First impressions of Wounds to the Face

The stimulus I was given for my devising piece was 'Wounds To The Face' by playwright Howard Barker. After a first readthrough of the extract, the first thing I noticed is that the stimulus I was given was rather dark and harsh in some moments. Another thing I noticed straight away was that there were multiple cases of certain lines written in capital letters, I thought that this could have been done to change the volume and tone for when the actor is performing it or it could show desperation, fear or even weakness in these characters, also it gives a non-naturalistic aspect to the piece. 

Another thing I noticed was that all of the characters are nameless (mother, lover, prisoner etc...) which was unusual, this could possibly have been done so the characters are seen as a blank canvas that can be further developed. A common theme throughout this text was the face, age, and appearance, although these are shown in a very negative light and reflects how important all of themes are within society and how it affects people. There were a few monologues in the stimulus which could possibly be interpreted as being non-naturalistic. There were no clear links between all of the scenes apart from the three themes mentioned earlier which all ran throughout. 

There were uses of a lot of pauses in the stage direction, this is usually done to create tension and also to make the audience really think about what they're watching, which is something Howard Barkers aims towards when creating a piece of work. The dialogue seems to be indirect, especially in the scenes including monologues, which gives an uncertain feel to it and makes the audience feel unsettled or uncomfortable, another one of Barkers aims in his work. There was use of a prop mirror in some of the scenes which links to the theme of faces and how you see yourself through your eyes, not anyone else's. The stimulus as a whole seems rather ambiguous and occasionally doesn't make much sense to an audience.