Question

Read the following scene from Trifles. COUNTY ATTORNEY (preoccupied). Is there a cat? (Mrs. Hale glances in a quick covert way at Mrs. Peters.) MRS. PETERS. Well, not now. They’re superstitious, you know. They leave. COUNTY ATTORNEY (to Sheriff Peters, continuing an interrupted conversation.) No sign at all of anyone having come from the outside. Their own rope. Now let’s go up again and go over it piece by piece. (They start upstairs.) It would have to have been someone who knew just the— (Mrs. Peters sits down. The two women sit there not looking at one another, but as if peering into something and at the same time holding back. When they talk now, it is the manner of feeling their way over strange ground, as if afraid of what they are saying, but as if they cannot help saying it.) How would an audio recording most likely convey the characters’ actions during this scene?

Answer 1

It would give the tone of their voice when speaking

Answer 2

Voice-overs are often used to make the effect that an omniscient narrator is telling the story. In this case, an audio recording would most likely convey the characters actions during this scene by adding elements such as building of tension, creation of a particular atmosphere of the scene, and more. This can give more relevance to every action that takes place while the characters are not speaking.