Act

MIRROR GAME

Acting in Mirror Game

We can define the characters from the beginning of the play : the way the actors are dressed and the way they act make Bob, Luke, Maggie and Sara very credible.

We really enjoyed the acting and we have written a comment about every actor to give our impression about his/her interpretation :

Livia (Sara) : when we saw you in our theatre, we were very impatient to see you playing Sara and see the way you acted this character. During the performance the scene between Sara and Bob looked a bit like the one we had played a few days ago, it was amazing !

Alice : Your Sara was a deep character, and as the play goes on she became less endearing than the others, Maggie for example, perhaps because in the middle the play is more centered on Maggie and Bob’s relation.

Fanny : I think you played Sara quite as I imagined her, and I really enjoyed it !

Sophie (Maggie) : The way you were dressed suited the character very well and we think you managed to express her feelings and to make the public grow fond of her. Maggie was very funny too !

Alice : I think that Maggie was the one I preferred because she was endearing and sensible.

Thank you very much for the afternoon you spent with us, we learned a lot of things with you !

Luc (Luke) : Your performance was really good. We enjoyed your scary attitude and to answer you, yes the slaps were credible !!! We were very impressed by your athletic skills ! It was awesome to see you running on the stage !!! We’re still laughing…

Dimitri (Bob) : Bob was a funny, endearing character in spite of his attitude with Maggie in the middle of the play. You made us laugh so much, particularly in the sport scene with Luke and in Maggie’s room !

Fanny : I think that Bob was my favourite character in the play, a bit clumsy but very kind. I really loved him !

It’s quite hard to comment each character but we found that you all acted very well and we loved the play, we really enjoyed ourselves, thanks again !

Alice & Fanny,

The work out scene

During the play, we saw two boys during a work out session. One of them is named Luke, he is athletic and very strong. The second, Bob, is weak and he wants to build his muscles. Bob loves Luke’s girlfriend, Sara, but Luke doesn’t know that. In order to draw the attention of Sara, Bob asks Luke to coach him. We really liked the way it was staged especially the moment when they run together and we see Bob who is behind. It was really well played and we laughed a lot. How is it made ? Luke stands still but it seems to us that he runs really fast and Bob loses ground. We think that he can’t follow the pace of his coach. This situation is very funny because Luke doesn’t know that he helps the rival who wants to seduce his girlfriend.

This picture is the poster of the play and it can show us that this moment is important. And it’s also symbolic : Bob will always be at the back and Luke the best. It is as if Sara is at the end of the road and it’s Luke who arrives first and Bob who is behind. We can compare this situation with the famous fable : the hare and the tortoise. The hare is the faster but it’s the tortoise who wins the race. At the end of the play, it’s Bob who has friends and Luke who is alone. So : to be first is not the most important in the life. Muscles don’t bring you friends.

Camille & Clémence

Direction and audience perception
The direction was very original and very easy to understand. In fact, at the beginning we could see four empty chairs and then the spotlights switched off and a bit later the spotlights went on again and we saw each character on a chair. Thanks to this, we could see all the characters move at the same time and it was very pleasant because we could discover each character through their behaviour. The play started slowly. That enabled us to wonder about was going to come next. What we also appreciated was the entrance and the exit of the characters, it was smooth and looked good.

There was also music in the background which was welll adapted and often came back all along the play. When there was a two-character scene, the two others stood in the background, on either side of a microphone and made the voice of parents of those on stage, who played their own characters.

It was also really humorous and we would like to share our feelings about a scene that we particularly enjoyed. That is when Bob is bodybuilding with a lot of difficulty and Luke pushes him all the time to make it harder for him, saying “One more, one more... faster, faster...”. There was not much set but more would have been useless.

It took place in a little theatre that reinforced the intimacy between the actors and the audience. To sum up, it was very well-played and it was enough to give us a great moment.

Paul- Henri & Quentin

The Title of the play

There are different games of mirror in this play :
– the relationship between Luke and Sarah and between Bob and Maggie
– the parents and the children
– the way the characters look at themselves in the mirrors

– At the beginning of the play, we think Bob is rather cool whereas as the play goes on, we see that he is the reflection of Luke’s personality because he walks over Maggie just as Luke walks over Sarah. The difference between these relationships is that Bob doesn’t beat Sarah as Luke does but he is also disdainful to Maggie just as Luke is to Sarah. Indeed, Bob doesn’t care about what Maggie’s feelings are (for example, he ate Maggie’s lunch without asking for her permission), but he is only interested in Sarah.

– All along the play, there are several interventions of the parents. We can see that the parents are like their children and the acts of the parents have an influence on their children. And the relationships between the parents are the same as those between the children (for example, Luke’s father is very violent and becomes angry very quickly just like his son) except at the end, when Sarah breaks with Luke whereas the parents forgive to each other.

– Another game of mirror in this play is when the teenagers look at themselves in a mirror. It makes the audience know more about the personality of each character. For example, at the beginning, Bob is looking at his spots in the mirror and we see that he is not self-confident.

Fabrice & Victor

The characters

All the characters have a difficult family situation.

Sarah’s mother is beaten by her stepfather. Sarah doesn’t understand why she stays with him.

Bob’s parents always fight because of him. His mother always puts him down. And his father tries to help him but he doesn’t want to make his wife angrier than she is.

Maggie’s father is gone so that her mother is depressed. That’s why she doesn’t give enough attention to her daughter.

When he was a child, Luke was beaten by his father. They haven’t got a good relationship.

We can see that parents’ attitude influences their children.

Sarah is mistreated by Luke as her mother is by Joe.

Bob suffers from a lack of self-confidence because of his mother who always puts him down.

Maggie is depressed like her mother. She feels lonely because her father’s gone.

Luke is violent with Sarah just as his father was violent with him.

But at the end, all the characters change and take a different way from their parents’ lives.

Sarah leaves Luke whereas her mother stays with Joe.

Bob is more self-reliant whereas his father is still weak.

Maggie is cheerful and she finds a boyfriend.

When Sarah leaves, Luke understands that he is on the wrong way. He has probably decided to change.

The director represents the parents with a great staging : the characters which are not on stage play the parents when they have to. They are at the back of the stage in the darkness. It’s as if we just see their shadows. They speak in a microphone. It deforms their voices.

We hear it like an echo. When children are talking to their parents, we hear their voices as if they are in a different room. During the big moments of the play, the parents’ voices also resonate in their children’ heads as when Sarah leaves Luke. This staging shows that parents are not real characters of the play but they influence the others.

Elise & Marie A.

Bob

Bob is main character in the play, the centre of the story. Mirror Game tells us about Bob’s life (his family’s relation ship, his love for Sara, his friendly relationship with Maggie…).

He has a complex about his spots because he loves Sara and thinks that he is a looser compared to Luke, Sara’s boyfriend. Luke is very handsome and sporty whereas Bob is not very attractive. He wants to look like Luke, but what he doesn’t know is that Luke is violent with Sara. Luke beats Sara and humilitates her.

Maggie, Bob’s best friend, loves Bob but her love is not returned. Bob is so obsessed with Sara that he doesn’t realise how much Maggie loves him. Without knowing it, Bob behaves with Maggie like Luke with Sara (He belittles her, doesn’t pay attention to her…).

Because Bob tries to look like Luke ; he is loosing his friend Maggie and can not even seduce Sara. Luke sees that Bob is easily-influenced, so he manipulates him and ruins his reputation and his friendship with Maggie. Luke tries to ridicule Bob, to take him away from Sara.

Bob has also family problems : his mother is always putting him down and his father can’t protect him (he is passive). Bob’s mother’s behaviour is not motherly.

Louise F. & Louise P.

The parents

The parents are not really visible, they appear just as shadows. They are present in the play but it is not essential to see them on stage. That’s why they are in the background, and they are the same actors as the ones who play their children.We can see that parents and children do the same things : they quarrel all the same time (Sarah with Luke and Sarah’s mum with Sarah’s stepfather), they have the same love problems. We can interpret that as a mirror game in which the parents are the reflection of the kids.

The voices of the parents seem far away, they are loud, and the actors change their voices when they play the parents. Even if the parents are played by the same actors as the children, they sound like other persons because of the way they play.

Maggie’s father doesn’t appear, he is always absent, that’s why Maggie’s mother is depressed. Sarah’s mother is beaten by her husband as Sarah is by Luke.

We can say that the mirror game between the parents and the kids can explain the title of the play, and the shadows show that parents are the reflection of their children. Or maybe it’s the opposite ?

Juliette & Garance

The evolution of Maggie’s feelings

Maggie is the character who represents best how feelings can make a person suffer.

At the beginning of the play, we could see that Maggie is playing a game. Because she is not able to tell Bob what she feels, she acts as if she was only his friend. She doesn’t come to terms with her love, and it makes her suffer because she is always listening to Bob, the boy she loves, speaking about Sarah and saying how much he loves her. As she is listening to him, she tries to stay calm and to forget her feelings, perhaps also trying to contain her jealousy.

Because as if it was not a big deal, she is acquainted with Sarah. They share a lot of funny moments in the ladies. It makes them change and they become really friends when Sarah tells her secrets to Maggie.

Forgetting her feelings is not so easy with Bob. He is always making hints about them going out. When he starts talking about this, it gives her enough courage to tell the truth … until Bob makes fun about it. It brings her down again.

As the play goes along, Maggie understands that her mother is not here to help her, so she has to solve her problems alone. She concentrates on Sarah’s life and the problems she has with Luke, her boyfriend. It helps her forget her own feelings. She really starts to forget her love for Bob when she hears the rumor about what they may have done in the toilets, a rumor invented by Bob himself. She feels betrayed like never been before.

At the end of the play, Maggie does not feel anything for Bob. They are friends, real friends. She is going out with someone else.

Clarelle

The parents behind the scenes

We thought Mirror Game is based on a parallel between the relation of the parents and the teenagers. So we found the staging with the parents at the back of the stage interesting. Indeed Andrew Wilson’s idea to put a microphone and curtains in the dark behind the teenagers when their parents speak to them was really ingenious. We think the first effect of the microphone was to surprise the audience and make the sounds reverberate all over the theatre. On the other hand, maybe the desired effect was to make as if the parents’ words were in the head of each teenager. We found that so amazing ! This was a little like a special effect and it was well done. Good idea from the director !

Anne & Héléna C.

The parents in the wings

Mirror Game is a play which is now showing in Palaiseau in Paris’ suburb and was originally played in Canada but they’d loved to play in other countries.
In Mirror Game , the actors found an original way to play the roles of the parents.

There are only four characters in this play, two boys and two girls. The boys are Luke and Bob and they play the fathers in turn. The girls are Maggie and Sara and they play the mothers in turn .

When they play the parents, the actors are in the shadow at the back of the stage, we can’t see their faces clearly but we can see their figures. Their voices are remixed in order to make them more scary. The audience feels more impressed and is able to understand the scene better .

Moreover the parents have an important role in their children’s life, and the audience notices that the relatives have an influence on their children. For instance, Luke takes after his father who beats his wife when he beats Sara. Even if we just see their figures, the relatives look impressive and we understand that they are the source of some problems. For example, Bob’s parents don’t believe in him so Bob has no confidence on himself.

It must be difficult for the actors to play many characters, the parents and the teenagers but they succeeded in combining both and it’s awesome !
We think this play must be seen by more parents in order to improve their relationships with their children.

Maybe this way of acting shows people that the parents and the children are linked, so the parents are to be careful with what they do and say.

Marie C & Sarah.

Bob’s evolution

First Bob is a teenager who has got a lot of spots and he loathes them. He is not very sporty ; he is lazy and he is shy especially with girls. His mother brings him down whenever she can, and his father lacks of authority and he’s not supportive with his son. Bob is totally in love with Sarah and has got only one friend, Maggie.

At the beginning of the play, Bob is obsessed by Sarah and doesn’t care at all about Maggie’s life, he believes that she leads a perfect life but it’s not the case. He first meets Sarah in the hall of the high school and considers her as a goddess. But he learns that Sarah is going out with a sporty guy called Luke who has got looks to kill. Bob becomes really jealous of Luke and we can see that as a result, the more jealous he becomes, the more he takes advantage of Maggie.

ln the middIe of the play, Bob learns that Luke beats Sarah and then he starts freaking-out.

To conquer the heart of Sarah, he decides to look like Luke so he starts to work out, but he realizes that he is too weak to have mega-muscles and that he doesn’t have enough will. His priority is to help Sarah. Even if he tries to make efforts, the only things he does are taking advantage of Maggie and getting on her nerves. Finally Maggie stops talking to him and only at this moment does Bob realize the evil he has done, and a bit later he really decides to change, but Maggie keeps silent in front of him.

(Luke becomes more and more violent with Sarah. She’s scared of seeing him and she asks Maggie to lie to him to say that she doesn’t feel very well. She goes out from the bathroom and starts to talk with him. In their discussion, Luke tries to take advantage of Maggie but she hits him in the stomach, and he falls. Maggie tells the story to Sarah, advising her to leave Luke. Finally Sarah does it and she feels better after.]

After this little story, Bob knocks at Maggie’s door, he wants to apologize. With the help of Sarah, Maggie listens to him. He says that he will change and not mistreat her anymore. She forgives him, and stays friends with him.
At the end, Bob confesses, he stays alone but at least he has got now some friends who he can rely on. He changed during the play ; he was an insensitive and a bit stupid boy, now he cares about his friends’ feelings, at least he said it.

France, Nicolas, Rayce

The relationship between Bob and Maggie

The relation between Bob and Maggie is very complicated but the actors play with a lot of talent, and they are very involved in their characters. Bob mistreats Maggie by not caring about her and the actors play this very well. Maggie also is in love with Bob and so she is upset because Bob doesn’t care about her.

They both play very well, they have integrated their characters, and I hope they’ll continue to play. They could have played even better if the scenario was better and the story more complicated. In fact, the story was very basic. Love is a very common subject and we think the play could have been better if there were more subplots.

Finally, this is a good play with good actors, we think how Maggie is dressed doesn’t not corresponding with the subject and it doesn’t make her look like a teenager

Thomas & Gaston

The setting

When we saw the play Mirror Game by Denis Foon adapted by Andrew Wilson. We discovered the setting was made simply with just four chairs and a bench. There were four characters, one chair for each. Their names were : Bob, Sara, Maggie and Luke .

The movements of the actors were simple with just entrances and exits. They used the four chairs to make there own setting and it was really easy for us to understand where they wanted the chairs to be, for example they made bathrooms with two chairs and we perceived that easily. At the start of the play all the actors were on the stage ; Luke was working out, Sara was putting on some make up, Bob was listening to music and Maggie was reading.

Marion & Jérémy