if there was anything more to that.

something so interesting during ‘another lover’ is that billie actually sits on the steps near the band and allows the queer characters to be up at the front welcoming brodie into their group as they all drink around the campfire together. she lets them have their moment of solidarity without intrusion. that’s something i really wasn’t expecting but it’s so beautiful to see.

something that’s also really important to note is that as much as billie lets the group have their moment of solidarity, they also take a step back and allow her to express her love for brodie as they part ways and allow her to have her moment of grief during ‘my favourite guy’. billie’s never had a consistent figure in her life and brodie was that for her. and he still is, but it’s so different now. as much as she understands and forgives and stands by him, she has been let down here, and she deserves to have a moment to mourn that nothing can go back to the way it was for them.

and this leads to another wonderful ‘billie is flawed but not BAD’ moment – when kelly calls her… oh my goodness billie just wants some support. and she still tries her best not to take it. She still tries to say everything is fine, her and brodie are still together, but Kelly is just not having it. ‘have you been crying? billie, just TELL me!’ ... look there’s no one left in billie’s life right now who she feels completely 100% comfortable in trusting. she doesn’t know david peaches and mouse that well, and she wants brodie to be supported, but she can’t confide her thoughts about him cheating on her and their break-up to the guy who cheated on her and who she broke-up with… so yes, naturally she seeks help in kelly. she trusts kelly, the girl who was always kind to her, supported her, chided their friends when they made pointed comments about her 'situation', so... kelly would never hurt her, would she?

“you know… you know that boy, david frances...? well-” “hey cowgirl, get over here!” “oh, right – sorry, kelly, i’ve got to – kelly…?” oh no.

“oh brodie was just telling us all what a crazy gun nut you are!” oh NO.

the hush that falls over them all when they realize billie carries. brodie doesn’t see anything wrong with it, of course – he knows billie, he knows she only goes shooting at the range in a controlled environment because it reminds her of her dad, he knows she’d never hurt anyone. but the way peaches goes dead silent and always keeps a hand on mouse, the way all three of them step so quietly and so warily around her…

“i didn’t have you down for all this ‘fastest draw in the west’ stuff.” “just call me billie the kid!” STOP STOP STOP I DIDN’T THINK THAT THAT WAS WHERE THE TITLE WAS COMING FROM-

when billie says “i can show you, if you want!” she means it with such good intentions, she just wants to share a skill she has with her friends – and mouse is so eager to touch the gun, probably through some teenage ‘guns are cool’ mentality, probably because they’re so unused to having power in their life, but peaches immediately yanks them back. “our fingerprints aren’t going on ANY firearms” oof… it’s like she’s playing it off as a joke, but… we know she's not, right?

but david… oh david is ENAMOURED by the gun… he treats it with such child-like wonder, this thing that could take a life when everyone around him tried so hard to take his. he’s nervous to use it, embarrassed when he misses, laughing awkwardly – and billie takes his hand, guides him to look down the barrel, to shoot true and HIT. she really does think she’s doing good. she really thinks she’s helping him take back some control in his life, because that's what shooting is for her.

“we all have the right to defend ourselves! people like you, people like mouse – we all have a right to protect ourselves when we feel our lives are at stake.” “well, god bless america!” NO DAVID NOOOOOO BILLIE I UNDERSTAND YOU THINK YOU’RE HELPING BUT NOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

cue ‘sharks in the water’. it’s a fucking bop but my god is it terrifying… especially when the girls tell abel about the messages. he’s the one who called david a homo. he’s the one who makes all the gay jokes for brodie to partake in. and he looks FURIOUS.

the horror in brodie’s face when his phone starts pinging… the devastation in david’s face when he sees what happened to him happening all over again…

when billie holds david’s hand over the gun like a promise and says “this keeps us safe.” and then the blackout drops... the DREAD in my stomach!!!!!!!!! what a fucking way for act 1 to end!!!!!

#billie the kid #billie the kid musical #fic thoughts #tw suicide mention #tw gun mention #ryan kopel #musical theatre

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hereforyourdispleasure · 3 months

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I might take a step back from roleplaying, probably specifically playing Darian, for a bit

It's been wonderful, Darian turned out to be way more than the simple "part time field worker, part time office worker who steals information and plans to kill the founder, oh also he's a medic?" I started out with. He came along, with incredible timing, at a point in my life I didn't intend to get past. He's been a distraction from an eating disorder, my mountains of coursework I've always for some reason cursed myself with, my exams, moving as far possible across a country, and a lot more

I've adored each interaction and storyline. Sort of. We don't talk about certain ones, but you get what I mean, they were alright at the time. Ish. Cough though obviously I've preferred the more online harassment style interactions cough cough Reggie return to us I beg cough cough

Needless to say he means a hell of a lot to me. The idea that he, and my other characters, will just become like the ones from that roleplay group I had when I was 11 does upset me. I would never want him to be forgotten and left like that

But I just don't know if I can keep this up. With how things are now, the closest thing I have to a support system is 1 person over two hundred miles away from me. With my current position I know if I don't take care of myself, no matter what the response might be, things could get bad quickly. I don't want to keep ending the day thinking it's about time I give alcoholism a go. Because frankly alcohol is yucky and I'd rather be drinking Fanta fruit twist or monster, or coffee. I have so much fucking coffee, I fear for my blood pressure

Knowing my fear of missing out, I probably won't be gone long. Also knowing me, I'll probably look at this tomorrow and think it's completely stupid and I'm being overly dramatic. Who knows, I might jump back in tomorrow after giving my overreactive speech here. It's not fair to everyone else for me to just bounce around with whether I will or won't be leaving. I'm still trying to figure it out myself

I would appreciate it if in-character-wise, nothing is said or confirmed about Darian until I say so

Please don't let this be the death of the rp. I love it to bits. Even if it's barely active, even if there's no more storyline

#Lotta words for a simple “idk if I can keep this up check back soon I might make a decision later lol”#Lamp uses his theatre kid experience to be serious for .5s #Those seconds are over #tw alchohol mention #tw eating issues #tw sui ideation #Light mentions it's nothing too big dw

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krunchycrispy · 7 months

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Why I would direct every character in a An Inspector Calls play to wear red and what it would represent in key scenes

For a quick breakdown, I’ll explain who these characters are in this 1912 setting in the order the plot is revealed.

Eva Smith: a young working class girl who committed suicide after many encounters that broke down her life. She is never shown, but she is arguably the most important character in the play.

Mr Birling: A middle class man who owns a factory line. He hires women in particular because he knows he can pay them less. He started this chain reaction leading to Eva’s death when he fired her for being one of the key leaders in a strike to get him to pay his workers an extra 2 pounds. Upon learning his involvement in Eva’s death, he rejected his responsibility.

Sheila Birling: a young woman and the eldest of the Birling children. She is engaged to Gerald and while she is used to the expectations she would have as a woman, she is portrayed to stray away from those ideals slightly, especially by the end of the play were she insists that change is needed. She went to a clothing shop Eva worked at after being fired by Mr Birling. Sheila tried on dress after it was modelled on Eva, and she was jealous of her (Eva’s) beauty. Feeling overwhelmed, Sheila insisted that the manager fired Eva when she thought she was being laughed at for trying on the dress. When learning of her involvement in Eva’s death, she was distraught and took the responsibility on immediately.

Gerald Croft: A higher class man from old money, and Sheila’s fiancée. He had met Eva when she was on her last penny and under a new name, and housed her for a while. It evolved into him having an affair, whether or not Eva knew he was taken is left unanswered. But she was in love with him and when he cut ties her heart was broken. When discovering his involvement, Gerald was also distraught that she was dead. When it looks like he goes out on a walk and will take responsibility, the next time we see him he has a theory that nobody died and they were all interacting with different girls. So in the end he hasn’t changed.

Mrs Birling: Mr Birling’s wife (obviously). She is as old fashioned as her husband, but she is one of the runners of a charity to help women in need. When Eva came to her with a pregnancy under a new name, the younger woman claimed to be a Mrs Birlin. The real Mrs Birling was immediately biased and turned her away knowing her position. Not only that, but she reached out to other charities just so Eva couldn’t get any help at all. When learning of her involvement, she immediately blames the rest of the cast, and mainly Eva and the father of the pregnancy. But it immediately turns on her.

Eric Birling: a young man who works at his father’s factory (in a higher up position). His relationship with his father isn’t the best, and he drinks a lot and even objects to Mr Birling’s views multiple times throughout the play. One night, he met Eva when he was drunk, and says he didn’t know what happened but he felt he did something he wasn’t proud of (this scene implies many things, but points strongly towards him SAing her). While they met a second time, Eva quickly found out she was pregnant. At the time pregnancy outside marriage was looked down upon, especially towards women. Eric tried to do the right thing, stealing money from his father’s office to support Eva, and even offering to marry her. She denied, recognising that he wasn’t yet mature enough to take on something so intense. When he learns of what he has done, he is angered by how his mother turned Eva and her pregnancy away, and he is angry at himself for not knowing what to do. Like Sheila, he takes responsibility and recognises society’s ways are flawed.

So the timeline for these events in Eva’s life are:

Fired by Mr Birling -> fired from her last job by Sheila -> met Gerald and got her heart broken -> met Eric and ended up pregnant -> went to Mrs Birling’s charity for women and got turned away. Then she ended her own life.

Now back to the red.

I want every character to have a form of red on them. While my research says 1912 fashion leaned more towards colours like salmon, greys, beige and blues, red is associated with evil and intense things, like blood and the devil, and the unusual colour against the more softer clothing would stand out to the audience. I’m looking at blood specifically because of Eva Smith’s suicide and how the cast all link into it.

Mr Birling could perhaps wear a red vest, Mrs Birling could wear a red accessory like a necklace or earrings. I want Sheila to have her engagement ring specifically to be red (more on that later). I’m thinking maybe Gerald has a red handkerchief sticking out of his pocket. Perhaps Eric has a red tie on, or even a red vest like his father. I want Sheila, Gerald and Eric in particular to have something easily removable. This is all to represent how they have Eva Smith/Daisy Renton’s blood on their hands, and how they are at guilt and to blame.

Priestley (the one who wrote the play) was a socialist, his experiences of living in the 1910’s and throughout the war into the 1940’s horrifying him of how everyone was pushed down by society’s way of living and the blatant sexism and classism. After WW2, Priestly knew he had a 1945 audience he could influence. He knew that after the war left everyone scared and wondering how to move on, he could communicate that everyone needs to abandon their old mindset.

He translates this through Mr and Mrs Birling, and their children/future son in law, Eric, Sheila, and Gerald. Why does this link to my choice of making them wear red? I mentioned I want the younger, and easier to influence generation to have their dashes of red to be easily removable to represent the change in mindset the younger generations of the 1940s were taking on after the war.

When Sheila gives Gerald their engagement ring back, and claims they’re not the innocents they thought they were, she displays maturity. She isn’t guiltless, but she is removing her red, Eva’s blood, and accepting she needs to take responsibility.

When Eric’s actor leaves the stage to take on a more disheveled appearance and show how rough the character feels, I want him to also remove his own red vest, showing that while he at first he meant to take responsibility for his actions with Eva and didn’t know how, he now knows he has to own up to it openly. He also takes off his dose of Eva’s blood as he takes the first step to redeem himself.

When Gerald leaves after his monologue due to how distressed he is, I want him to remove the red handkerchief to wipe at his face. Maybe sweat or tears. I want the audience to think that when he returns, the red will be gone and he will take responsibility like his monologue led him up to. But when he bursts in at the end of the play to proclaim his theory that it all doesn’t matter, and they haven’t driven a girl to end herself and that makes their past actions okay, the red is still there. Maybe tightly gripped in his hand to show that he is still holding onto the belief he shouldn’t be held accountable. He cheated on Sheila, he broke the heart of two women. But he still tries to give Sheila her bloody engagement ring back, to tell her that her actions also don’t matter. The younger generation is slowly changing their ideals, but there is still a lot to do.

Mr and Mrs Birling insist their innocence to it all throughout the entire play. They are still holding onto their more corrupted views, and refuse to change a single thing, so they don’t take any of their red aspects off.

That concludes my choice in costume design. Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope you enjoyed my rambling about potential tiny details :)

#an inspector calls #an inspector calls spoilers #tw: death mention #tw: death #tw: suidice #cw sui mention #cw death mention #theatre #arthur birling #sible birling #sheila birling #eric birling #gerald croft #eva smith

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celestialflights · 1 year

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#these are token from my old mmni posts so it's just the earlier episodes i'm afraid #i might make a part two to this once i've watched more of them!#mischief movie night in #mischief theatre #mischief comedy #death mention tw

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queen-paladin · 8 months

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With Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, inside of me are two wolves.

The First wolf: wow, what a chilling and heavy and nuanced piece about the extremities of redemption and empathy and spirituality regarding capital punishment that when done right presents it neutrally and showing Sister Helen Prejean as a woman of deep humanity in a difficult position and plus with the Met Opera’s production we get to see Queen Joyce Di Donato shine again.

The Other Wolf:

#met opera #opera #Jake Huggie #it’s both it can be both #I won’t see the livestream bc the opening scene alone would be too triggering for me #not paying 26 dollars to have a panic attack at the movie theatre #dead man walking #joyce didonato #Jake Heggie #classical music #dead man walking opera #opera tumblr #tw: death penalty #tw: capital punishment mention

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promptpark · 1 year

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Chaotic Dialogue Prompts™

// courtesy of my friends and castmates.

"My mom called me a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle the other day for learning to use a bow staff" / "I thought you were going to say because you're transitioning" / "How does Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle translate to being trans?" / "I don't know, like, mutants?"

"Is Alvin and the Chipmunks a christmas movie? Cause like, in the movie, it's Christmastime?"

"I'm on the other end of campus, white boy, I'll get there when I get there."

"It's all fun and games until someone gets their head stepped on. Then it's just fun."

"And here we see (name) in his natural habitat: digging a deeper hole for himself."

"Wait, why am I taking purple advice from someone who can't see purple?"

"This is a disabled parking spot." / "I have a car full of mentally disabled people." / "Well if I let my intrusive thoughts win you'd have a car full of dead people."

"He said, 'I don't know you, I'm a robot', then punched me in the nose." / "Well it was kinda funny. Live laugh love, (name)!"

"Welp, time to wing it!" / "(name), get your script back out of the trash." / "I have no idea what you're talking about, nobody ever let me look at a script." / "(name), where's your script?" / "I'm illiterate."

"(name) is like this Theater's Jesus." / "I accept this." / "Babe, we're gonna crucify you!" / "Okay..."

"Don't break your feet." / "Don't tell me what to do."

"Here's my complaint about the second Top Gun movie..."

"Well there's a difference there, because (name) isn't attracted to birds." / "Well, I wouldn't say that."

"You want to watch (name) in the bath??" / "Wouldn't be the first time."

"Well typically (name) with a gun isn't central to the plot of my dreams, he's just sort of there."

"(name) proceeded to fall on her ass on accident. (name) then turned, and it stared at me like I was crazy." / "Are you... Narrating the rehearsal?" / "Shhh... Practice your lines..."

"I'm like this because I'm autistic, same with (name) and (name)." / "I'm autistic too. Are all five of us autistic?" / "We're getting me tested!"

"(name)! I'm gonna crucify you if you don't buy a raffle ticket." / "Okay." / "Cool, now he's not going to 'crucify' you." / "Aw, why not?"

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frogs-smoking-cigarettes · 8 months

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Rip Eponine you would have loved pro ana tumblr

#eponine #le miserables #les mis #les miserables #musical theatre #victor hugo #les amis #I knowww she would have a tramua core blog #she they type to do daily body checks #tw eating disorder mention #tw ana meme #tw anorexia mention

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its-shakespeare-baby · 2 years

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Me: *Reading Twelfth Night*

Me: Haha, Sir Toby Belch isn’t a great person, but he’s very funny!

Olivia: “What’s a drunken man like, Fool?”

Feste: “Like a drowned man, a fool, and a mad man. One draught above heat makes him a fool, the second mads him, and a third drowns him.”

Me: ......SO LETS UNPACK THAT-

I researched so much stuff for an hour, ya’ll, and I found something interesting that I want to explore a little bit.

So, this is one of my favorite moments in Twelfth Night, as well as the part that actually includes Sir Toby. It can be really fun for the actor playing Sir Toby, and my director had Feste, Olivia, and Toby do some really interesting staging. For example, when Toby greets Feste, he starts to collapse, and as Feste says “Good Sir Toby,” she (in my trope’s production, Feste uses she/her pronouns) catches him and practically carries him over to a chair, glancing at Olivia in a way that’s a mix of concerned and panicked, because Toby is clearly not okay.

When Toby says “give me faith, say I. Well, it’s all one,” he begins to awkwardly wander offstage, mumbling absolute nonsense to himself. Feste and Olivia quietly watch him, with Olivia looking both tired and slightly resigned. That part of the scene started out kinda funny, but soon grows sad. It’s funny to the audience, but for the characters, it is heartbreaking.

This made me think a bit more about Sir Toby’s alcoholism. Olivia says that she thinks Sir Toby is basically at end stage alcoholism. And while Feste assures her that he is not there yet, it is still implied that he is getting close, or that things are looking really bad.

I already knew that alcoholism can cause personality changes, so I decided it would be interesting to look into that and see potential ways Toby’s issues may be manifesting. And oh boy, did I go down a rabbit hole.

So, I began research the mental effects of alcoholism and how it can affect one’s personality, and found some slightly surprising stuff that reveals some explanations for some of Toby’s behaviors and actions.

First important thing to note: severe alcoholism and drinking daily can cause long-term or even permanent brain damage. This can lead to other issues that I’ll touch on.

So, lets review some of Toby’s more obvious behaviors that line up with alcohol use. One is his cheerful, fun-loving side. He is often a cheerful drunk who just wants to party and enjoy life. This is the least sinister of the personality effects.

But there is also so mood swings. The scene I talked about earlier is a good example of this. Also, multiple times throughout him trying to exorcise Malvolio, he rapidly switches between gentle to extreme.

He can also be weirdly aggressive at times. I’ll have to re-look through the play again, but I do know that that is a thing he does on occasion.

But the ones I was thinking about the most that pulled me down the rabbit hole further after a bit of thinking were the ones not just caused by drinking, but by the brain damage that comes with too much drinking.

On a couple of articles I’ve seen on alcoholism, one quickly mentioned long term result was “antisocial tendences.” I decided to look into this a little more, and started researching certain symptoms of ASPD. And Sir Toby fit into a weird number of symptoms. He can be very charismatic when he wants to be. He often uses/manipulates others for his own gain. He has very little regard for other’s feelings, or at least low levels of empathy, based on how he treats both Sir Andrew and Malvolio. And he seems to lack guilt over most of his actions.

Now I’m not saying he has ASPD, as his relationships with Maria, Olivia, and Feste say otherwise (yes, he’s not the most considerate towards Olivia. But it seems that he still cares about her and is trying to help a little bit). What I am saying is that the effects of AUD (alcohol-use disorder) may have given him “antisocial tendencies” and contributed to these parts of his personality. Heck, apparently drinking can sometimes lead to lowered empathy.

Sir Toby also beings to make more weird/irrational decisions. This is a bit more of a gradual, overtime thing, but there are a couple moments where you might ask yourself: “Sir Toby Belch, what are you doing and why?”

When he suggests that they tie Malvolio up and imprison him, the others are confused at first, because even though a few go along with it, it is still a weird idea to think up. There were a few other moments (I can’t remember exactly) that made me wonder what was going through his head, or when he simply does whatever because he wants to. He being to act a little...off.

One thing I found out that isn’t exactly shown in the script, but would be interesting to see, is that alcoholism can lead to memory issues and confusion/spaciness. There could be a few more moments where he’s just...out of it. He spaces out, takes a sec to snap out of it, and continues on like nothing happened. This is just something I’d find neat.

~~~

Of course, not all folks with AUD are like Toby (nor is everyone with ASPD or antisocial tendencies). I’m not trying to villainize anyone, as folks with addictions tend to be villainized a lot, and that must suck. In fact, I think it makes Toby a bit more of a sympathetic character.

There is also a chance that not all of Toby’s actions can be explained away by just “he has an alcohol addiction.” He should be held accountable for at least some of his actions, and said actions shouldn’t be brushed aside.

But I do think they had an influence, and that his AUD may have had long-term damage that has caused him to be the way he is. It’s actually really sad to think about.

Because of all this, I’ve realized that, while I love depictions of Toby that present him as secretly just a plain old jerk who’s good at hiding it, I actually like depictions of him in which he is portrayed as having AUD induced mental health issues. While I need to reread more of the play (as the most recent version I’ve read has been shorten), the scenes I’ve read through show some behaviors of Toby’s line up quite well with certain long-term effects that severe AUD can have on a person.

It adds a certain layer of depth to him, especially if you show it gradually getting worse and worse, and he goes from funny to slightly disturbing. As the play goes on, he gets drunk more and more frequently, and his behavior/mannerisms become increasingly erratic.

It could be implied that he used to be a much more toned down person, maybe even a relatively kind one, but as the years went by and his addiction got worse, he became nearly unrecogniseable, developing a new personality that would manipulate, torment, and act out.

Over the course of the play, we watch the fool become a mad man until he drowns.

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