Download The Changeling Education Pack - English Touring Theatre

POST-SHOW QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
• What were your expectations of the play before you saw it?
• How did you feel at the end of the play?
• Which character did you have most empathy for, and why?
• Who is the most powerful character in the play?
• What does Beatrice-Joanna want overall in the play?
• Is Beatrice-Joanna unconsciously attracted to Deflores from the beginning?
• How do Isabella and Alsemero’s characters act as a contrast to Beatrice-Joanna and Deflores in the
play?
• How do the lighting and sound designs enhance the atmosphere of the play?
• How does the set symbolise the world of the play?
• How do the costumes in the play help to depict the characters?
• How has the director linked the main plot in the castle and the sub-plot in the asylum?
• What image from the production has stayed in your mind and why?
CLASS AND STATUS EXERCISES
EXERCISE 1
Referring to Act 1, Scene 2, (see p.30 overleaf in pack), experiment with the status of Alibius and Lollio. Lollio
has inherent higher status through his use of metaphor and out-witing language. However, he has to take
care to maintain a seemingly lower status, so as to keep his job! Use a scale of 1 – 10, with 1 being the
lowest and 10 the highest. Explore the use of physicality and stage positioning (‘blocking’) to show Lollio’s
status as 4 and Alibius’ as 8.
EXERCISE 2
See what happens if you invert the status ranking.
EXERCISE 3
Find examples in the text, where characters use their perceived or presumed higher status through class, to
steer the course of events. Are there times when the same could be said of a characters deliberate use of
their lower status (e.g. Deflores)?
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