Why Did Christopher Bruce Create Swansong

The following sample essay on Why Did Christopher Bruce Create Swansong. The chair is the only constant prop in the performance, and it is used in many ways. Firstly and most obviously it is used as a chair, in the introduction the victim is sitting on the chair and the interrogators use this to trap him in between them. By the 1st section the interrogators have pulled the victim off the chair, the chair is then used to balance the victim’s weight suggesting that they are keeping the victim from being free.

The chair starts to become used as a shield for the victim- this shows us that the victim is starting to see the chair as some form of protection or safety net for him.

This idea is developed majorly in section 2 of the performance. The victim often reaches for the safety of the chair only to have it pulled away from him, the interrogators use the chair against it pulling it away fro them victim as he goes to sit, and teasing him with it.

The chair is also used in the piece as an emotional shield we know this by section 3 when the victim bends over the chair, one arm reaching forwards past his head, the other behind his back with the hands opening out from clenched fists. This could be a scream or a cry and is the first bird like gesture of the section- showing us that the victim is protecting himself using the chair but also trying to reach freedom with it.

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In the last few sections the chair becomes a negative image the chair is taken away from him, held as a form of bribery, then he is trapped underneath it, left almost corpse like, trapped by the chair and the surroundings.

The chair becomes a burden to the victim in section 5 we know this because he lifts the chair onto his back as though carrying a great weight, he uses the back of the chair as bars of a prison cell, he stands on it to look at the light closer to become closer to freedom then crumples in frustration and the solo ends with his ankles trapped in the bars of the chair. In the piece there is not much use of other props, however there is some.

In section two we see two vital uses of props, one is the red nose that is placed on the victims nose during interrogation this is used to humiliate the victim and an attempt at making him crack under the humiliation. The second is the use of baseball caps used by the interrogators. They wear baseball caps with the rims turned up- this shows the victim (and the audience) that they are playing a game with him- a game they intend on winning. Then in section 6 of swansong the Interrogators emerge holding canes, the canes slowly take on the appearance of weapons and are used to threaten and beat the victim.

The use of lighting within the piece is mainly used to show the freedom the victim is missing out on. It is produced by one lone light in the centre of the stage and is prominent at several points in the performance. It is mainly seen when the victim steps toward it to show his urge, and need to escape. In section 5 on the piece the victim stands on the chair, looking up at the direction of the light clearly longing to follow and find it, He then follows the light which represents freedom but also the uncertainty of what lies ahead for him.

In section 7 the victim is dead, he walks naturally toward the light, he seems happy and content that he is finally free. There are several dance styles used throughout the piece ranging from contemporary to vaudeville. The mixture of these styles creates the confused and almost surreal situation the victim is placed in, and in combining the styles of vaudeville, ballet and contemporary he has opened the piece up to more people, and broadened the target audience. Contemporary style is used to move one movement onto the next, whereas the classical style is a lot stiffer and used more to show the longing of freedom.