Transcript Conceiving the Production

Conceiving the Production
Patterson, STAGE DIRECTING
Step 3
Stage Configurations
Stage Configurations
Thrust Stage
Stage configurations
Alley Stage
Lone Star
Found Stages
Any space originally
intended for some
other use reconfigured
for a play such as…
Storefronts
Warehouses
Gymnasiums
Subway platforms
Boilerhouse Theatre, London
THE PROMPT BOOK
Like a conductor’s score
for a symphony, this is
the director’s guide for a
production. Its heart is a
prepared copy of the
script complete with
notes, analysis,
drawings,
schedules, etc.
What to include in your prompt book
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Playwright’s background Notes on the play’s structure
Character analysis
Action-Personality-Functional traits
Aural notes
Ground plan
Unit breakdown (french scene analysis)
Planning calendar
Rehearsal schedule
Contact sheet
Director’s rehearsal journal
Reviews
Step 3 – Conceiving the Production
THE WORLD OF THE PLAY
This step begins after analysis of text
Imagine the play WHOLE AGAIN
• Return to a global
understanding of the script
as a whole
• Let the pattern of the whole
play emerge
• Enter the world of the play
Imagination
• How is your reading of the play different than
anyone else’s?
• What images come to mind in your reading of
the play?
• What colors, textures, shapes, sounds help to
define the world of the play?
Presentational or representational?
• Is the play highly theatrical? (presentational)
• Is the play highly realistic? (representational)
• Are some parts of the play more theatrical
than others?
• What type of performance space best suits
these needs of the play?
Two views HAMLET
Presentational
Representational
METAPHOR
A term or phrase that compares two
dissimilar things.
– “All the world’s a stage!”
– “It is like the Three Stooges on valium.”
– “It reminded me of the paintings of
Escher.”
The emotional world of the play
• What value system is exhibited by the
characters? Moral? Righteous? Unjust? Fair?
• General mood or feeling. Is it a happy world?
Sad? Cold? Satiric? Ordinary?
• Tempo at which action unfolds. Calm? Jerky?
Fast? Slow?
• Color of this world. Is it dull? Bright? Primary?
Pastel? Drab? Vibrant?
The Visual World
• Atmosphere. What are the materials of this
place? Textures? Smooth? Rough? Satin?
• Abstraction. Is it a literal place? How specific
are the references? How much detail is
needed?
• Focus. Is it dreamlike? Hazy? Sharp? Jagged?
Angular? Soft and curvy?
The aural world
• Literalness of the sounds. How real are the
effects? Are they called for by the text? Are
there important background sounds?
• Lyricality of the voices. Should the dialogue
sound musical and resonant? Flat and harsh?
• Use of music. Is it called for? What does it
sound like? Is it live? Is it underscoring? Does
it interfere with dialogue?
The concept statement
A metaphor for the production
Evocative. Not a literal statement
Provocative. Stir the imagination
Illuminating. Suggest how the play will look
Integrating. How the script will be communicated.
Examples of concept statements
• As You Like It is love’s mythic fair tale of the
American west.
• Streamers is a skeleton of death.
• Proof is a fun-house mirror reflection of the
mind.
• The Glass Menagerie is a look through the
cobwebs of time.
Step 3 – Conceiving the Production
WHAT THE AUDIENCE HEARS
Theatre has also been visual AND aural
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We hear the dialogue of the play
We hear the voices of the actors
Nonvocal sounds suggest time, place, mood
Nonvocal sounds enhance or detract and can
be real or ethereal
• Orchestrating the sounds of the production is
an important part of the director’s job
Characterization of sound
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PITCH – how high or low on a musical scale.
RATE – how slow or fast as it progresses.
DURATION – how long or short it lasts
VOLUME – how soft or loud it is
TIMBRE – what the individual quality of it is,
independent of pitch and volume
VOCAL SOUNDS
• Cast members should provide some vocal
variation
• Ensure that the actor’s voice matches the
playwright’s character
SOUND EFFECTS
• Familiar sounds like bells, phone rings, alarm
clocks, television, etc.
• Actors make some effects like the sound of
walking, toasting drinks, clapping, pounding
fists, sing a song, etc.
• Modulate the sounds of daily life to enhance
the plays reality (the sound of rain outside, for
example)
Other effects
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Environmental sounds
Music
Imaginative sounds
Silence
Volume
Helping the Audience See
THE GROUNDPLAN
Definition
• A birds-eye view of the setting as seen from
above.
• It is the foundation of the director’s visual
production as it provides for movement, the
special requirements of the script and variety
in acting areas.
• Drawn to scale
• Provided through a collaboration between the
director and the designer
Ground plan should be arranged to help the
director generate and motivate action.
Ground plan checklist
• GIVEN CIRCUMSTANCES
– Does the groundplan reflect the production’s
sense of time, place and social class?
– Is there enough room for the action to unfold?
• BALANCE and FOCUS
– Are set pieces arranged effectively?
– Is it balanced? If not, why?
• ADEQUATE ACTING AREAS
Ground plan checklist, continued
• WELL-PLACED ENTRANCES AND EXITS
• ACCOMMODATING THE PLAY’S CLIMACTIC
MOMENTS
• FURNITURE THAT CAN FORCE SEPARATION
• EMPLOYING THE FULL ACTING SPACE
• USING THE STAGE FLOOR
• VISIBILITY
• SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
TESTING THE GROUND PLAN
• Test the blocking of the play on the ground
plan itself using checkers, coins, etc.
• Test the blocking by taping out on the
rehearsal hall floor, adding rehearsal furniture
and exploring the blocking
Playboy of the Western World
This sketch and all of the following images are from the online portfolio of designer
Charles Murdock Lucas for his production at the University of Alabama in 2008.
Groundplan
White model
Model detail
Production photo