designforperformance

[designforperformance]

Concept Statement.

Throughout the play, there is constant questioning of the function of theatre, and the commercialisation of art. The character of the Director is used as a vehicle to depict how women’s creative voices have been commodified and exploited by men, as he is constantly turned on by the commercial potential of the Writer’s rage.

The male gaze dominates how we consume culture, bringing forth the hyper sexualisation and oppression of women Hickson speaks to dismantle. She has a responsibility to say the difficult things, and has no fear shouting them loudly.

This is an idea that I wanted to translate into my performance design. There is a stark difference in the perceived sides of ‘Masculine’ to ‘Feminine’ leadership. While men are often described as powerful and assertive, females are emotional and verbal. Constantly feeling unable to express their true opinion over fear of being perceived as stubborn is a large issue faced by woman. The shadows throughout the play are used to reinforce Hickson’s words and illustrate them even further in hopes of forcing people to understand the issues they cover.

During the setup of act two and five, wires are used to clip the props from the ceiling. During this set up and the acts, the women are forced to carefully manoeuvre their way around the stage, hoping not to trip, while the men have clear and obstacle-free paths. This idea links to the Writer’s poignant monologue in the first Act where “The guys that sit in the meeting and get offered the job don’t ever, not for one second do they have to doubt why they’re being given it – they just know it’s because they’re good.” This is juxtaposed by the female perspective who “walk around for the next decade wondering whether their entire career was based on some married guy wanting to get laid.”

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Act Five.

The walls are well lit to create a sense of space and depth. As well as this, a spotlight will illuminate the dining table with a soft edge, not too harsh.

The props begin to float to ceiling as the walls begin to flip.

Over the act, the ceiling lights will dim to so the large wall is the focal point as Picasso’s Guernica fades in over top. 

A spotlight from the ceiling will slowly sharpen to create a dark silhouette of the pegging penis. No men in the scene but the phallic symbol will be the last image the audience sees.

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Act Four.

Hark back to the shadows in the first act. Lighting design is very bland and artificial - creating an uncomfortable and uneasy atmosphere. This is an act full of tension and should be represented through the lighting.

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Act Three.

This scene relies on shadow and quite dark lighting to convey the unusual and dream-like act. It is very adventurous and quite fast-paced so having lots of light/projection to communicate the different ideas/stages of the scene would be effective. The square structure folds up at the end of the second act after all the other props have been taken off the stage. It doesn't rotate 360, but rather 180 ish, so will allow for lots of dynamic movement. It can be projected on and in to create 

When the women are in the cabin, a similar interior can be projected onto the walls as to give this feeling. 

For the swimming scene, the women is being ‘guided’ by these large hands, which really help to reinforce the dream-like quality of the act. All lights apart from the projector are off, but will change tones of blue and texture as to allude to water. 

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Act Two.

The lighting remains quite harsh as the stage management set up the stage. 

As the actors begin talking, the light becomes warmer and less harsh. 

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Act One.

Epilogue:

As people are walking into the theatre, an actor will be reciting an epilogue . When over, the audience plants and director + writer, female actress +actor give a standing ovation, making the actual audience stand as well. (maybe ask extra people to stand as well on cue). 

From here, the play starts as the writer walks out from the crowd and begins to admire the scene. For majority of this act, a projection of ‘shadows’ will be played behind the writer, which she commonly interacts with it. 

To create the shadow of the Writer, there will be a front light from the ground which will project her shadow amongst the other projections. This will move throughout this scene when her shadow changes size, the light will change angles/directions. 

When the real writer and director come out on stage, the lights become cooler and flood the stage.

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Documentation of live mixed media piece.

[designforperformance]

[designforperformance]

Set design.

Robert le Page’s ‘Needles and Opium’ is a show about Miles Davis, Jean Cocteau and Lepage who collide – each having lost a lover. Set in Paris and New York – the cities alternate within a cube that turns its own world upside down. His set is two sides of a cube. It is projected upon which makes for a really interesting and beautiful looking design. 

This is something I wanted to translate into my own design. Being able to flatten it out and create a full cube would make for an effective and interesting structure. 

This is a spinning wheel from a playground which has a similar structure as to what I was imaging. Being able to suspend and rotate (270 degrees) the design from the ceiling would be ideal. 

How would it move?

Middle pieces are connected with hinges, which are able to lock securely in place. The two end pieces have a locking device which allows them to connect firmly to one another so the structure can become a box.

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Feedback.

- How the actor would interfere with the shadows (have their own). The actor is the smaller shadow on the lower left so when performed in real life would look different and actually be a shadow of the writer. 

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Class discussion.

Set is made of ice and slowly melts 

Idea Feedback:

- resembles the twits, monster house

- trip wire for the stage management

- writer gets frustrated (tips water on herself)

- what is on wire? Just the sofa - moves around comes at people

- strips of fabric to be projected on for water

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Lighting Design.

RUSH MH 10 Beam FXSuper Compact LED beam light with RGBW colour mixing.

LED pixel ring and RUSH Scanner 1 LEDCompact LED moving mirror profile. 

These two lights are moveable which means that spotlights can be moved throughout the space and not be static. They will be controlled through the GrandMA2 lighting system which allows me to make a sequence of lighting that can be played live and not have to worry about setting things up too quickly.

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Artist models to look into.

Nicola Gunn 

Robert le Page - Needles and Opium.

Mona Hatoum - Homebound (2000)

Around the objects, there are wires through which run electrical currents. 

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Draft storyboard images.

Storyboard images address each of the 5 sections in the play at least once and should communicate key moments in the play as they relate to your overall performance design concept.

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Some rough drawings for my storyboard to put into Photoshop.

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Mixed media storyboard draft.

Very simple black and white animation made from photoshop.