Everyman Staging Everyman Today the Research Proposal

Good Deeds could be played by a child, to indicate the childlike simplicity of the fundamental virtues that support the community.

I would very much like to play up the humor of the piece. Although the play can be interpreted as a serious moral tract, the funny way in which Kindred, Beauty, and other false virtues skillfully wriggle away from the possibility of entering the afterlife with Everyman -- one of them pretends to have a 'cramp in the toe' and is thus be unable to accompany Everyman into the afterlife. Beauty could be a simpering trophy wife, Strength a personal trainer, and Fellowship a fun, attractively dressed guy holding a can of beer. Everyman could try 'texting' his Cousin and Fellowship before they arrived, and one of the characters could pretend to get a call on his cellphone, as an excuse for why he could not go with Everyman.One of the more difficult characters to stage in Everyman is the character of Death. Death is not portrayed as a bad character, merely an inevitable force that shows who are Everyman's true friends. Death should make a very quiet entrance, passing through the crowds of people watching the production, simply dressed in black, and his manner and appearance should be friendly, matter-of-fact and understated. The first conversation he has with Everyman could take place over a cellphone (broadcast to the audience). The Angel and God, in contrast to the other characters, should have a timeless appearance, and be dressed simply in white, neither caricatures, nor part of the general environment of the rest of the play. They rise above the general strife and show Everyman, by their goodness and firmness, the true, eternal values in human existence......