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Staging

Key Concepts:

• The job of the director and the scenic designer.

• Staging in a proscenium

• Staging in a thrust

• Staging in in-the-round

• Staging in an installation.

• Basic stage diagramming

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Staging

How a production fits into a space.

This is important for directors and set designers to consider.

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director

• The director interprets the script.

• Works with actors to decide how they will perform.

• Works with designers to create a unified sense of style in the production.

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scenic designer

• Creates the set. Works with the director and interprets the script—especially the setting description.

• Decides what kind of architecture will be on stage. (walls, ceiling, floor, arches, portals to the netherworld, staircases, flying wooden clouds, windows)

• Decides how the architecture will be painted and decorated

• Decides what set pieces (couches, tables, chairs, carpets, cars, mountains of severed limbs) will be on stage.

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a production • All aspects of a theatrical performance.

Including actors, costumes, makeup, lighting, sets (flats and scenery),

set props (couches, tables, chairs, curtains—any part of the set that can be moved)

and hand props (umbrellas, hand mirrors, documents, watches, lighters, laptops—anything that can be carried by

actors).

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a space

• Any place where performance happens.

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Styles of staging

• Proscenium

• Thrust

• In the round

• Installation

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Proscenium

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Proscenium

• The most common style of staging.

• Traditionally the playing space is hidden by a curtain.

• The farthest downstage plane is where the imaginary 4th wall is. – 4th wall: The opening into the world of the play. If you imagine playing

space as a room with 4 walls, 3 of them are visible, but one is invisible, allowing the audience to witness the action of the play.

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Proscenium staging

• Usually there is an arch over the area of the 4th wall. This is called the proscenium arch.

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Proscenium staging

• What does proscenium staging require of the actors? – Actors must “quarter out” or “cheat out.”

Meaning they must always face the audience at least a little bit.

– Actors must remember not to “mask” each other. This means simply standing in a place that hides another actor from the view of the audience.

– Actors must also remember to speak lines and do stage business toward the audience.

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Thrust

• Often contains all the elements of proscenium staging.

• Utilizes a stage space that protrudes and is surrounded by the audience on 3 sides.

• Some times called “three quarters round”

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Thrust

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Thrust

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Thrust staging

• What does thrust staging require of the actors? – On the proscenium portion actors must “quarter out”

or “cheat out.” – If playing on the thrust, actors must remember to turn

toward various parts of the audience during the course of a scene.

– In vocal terms, the actor must project more when on the thrust, as there is little acoustic help from the architecture of the auditorium.

– http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/willgompertz/2010/11/stratfords_thrusting_new_stage.html

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In the round staging

• The playing space is surrounded on all sides by the audience.

• Sometimes called “arena” staging.

• Entrances often consist of aisles through the audience.

• Used to give the audience a sense of intimacy/close connection with the production.

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In the round staging

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In the round staging

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Installation/Found Space • Virtually any configuration is possible and often

changes during the course of a performance. • Audience is often quite close to performers, even

making physical contact and being directly addressed by characters.

• Common installation sites are parks, art galleries, and warehouses.

• Often the audience will follow the performers around the space, standing for most of the performance.

• If a theatre piece entirely transforms the interior of a theatre space, this is also called installation.

• Story structure is often non-linear and/or episodic.

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Installations

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Installations

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Installations

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Installation/Found Space • What does performing in a found space

require from the actor?

• Complete focus and commitment to character. Dedication to the task at hand. Because performances are done inches away from audience members.

• Ability to improvise, as the irregularities of the space alter the nature of each performance.

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Installation/Found Space • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkYZ6rbPU2M&list=PL

3B5E8A39835E47CA&feature=plcp&context=C3399b18FDOEgsToPDskIfIWe0dTDZahKsuSwX8P7e http://thelabgallery.com/2011/06/uncovering/ http://boneorchard.org/immediate_present_trailer.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gYBXRwsDjY http://thelabgallery.com/2009/10/corsetless/

• http://thelabgallery.com/2011/10/apology/ http://thelabgallery.com/2010/10/a-piece-about-shopping/

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Black Box Theater • Exactly what it sounds like: a black box.

• Also called an “experimental theater” or “laboratory theater”

• Any configuration is possible, because audience seating is on risers, which are moveable: Thrust, proscenium, in-the-round, installations, transverse staging (audience on two sides)

• They are designed to allow easy shifts between different styles of staging.

Acting in a black box space:

• Black box theaters are very acoustically difficult for actors. There is no acoustic help from the architecture of the space.

• Otherwise, actors must simply follow guidelines based on whatever style of staging has been built in the black box.

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Black box theaters

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Stage Diagramming

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Stage Direction Abbreviations • C: Center

• D:

• DR: Downstage Right

• DRC: Downstage Right Center

• DC: Downstage Center

• DLC:

• DL: Downstage Left

• R: Right

• RC: Right Center

• L: Left

• Left Center:

• U: Upstage

• UR:

• URC: Upstage Right Center

• UC:

• ULC:

• UL: Upstage Left

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Set Diagramming • A door opening into a bathroom far RC

• 2 doors opening into a bedroom far UR

• A small rectangular table DR with 2 chairs R and L of it

• A large round table surrounded by 4 stools RC

• A sofa UC

• A bookcase far UC, set against the wall

• 2 windows, far UC, L of bookcase

• Padded chair CL with rectangular side table to its R

• Bar table _____________________

• Door________, U of ________________.

• Bookcase far __________________, set against__________

• Couch_____________________, with ____________________________ to its __________.

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Assignment • Tips for diagramming:

– Use a ruler/straight edge and a PENCIL.

– Use 4 squares per meter (roughly 1 square per foot)

• Grading criteria: – Clarity and readability of labelling.

– Cleanliness and clarity of drawing.

– Correct placement of furniture and architecture.

DUE ****** WRITE THIS IN YOUR PLANNER

• Diagram the Drama room. (the drama room is roughly 56 feet long and 24 feet wide)

• Diagram the following set with: – Three walls. In the U back wall there is one large window far L.

– In the L wall are two doors. The D door opens out into the kitchen. The U door opens onto the stage revealing a small closet.

– Against the R wall at CR is a bookcase.

– In the R wall, D of the bookcase is a door opening out into a garden.

– A long rectangular table CR with four chairs along the U side , one chair at the L end of the table, and one chair at the R end.

– A desk DL with a chair at it, facing L and another chair U of the desk facing R.

– A sofa far UR 32

The question of which style of staging to use is usually the first question a designer answers. A director will usually have a strong opinion about this. (If the scenic designer and the director do not agree. The director has the final say.)

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Scenic design

Design decisions are made based on two things:

• The text (the script/screenplay)

• The style and vision of the production. This is dictated by the director of the play/musical/film.

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All decisions about design should be based on the text. 1. What does the text say exactly about what kind of space it is and what

needs to be in the space?

• Read the setting descriptions, stage directions, and the lines of the characters.

• Pick out all the clues and make a LIST.

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2. What does the text say generally about the historical and geographical context?

Research what the place looked like, the condition of the place where the a play happens. What forces of weather may have acted on it? What was happening historically at the time? Level of technology?

A South American market

A production of Taming of the Shrew set in South America

(Is there water damage on the walls? Are the windows broken, barred, smudged? Would the furniture be made from synthetic or natural materials? Is there damage from a war? Are there posters for popular musicians of the time on the walls?)

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Example: Not all government offices are the same.

China

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India

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Yemen

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Bolivia

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USA (Texas)

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Liberia

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Russia

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France

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Photos from Bureaucratics by photographer Jan Brenning

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3. What is the mood and tone of the text? When does the mood or tone change?

How can you help represent these with color, form, and

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In other words, how do you want the audience to feel? How does this design make you feel?

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How does this make you feel?

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How does this make you feel?

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How does this make you feel?

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All decisions about design should also be based on the style and vision of the production. 1. This is determined by the director, who usually has final authority on all

design decisions. How has the director decided to interpret the text?

Designers must meet with the director and other designers to create the stylistic world of the play.

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Lighting designers need to know what the set will look like before they can create their design.

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All decisions about design should also be based on the style and vision of the production. 2. Whatever the style and vision is, the scenic designer (like other designers) must find ways to create metaphors on stage.

What is a metaphor? In design, it is a way of physically

representing

an abstract concept.

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What could be the abstract concept(s) represented in this design?

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What could be the abstract concept(s) represented in this design?

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It is important to remember that it is not necessary to represent every single detail of the setting where a play happens.

• Depends on the style of the production.

• The style of production in which as much realistic recreation of the actual place where the action happens is called naturalism.

• But in the majority of cases, the designer should strategically choose which aspects of the setting to create.

A courtroom scene from an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist. What scenic details inform the audience that they are in a courtroom?

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A style of design: Naturalism

• Design which re-creates the environment of the play’s setting as it actually would appear in real life or in nature.

• This is similar to “realism”, but is even more focused on re-creating details. (The two terms are often used interchangeably.)

• The design tells the story by answering the question, “What would this place really look like?”

This is a naturalistic home interior. There is a great detail of attention to detail.

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Naturalism

This is a fairly naturalistic setting for a play called Buried Child. Another aspect of naturalism is that the set pieces and furniture may be “distressed.” This means made to look used, broken, or dirty—as is appropriate for the play.

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Naturalism

This is a stage model for a different production of Buried Child. Would you say this is a very naturalistic design concept? Why or why not?

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Naturalism

These are two different productions of a musical called Porgy and Bess, which is set in the 1930’s. Which would you say is the more naturalistic of the two?

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A style of design: Expressionism

• Design which heightens and exaggerates the mood of the scene and externalizes the interior emotions of the characters.

• This is very different from naturalism. Expressionism is not concerned at all with what the environment of the play would really look like.

• Expressionism expresses as loudly as possible.

• Emphasizes bright colors and intense contrast. This is a naturalistic home interior. There is a great detail

of attention to detail.

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Expressionism

This is a set from a 1920 film by the famous Fritz Lang. What do you think he is trying to express about these characters?

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Expressionism

This is from a musical called The Boy Friend. What do you think the designer is trying to express about the inner lives of these characters?

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Expressionism

This is from an adaptation of Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. What do you think the designer is trying to express about the inner lives of these characters?

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A production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar

Also it is possible to use anachronism strategically in order to bring the audience into the world of the play.

Anachronism: The use of

elements that are not technically

correct for the time period in

which a work is set in order to

create a specific artistic effect.

A production of the ancient Greek tragedy Antigone by Sophocles.

(Not appropriate if the vision of the play is a naturalistic one.)

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The demi-god musician Orpheus from Greek mythology—known for playing a lyre (an ancient stringed instrument), seen here with electric guitar.

Examples of anachronism in

costume and prop design:

From Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream

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