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3 Tips to Improve Your Theatre Design Skills

Dylan Malloy — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 16:32:01 +0000

You’re preparing to design your first production! Any form of theatre design – scenic, light, sound, prop, makeup, or costume – requires a close read of the script. Here’s how to study a script so that your design highlights the story happening onstage.

1. Take Note of the Basics

Before you start designing, take time to understand the basic elements of a piece. For example, if you’re doing scenic design, the playwright might indicate there are multiple doors characters walk through. If you’re doing lighting design, the playwright might want a specific-colored light in a certain scene.

The earlier you note these specifications, the less chance there is for surprises halfway through the rehearsal process. Playing catch-up in the final weeks before opening night is stressful and often expensive. Some elements to look for:

Time Period & Setting: Creating a collage or vision board full of pictures from this time/place will give you an idea of the colors and textures of the world you are creating. If the play is a period piece, you may find it helpful to talk to a history teacher about what life was like in that period so you can hear even more perspectives.
Language: The playwright’s language can give you a deeper sense of the story world. Is the language poetic and lyrical, gritty and rough, or somewhere in between? If the play is experimental and less tied to reality, you will have some additional freedom in your design choices, so long as the choices you make are directly related to the story. Ultimately, an experimental comedy will likely not look the same onstage as a realistic tragedy.
Tone: Paying attention to tone is also important so your choices amplify the emotions of the story. A more optimistic, comedic tone can possibly result in brighter lighting colors, more vivid makeup, and wackier sound effects than you would use if designing for a more grounded, realistic play. You want your design choices to make the story come alive, not feel like a distraction.

Once you have a list of the basic elements in the script, you have the foundations of your design plan.

2. Study the Characters

Next, take note of each character and personality traits you associate with them (happy, sneaky, angry, kind, proud, etc.). The designs you create can subtly tie back to the personality traits the playwright explores in the script.

Say you have a character that is enthusiastic and encouraging. This character could wear yellow (a happy color), the lights could become slightly brighter when they enter the room, or they could wear makeup that emphasizes their smile. Each character changes over the course of the show, and your design choices can reflect this change to make it more poignant for the audience. For example, this enthusiastic character might become discouraged over the course of the story and start wearing bleak, bland colors. Whether the play ends hopefully or tragically (or something in between), the design should emphasize the journey of emotions being felt.

Similarly, large-cast shows may divide characters into groups, for example, different families or social classes. Take note of these groups. If these differences are important to the meaning of the story, you can use your design skills to emphasize them. For example, characters in different social classes can wear different colors or carry unique props. No matter what you notice as you read the script, if you ground your design in the characters and the arcs they follow, your design will feel cohesive with the story.

3. Discuss with the Director

Before you get to work and start designing, you’ll want to sit down with the director and share ideas. The director has also been intensively studying the script, and they might have thoughts about certain design elements. In the rehearsal room, part of the director’s job is to guide the actors towards a deeper understanding of the characters, so they’ll be especially attentive to the tone and arc of the story. Bring pictures, sketches, collages, or digital models to the conversation to share your ideas.

During your conversation, there might be some differences of opinion. Be sure to let your director know if you feel certain design choices they want are unachievable, whether it’s due to your budget, the amount of time you have, or your ability/knowledge. Being honest at the start of the process can prevent challenges down the line, and coming up with alternative ideas reminds your director that you’re a flexible team player.

No matter what, you’re now an expert on this script and have a multitude of excellent ideas to make the story world come to life!

The post 3 Tips to Improve Your Theatre Design Skills appeared first on Dramatics Magazine Online.

How to Read a Play

Sarah Garvey — Mon, 27 Mar 2023 18:42:46 +0000

Think you know how to read a play? Well, have you ever been in a conversation — or worse, a classroom discussion — where other people read the same play as you sounded like Einstein and you sounded, well, not like Einstein? Yeah, been there, felt that way. The truth is that the people who sound so smart have developed a way of organizing their response to a play. You can do this, too!

With the right tools, your insights have a stronger foundation and stand out more clearly in the gallery of public opinion. Read on; help is on the way!

How to read a play: DRAMATIC ACTION

What is the overall action of the play? What is the central conflict, what do the characters want, what do they do to get it, and at what cost? When expressed, the dramatic action (e.g., to be happy, to exact revenge, to find freedom) needs to encompass all the characters’ pursuits in order to be useful. (Note: This is another way of saying: “The play is about people who …”)

How to read a play: THEMATIC FOCUS

What might the play mean? It’s useful to consider many meanings before focusing on central and orbiting themes. The theme and dramatic action should interrelate — they are two ways of thinking about the same thing. Dramatic action describes characters in conflict; thematic focus describes the meaning extracted from that action and its results. (Note: This is another way of saying: “This is a play about … [fill in the noun, but don’t use “people”].)

How to read a play: CHARACTER JOURNEY AND RELATIONSHIP

Drama is about characters who change. Sometimes characters are driven by a desire for change, other times change is forced upon them. Either way, an effective way to understand a play is to ask, “How, where, and why are the main characters changed from the beginning to the end of the play?” Onstage, relationship is the best way to measure change, impact, and meaning in a play. If relationships don’t change, does anything happen, has anything been affected?

STRUCTURE

A French scene chart is invaluable in mapping the rhythm and progression of a play. The chart is based on character entrances and exits, and includes the page length of each scene, the names of the characters who inhabit it, a note on the physical location/setting, and a scene title (of your own devising) that summarizes the action. By looking at a French scene chart without knowing the play, it’s possible to understand major scenes and central characters, as well as analyze the sequence and duration of scenes that comprise the overall rhythm of the play.

LANGUAGE

In theatre, language is one of the primary means of conveying vital information about character, through exposition and delivery: social class, region, culture, age, and more. On the page, language is also the exclusive medium, so it’s essential to pay particularly close attention to the power and purpose of verse, images, motifs and colorations of accent, dialect, and mannerisms such as malapropisms.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Take notes when you read a play for the first time: What you do and don’t understand and what makes the greatest impression when the play is new to you are crucial. If you work on the script, you’ll never have those first reading experiences again, but the audience will, every performance.

CHOICES

A play in which characters make no choices isn’t much of a play; therefore, it’s useful to focus on the moment of decision, the choice itself. Find those moments, what leads up to them, and the consequences that follow and you’ll hold your audience’s attention all night. By the way, what isn’t chosen, what doesn’t happen, should be a very present shadow of what is and does. It’s how we understand regret.

STAKES

How much does it matter to the characters if they achieve their goals and attain their objectives? Are we talking a matter of life and death, anticipated happiness or despair? Is someone’s future at stake — marriage to the villain, loss of the family farm, unrequited love, financial ruin? A play without high stakes is like a walk in the park. Nothing wrong with that, but not very exciting either.

MOTIFS

A motif is a recurring element that helps develop and inform a play’s major themes. The motif can be anything that shows up multiple times in a play: an idea, a visual element, a sound. Motifs often evolve in the course of a play, and the changes in ideas, images, and sound can signify important developments in character, action, and circumstance.

Now you have more tools in your kit to help you respond lucidly to the questions posed by a work of dramatic literature. If you work on mastering just a fraction of these, I guarantee you’ll never be abashed in drama class again. What’s more, whether you are a director, actor, or designer, you will be ready to help put a play on its feet and create a dynamic production that offers a surprising and rewarding experience for its audience.

Sarah Garvey is a thespian (forever!) and a member of the Educational Theatre Association staff. This story appeared in the March 2010 print version of Dramatics.

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