The set and stage design is an important aspect for a theatre company to consider when producing a show, and the audience should be taken into consideration throughout this process: “The presence of an audience is central to the definition of theatre” (Freshwater 2009, p.1). The role that the audience holds within theatre has somewhat changed throughout recent decades and with the influence of more contemporary and avant-garde theatre. The bar has been raised, the boundaries have been broken and now the audience have more of a role to play in 21^st century theatre. This change in paradigm can be seen within various aspects of theatre; one aspect that I shall focus on is the staging of a play. Within the work that Hand Me Down creates, being the set and stage designer, I believe that there need not be a strict boundary between the performer’s space and the audience space. In this way, the audience could be acknowledged or even used in some way within a performance. For our first production, Take Me By The Tongue, I have designed our staging in the style of promenade. This type of staging intends to very much involve the audience physically and include them as part of the set: “The proximity of the actors and the constant movement around the space combine to create an unusual and exciting event.” (Mackey and Cooper 2000, p.9). This performance is very fragmented, with various different scenes brought together with the aim to evoke different emotions and present different messages to our audience. Therefore promenade staging felt best suited as it is a fun and fresh way to perform this contemporary piece. In promenade performances, the audience will always “change their focus, move to watch the action or even interact or ‘mingle’ with the cast and action.” (Scottish Arts Council, 2010). Because of this, the genre of theatre we aim to create, along with our current project, works well in a promenade setting, with various different scenes in different areas of the stage giving a fragmented feel to the piece. This type of staging suits the company as well, and might be the staging we decide to use for other productions, depending on the length of future performances.

Helen Freshwater questions, “Do spectators simply watch?” (2009, p.2). It seems that theatre in the 21^st century wants more involvement from their audiences, with audience interaction and acknowledgement becoming more popular amongst contemporary performance and art. Famously controversial contemporary artist Marina Abramovic pushes the audience role to the extreme and involves them within her performances, offering them the opportunity to actually change the outcome of a piece of her performance. Rhythm 0 (1974) and The Artist Is Present (2010) are just two of her performances that really push the relationship she has with her audience members to the limit, literally putting her life in their hands. Hand Me Down Theatre’s work aims to open a space for the audience to interlink with the performers, and in some cases will use eye contact and physical acknowledgement of their presence. However there is still a clear distinction between who the performer is and who the spectator is, and in this way our work is traditional and structured so as not to disrupt the narrative and the flow of a performance: “the relationship with the audience provides the theatre event with its rationale.” (Freshwater 2009, p.2).

There are many factors to research before designing the set and staging of a production. For example, if Hand Me Down were to tour to different venues, and we do carry on creating promenade performances, we would need to know the size of the space within the venues as to know whether, firstly, they are suitable for the set and equipment, and secondly, if the space is possible to be made into this style: “The director and designer establish aims and intentions. They will consider the more immediate concern of limitation and constraint imposed by space and budget.” (Thorne 1999, p.10). Having a small amount of set for Take Me By The Tongue, means that this production would be relatively easy to tour, along with the reasonable amount of props and costume. The role I have taken on in the company works closely with the production team and puts me very much in charge of the aesthetics of the shows we produce. When designing a show, good communication is vital between company members as some ideas may not be possible in terms of our budget and space, and therefore designs will change.

 “A designer’s responsibilities cover all the visual elements of a production, including the acting space, props and lighting. The theatre designer is not entirely concerned with aesthetics for he must also be fully aware of the practicalities of that which he creates.” (Bond 2013, p.14).

Within the production team Andy, the production and stage manager, designs the lighting meaning my preliminary job is set and stage designer and designer of costume and props. Below are some designs from the early stages of the process, along with the lists of all costume and props used in Take Me By The Tongue.

Idea 1= Promenade staging (Auditorium flattened)

Idea 2= The traditional LPAC Auditorium staging

Idea 3= Auditorium flattened, chairs surrounding action

Idea 4= Auditorium flattened, audience in groups

Final design= Promenade staging (Auditorium flattened)

Final Staging Design

Props List

Costume List

Punchdrunk is a very contemporary theatre company that produces “a form of theatre in which roaming audiences experience epic storytelling.” (Punchdrunk, 2014). Their performances take place in different locations, and their audiences are free to walk around the space and watch different sections of performance as they please. In this sense, their work is predominantly known as promenade theatre, and this has made them very successful. They enable their audience to experience what they choose, meaning their audience members may come away with a different experience to others. For example, their most recent production, The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable, takes place across four floors of a building in central London and lasts for three hours. The audience are therefore able to come and go as they wish and view different sections of the performance.

Below are a few photos of the staging for our first performance showing how we turned the LPAC auditorium into the promenade space we wanted for Take Me By The Tongue.

(Images taken by Libby Soper of the Lincoln Performing Arts Centre)

Work Cited:

Bond, Daniel (2013) Stage Management: A Gentle Art, London: Routledge.

Freshwater, Helen (2009) theatre & audience, London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Mackey, Sally and Simon Cooper (2000) Drama and Theatre Studies, London: Stanley Thornes.

Punchdrunk (2014) Punchdrunk Company – About. [online] Available at: http://punchdrunk.com/company/article/about [Accessed 28 April 2014].

Scottish Arts Council (2010) Arts in Scotland – Promenade. [online] Available at: http://www.scottisharts.org.uk/1/artsinscotland/drama/features/archive/themepromenade.aspx [Accessed 27 April 2014].

Thorne, Gary (1999) Stage Design: A Practical Guide, Wiltshire: The Crowood Press Ltd.

Contemporary theatre often involves issues that affect every day modern culture and society as a whole. Theatre companies may present a message to the audience and include current subjects that the audience can relate to, mixing “a real-world issue with a narrative.” (Gardner, 2012), connecting with them on a political, social or emotional level. When referring to the word ‘political’, I understand this holds several meanings, and these meanings change “depending for instance on whether the term is taken to refer to activities of government and other social systems and organisations, or to the study of such activities and systems, or to the processes by which power is distributed – and struggled over – in society more generally.” (Kelleher 2009, p.2). The latter is the approach that our theatre company have taken, with the intention to create theatre that involves issues that we are surrounded by in everyday life and therefore affects the audience we are performing to. Some of these issues may include celebrity and pop culture, drug abuse, feminism and self-image.

This relates closely to the work of Augusto Boal and his Theatre of the Oppressed, which first came to play in the 1960s. Theatre of the Oppressed is a dramatic practise which discusses the “relations between theatre and politics” (Boal 2000, p.1). This practise is still apparent in modern theatre today as it contains social or political issues that are currently concerning the corresponding audience. This can be experimented with and explored through technologies, such as forms of multimedia and also the designing of the set and staging. Theatre of the Oppressed “is considered to present always a vision of the world in transformation and therefore is inevitably political insofar as it shows the means of carrying out that transformation” (Boal 2000, p.1). This type of theatre also places the audience in a different role, one that challenges the traditional spectator’s role with the encouragement for their involvement. With reference to the political aspect to this theatre practise, the audience are given a voice, sometimes literally, unlike traditional styles of theatre, and this is pushed by the subjects involved within a performance.

One scene which evokes a message and has much relevance to our modern culture in particular in our production of Take Me By The Tongue is entitled ‘Golden Ticket’. This scene includes a projection playing a series of short clips of well-known female celebrities. Some of these film clips include interviews, red carpet premiers, music videos, sections of films, stage performances and also a video diary. The celebrity figures that I have decided to incorporate into the short film have all died in similar circumstances; from a drug overdose.

The topic of drug abuse feels very relevant in the 21^st society we now live in, especially with regards to fame and the celebrity lifestyle. The short film will be muted whilst I sing the poem ‘I’ve got a golden ticket’ by Roald Dahl, to a melody I have composed on acoustic guitar. Some of the lyrics read: “I never dreamed that I would climb, over the moon in ecstasy. But nevertheless, it’s there that I’m shortly about to be.” (Dahl, 2010). This scene takes the poem and reinterprets the meaning of the ‘golden ticket’, changing it to the power and oppression that fame can hold; although many young people aspire to become famous, the reality is that the lives celebrities lead aren’t always as perfect as they are made out to be. This scene is simple and subtle, and doesn’t force this message upon the audience, however it does leave the audience to find the message and interpret it in their own way. This short scene aims to evoke thought and opinion within the audience and this is something that, as a company, we aim to achieve in all of our work. The subject of alcohol and drug addiction is contemporary but also, as shown in the video, it has been an ongoing issue over the last few decades, showing the ongoing oppression that comes with fame. This is therefore recognisable to a wide audience age range, which again is important with regards to the company’s manifesto.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7X5BMbwidU

(Images of Libby Soper performing ‘Golden Ticket’ in Take Me By The Tongue. Photos taken by Jozey Wade and Phil Crow)

As a contemporary theatre company, Hand Me Down have work-shopped different ways to perform, experimenting with styles such as physical theatre/dance and through the use of song. Scott McMillin on The Musical As Drama comments: “musical numbers should carry on the action of the play and should be representative of the personalities of the characters who sing them” (2006, p.2). It is made clear in Take Me By The Tongue that we are the performers, as we place ourselves into character in front of our audience, and certain scenes are performed rather than acted. ‘Golden Ticket’ is one of those scenes as the video and song reiterate the emotion needed without having to act. The lyrics are very important however, and the melody that goes with it also has to be the right genre to properly indicate the tone and the meaning of the lyrics and the scene. Including music in performance is a stimulating way of presenting text as well as evoking various emotions: “memories and emotions are stimulated in the audience from which they extrapolate meaning.” (Taylor 2012, p.139).

There are many successful theatre companies that produce political theatre productions in the UK, one of the most famous being Red Ladder. Red Ladder’s manifesto aims “To make high quality theatre which provokes debate about the world in which we live…We seek to redefine and reclaim notions of popular, political and radical in a theatre context” (Red Ladder, 2014). Creating theatre from current affairs or ongoing issues that affect society establishes a wide range of audience. Subjects that concern modern life and are headlining newspapers, or events that have taken place in history that affected society are the issues that will spark opinions and, although some may be controversial, it causes much interest and discussion. Red Ladder’s, Sex & Docks & Rock ‘n’ Roll (2013) is one example of a comedy musical they produced about, “love, change and solidarity, set against the backdrop of the 1960 Liverpool dockworkers’ and seafarers’ strike.” (Red Ladder, 2014). This describes just a few of the issues they involve within their work, aimed to evoke emotions and opinions towards and about the topics they present to their audiences.

Work Cited:

Boal, Augusto (2000) Theatre of the Oppressed, London: Pluto Press.

Dahl, Roald (2010) Poetry By Roald Dahl “I’ve Got a Golden Ticket”. [online] Available from: http://roalddahlpoetry.weebly.com/poetry.html[Accessed 14 March 2014].

Gardner, Lyn (2012) How political theatre changed its tune. [online] Available from: http://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2012/jun/06/political-theatre-changed-its-tune [Accessed 21 April 2014].

Kelleher, Joe (2009) Theatre and Politics, London: Palgrave MacMillan.

McMillin, Scott (2006) The Musical As Drama, Oxfordshire: Princeton University Press.

Red Ladder (2014) Red Ladder Theatre Company: History. [online] Available from: http://www.redladder.co.uk/about/history/ [Accessed 21 April 2014].

Taylor, Millie (2012) Musical Theatre, Realism and Entertainment, Surrey: Ashgate Publishing Limited.