We used specific genres and forms in order to achieve specific intended effects to the audience. The language we used in the play was colloquial so that the audience could easily relate to the characters and simply understand the conversations and interaction between the characters.
We kept the staging minimal and simple so that the audience’s attention was focused on the actors and what they were saying. When devising our piece and discussing it as a group we were constantly aware of what the audience would think and always considered the ideas from their position. Everything in our performance was planned and considered for the effect it would have on the audience. However we did bear in mind that people view things differently. Everyone comes from different backgrounds and have different expectations and cultural reference points which affect the way we process and understand ideas, concepts and symbols.
The set was simple; our sole reason for doing this was to keep up the pace of the play, by minimising blackouts and what goes on within them. A few items were brought on to symbolise different settings and characters. The headbands we wore for the women was a key element in allowing the audience to see that it was the same two women even thought it was played by four people. Props were also left to the minimum; we used some distinguishing objects like briefcase or pram to differentiate between the different characters that we played.
Again the lighting was simple and minimal so that the audience could focus on the characters and the message we were portraying. Subtle changes in the lighting depicted different moods during the scenes and also clearly illustrated the separate scenes. The lighting helped us convey emotions to the audience and it also worked well with the staging. We made sure the spotlight was on the characters so that the audience’s attention didn’t wander to other parts of the stage.
Sound was an important factor within our production, I personally believed that it would have been more effective to use more music throughout the play, this would help to create the atmosphere we intended to produce. The music we used for the mask dance I felt worked really well with setting the mood for the opening of the play and left an impact on the audience. In rehearsals we focused on trying to create the specifics effects and atmospheres to achieve the intended effects. When going through the play we often selected parts that we felt weren’t working the way we had hoped. A particular is the monologue of Marcus’s wife; we felt that the emotion wasn’t strong enough so we decided to add music to it. Once we had chosen the music we practise with it and felt that not only did it give confidence to the actress but it also dramatically enhance to mood that we wanted to communicate to the audience. By being open to new ideas and practising with various songs we felt we had really improved this scene.
I felt that certain things had to be emphasized in order to achieve the intended effects. We therefore made sure the masks were brought in as much as possible so the idea constantly played in their minds. We wanted the audience to understand completely the meaning that we were underlining. We wanted them to be recognizing how we were representing that people judge others and that people are different or not what they seem behind closed doors. As this was quite a serious message and theme, we didn’t want the mood to be continuously gloomy during the entire performance so consequently we portrayed this message in several different ways with different characters. Some were represented in a light hearted way (Herbert – park cleaner), some more serious (Pregnant girl), and some comic (‘famous’ girl). Therefore with a mixture of personalities and background stories and a broad range of characters, we felt the audience would be more likely to be able to relate to the characters and enjoy the performance. By having contrasting moods and characters this enabled us to test our skills by quickly adapting and working on the different scenarios.
Our two bench women characters were very important parts in our play. It is with them that the play almost runs along and it is with them where the moment of realisation for the audience is. We therefore needed to make this part extremely clear to the audience in order to achieve the intended effect. The music for their entrance was also used as a way to break tension between the monologues and to keep the play upbeat and less dismal.
The moment of realisation was evidently an extremely important part of our play so therefore we wanted to ensure that it was clear to the audience in order to achieve the intended effect. We did this by having them instantly shifting their accents from totally posh to cockney. This obvious distinction would therefore shock the audience and also heighten their attention in order to make them to want to find out why if they haven’t already understood the message we proposed.
