Still Life

A detailed Summary of Still Life

The setting of "Still Life" is in present time, but the focus of the play is on the Viet Nam War era. Three characters address their experience in this time era. Their experience is told in a documentary style. The characters are behind a long table with pictures scattered everywhere, ashtrays, and water glasses. They address the audience instead of a single being when being interviewed. The interviewer does not include the questions being asked in the play, which leaves room for run on confusion when reading the play and would probably be easier to follow while in production. And it is believed that the play is suppose to be as simple as possible.

It is suppose to be as simple as possible because of the given setting. A long table with only a few real props needed, the slide projector and pictures. There aren't any additional props beside the water and the ashtrays. There are no flashback scenes where the entire setting is changed. It is all in story told format. In a way that is good because it leaves room for the audience to judge on who is the real whacked character of all. Because so much attention is needed on the character's response the author does not use a lot of props or any scenery changes. And she ke

The choices of characters are equally well chosen. There is a young couple who has not really had time to think things through as a couple. Then there is an older lady who has supposedly been through it all and is much more educated on life than the younger two. There is so much strife in each of their lives it leaves impressions that they have no time to communicate or have a problem communicating. Mark, 28, has a huge obsession with the war and the past. But most of it is focused on the war. His past is told through his unique collections of pictures with a slide projector, a piece of technology that is used to emphasize the time period being discussed. The audience really does not see or hear of his life before the war except for the fact that his parents sent him, and now they regret it. Cheryl, also 28, can't remember the past too well, yet she focuses only on the future. And Nadine notices her past and attempts to change the present for a better future. To add to the monologues each character has, there is spice added into it. It is suggested that each monologue be produced like a musical jazz rift, with excitement, raise in tone or pitch, and then brought back down to complete the monologue. Even better explained as an improvisation, where the character takes off into their own world.

The water and the ashtrays only give a sense of the interview being combined with all three characters present. And in the script when read the image is given that all three characters are being interviewed all in the same room at the same time. This is total confusion. When reading, one gets caught on one charact

Some common words found in the essay are:
Nam War, Nadine Cheryl, Mark Nadine, Act Scene, Emily Mann, , confusion reading, Viet Nam, viet nam war, nam war era, reading focus, slide projector, war past, act scene, documentary style, nadine cheryl, water ashtrays, focuses character, suppose simple,

Approximate Word count = 1097
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous