This is for all VCE English, EAL teachers at school aspiring to empower your students to master the film ‘Rear Window’ beyond what is available on the internet.
About The Women of Rear Window: A Dramatisation
The motivation behind this piece of devised theatre was to get into the corners of a film that presents new perspectives upon every viewing.
In VCE / EAL English, the difficulty is to see beyond the apparent, and to interpret with greater depth, the vision and conflicts presented.
In other words, you may have to answer a question such as the one below on your VCE English / EAL exam:
‘The relationship between Jeff and Lisa is the real focus of the film. To what extent do you agree?’
In great art, there are no minor participants; merely a different focus attributed to each participant. The obvious, clearly, must be challenged. A largely non-verbal character has as much life and relevance as any protagonist. VCAA certainly thinks so…
Perhaps the question of focus itself is the real focus of the film.
This piece of devised theatre explores five characters:
- The Artist
- Miss Lonely-hearts
- Lisa Fremont
- Stella
- Miss Torso
The aim of this performance is to give life to the ‘out of focus’ and examine the key issues of:
- Gender and Society
- Power and Disempowerment
- Alienation and Privacy
- Voyeurism and Perspective
- Relationships and Change
- Metaphor and Symbolism
- Strength and Vulnerability
We encourage depth of insight and contrarian thinking; with a direct link to VCE Text Response and Exam questions.
A Note on Devised Theatre:
It is important to recognise that nothing of what you are about to see existed previously. The wonderful challenge that devised theatre presents is in dealing with the true events of fiction and developing credible lives and stories from limited or fixed information. This is not a reproduction of scenes from the film; but is, rather, an informed speculation on characters that extends from the film.
