Watkins, Jennifer (2012) 'Hidden stitches, silent chords : a play in monologues' and 'Exegesis : a stitching from the inside out (including an audio CD featuring my original song, None Can Name). Research Master thesis, Victoria University.

Abstract

This MA consists of a performance script entitled, Hidden Stitches,Silent Chords (including an audio CD featuring my original song, None Can Name) and an accompanying exegesis, Stitching from the Inside Out. The playscript was written in acknowledgement of my grandmothers and is inspired by my only tangible connection with them, their needlework. Hidden Stitches, Silent Chords is aimed at addressing, in some measure, the silences around their lives and their omissions from familial, historical documentation. Although the playscript could be adapted to suit performance by an ensemble cast, its design as presented for this assessment, is for one actor playing seven characters across of fifteen monologues. The play explores the small moments in women’s lives from points of view represented by characters of different ages and eras. The piece is devised to accommodate minimal production costs, so that it can be performed anywhere from a kitchen or a church/community hall to a theatre. The song, None Can Name, in this presentation of the work, is played after the final monologue. The exegesis, Stitching from the Inside Out, includes an introduction, which gives an overview of, and background to, the beginnings of the project, and indicates the scope of the subsequent chapters. The two central chapters focus on the development of play’s structure and symbolism. The play’s structure is discussed in the context of its evolution, from a linear concept to one based on the design of a lace doily/web, and how this serviced my aim of creating a cohesive meshing of fifteen monologues across the work. The layering of the play’s imagery, around the cloth, the colour blue and spider mythology is examined in the chapter focusing on symbolism. These are discussed in terms of creating visual and textual dimensions that link the characters of the monologues, and their impact in developing a subtext throughout the piece. The concluding section, considers the combined, crucial elements of craft, the practice of writing, and determination in developing the work towards its completed form in performance.

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