Practioners Project
Donmar and play The York Realist
When directing and designing the setting and world of the play on the theatre stage there are many variable I will be considering. I would have to consider which kind of theatre I want my play to be take place in as all theatres have different aesthetics to one another, for example there are proscenium stages where the whole audience see the play from a profile perspective and there are also black box theatres where there are now various perspectives the play can be visually viewed from and this can effect the way that I will make characters interact with the audience and their surroundings. My personal pick would be a thrust theatre as there can be three different perspectives the play can be viewed from and I believe the York Realist as it has so many entrances and exits from different sides of the stage would best suit this option. I would design the space so that the dining room is taking up most the theatre space with doors down stage and the kitchen also downstage yet still slightly in the view of the audience. This suits the descriptions we have been given of the space of the play.
[Thrust Theatre Image]
In terms of lighting, I would like for there to be lights shining on the stage from all sides of the auditorium, above the audience. I have learnt over my time in college that it is quite important for lights to shine on the stage equally from different sides to reduce shadow which can make a production look much worse, and that lighting is one of the most key aspects in theatre. When a scene ends the lights would slowly dim and some background music would play, I would prefer for the song to be related to time as when scenes go from one to another time moves fowards a few months and that would help to represent the movement of time.
For props it would be nessesary for there to be a dining table center stage or a little to the left of the stage, for the fireplace to be at the back next to the kitch and for there to be plates, kettle and tea cups in the kitchen ready to be used by the characters along with a spare pair of clothes for when the scenes changed and months have gone by, it would make sense for characters to have easy access backstage to a change of clothes, also a towel for when George is getting changed. In terms of costumes, if we are looking at the era (mid 1900's) that the play is set in, it would make sense for men to be wearing jeans and women to be wearing long dresses going down to the knees or jeans. I wouldn't want to change the style of the play and direct characters to wear more modern clothes, for example Jack to wear tracksuits as this would contadict the message of the play which is how gay people struggled a lot back in the mid 1900's.
Issues that could come of the way I would like to lay the play out is how will all characters be viewed from the whole audience if I want it done on a thrust stage (like the example from the image above) and it would be to make the tables angled so that they are square facing the audience in the center but so that it is at a 45 degree angle thus 2/3 of the audience can have a good view of them, to also ensure the other 1/3 can also view the actors I would be sure to make some of the chairs face toward them so the whole audience can then equally enjoy the scene. Actors will be instructed to speak louder when moving toward one side of the stage so that the audience on the other side can hear them.
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