However as we learned that the hall was free, we collected together all of our set and arranged how we planned on having it for the performance. We encountered issues but here is how we over came them:
- We were originally going to have Faustus' office on the stage but we felt it was too far away from the audience. We felt that this would make the character very distant from the audience which we don't want; this is Faustus' journey and we want the audience to be interested in every moment.
- When arranging our set, we knew we wanted 4 wooden flats: one on either side of the opposite steel decking and one either side of the aisle. However, when setting up, we learnt we only had two plain black flats and we didn't have enough time to source paint and recolour other flats. Instead we decided that we will make do without the flats in the aisles which means Lorna and James' section in the prologue needs to be redirected to those flats which works very well anyway.
- Originally, there was debate on how many steel decking we'd have on each side as we only had 6 altogether. We started with the idea of 2 for the office and 4 for the other side; this was so Rob and Charlie could perform their fight scene during Wrath up there with no risk of falling as there was plenty of room. But after realising the office was too small and Rob and Charlie not feeling safe on doing that scene on the decking, we decided to dedicate more decking to the office; Rob and Charlie fight sequence was then moved to the floor just in front of it. We then allocated 3 to each side but thought it looked rather odd the way we had to arrange them to be wide and long enough so we decided to have two at the opposite end and split the office in half having two together on each side longways and have the steps in the centre leading up to the stage so that we can make use of the height.
Below is how we finally had our set:
We then began running Act Two. Below are our issues, changes and newly devised movement sections which we came across in this runthrough:
- When I mention the scroll, I used to click my fingers and a chorus member would roll on with it; I repeated this gesture throughout the show. We have now changed it to a simple hand gesture as the click is very cliché and draws away from the atmosphere. I also have the contract on me at all times instead of having someone roll on as it would ruin the simplicity of the scene.
- The group had listened to my edited version of the sins scene narration (so that everything, music and narration was all on one track) but we all felt that the narration we had recorded lacked emotion and some areas were very quiet. Tomorrow we will rerecord the narration and I will reedit the sins track.
- We created a movement sequence for the section involving Hitler, Bin Laden and Pilate! This involved members on the chorus mimicking actions of these leaders one by one followed by the rest of the chorus responding to them whilst Ollie is saying his lines over the top. I feel this scene works extremely well at conveying how powerful Faustus has become.
- In the script in indicated that there was a "dance of the devils" but we felt that, despite this being a physical theatre piece, there would be too much movement. So instead of this we have a blackout, those on stage move to a different position, to show that time has passed, and when the lights come back on they react to the delights they had just seen but the audience didn't see.
- There is a chorus line which says, "Faustus you fool," but we realised that the entire cast besides Lorna is onstage. We thought if it were just Lorna shouting it then people would confuse this chorus line for a Murdock line which would make no sense as Murdock left. Then I thought that it would be very effective if Mephistopheles said this line. Faustus reacts to this line very sourly and Valdes tries to calm Faustus down and say that there's no one there who called him a fool. As only Faustus can see and hear Mephistopheles, this works perfectly.
- For the final scene, we were going to have the chorus rush in at Faustus, freeze, blackout, all exit, lights up, the only thing left is the pocket watch and Murdock enters looking around and very scared. She picks up the pocket watch, studies it, looks around and blackout.
Keeping all of these key notes in mind, tonight I will go home and make all notes in the lighting and sound scripts ready for our tech members.
No comments:
Post a Comment