The cast used as many suitable props for the play they could find. Other multimedia elements we used:
- projections of writing in the corridors e.g- Freedom is Slavery
- moving projections like the footage of a surgery of an eyeball
- music from the world of the play (something that Stanley/Winston would listen to)
- music to overlap...
- dance.
- worn costume by the actors and face masks from the audience we provided.
- costume to dress the set, like in O'Brien's office
The Face Masks:
This component helped the audience relax enough to have the freedom to perform as well as the actors. It made the audience buy into the world of the play. Another advantage was that as actors we could easily address the members as a number from what was written on their mask if we didn't know who they were. This was effective as it made the audience feel like outsiders and different from the performers -in a good way. They were free to look around and be a different character from themselves so if they caused trouble they felt that bit more a part of it. However the problem we had was that a lot of the audience found the masks uncomfortable to wear so that's an area we could improve on. Maybe if it was something they wrapped around rather than wearing it on their mouths. Another effect the masks had on the audience was that it made them feel like just a number. This whole idea to include the audience with costume came from Punch Drunk's performances.
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| The audiences' masks for Punch Drunk's performances. |
Set and technical side of each room:
Stanley's room:
Every now and again a video exercise routine would play next to the bed. It gave the audience a sense of what Stanley's dull, everyday lifestyle would be like. Under the bed was a hidden music box which was set to play a soundtrack from it(of Stanley's style) and occasionally the news would come on-to inform the audience of the up-to-date perspective of 2050 society.
The bedroom scene looked perfectly dull with a few of the room lights on as well. One of the main things that worked well in each room was the room itself...
...Site Specific
WHAT IS SITE-SPECIFIC THEATRE?
Site-specific theatre is a performance which overtly uses the properties,qualities, and meanings found at/on a given site, be it a landscape, a
city, a building or a room. This form of theatre emphasizes particular
images, stories, and events that reveal the complex relationship between
ourselves and our physical environment.
-source found on http://uregina.ca/weyburn_project/pages/sitespec.html
A great example Sir gave was that it would be challenging say if we wanted to transform or recreate the school into the world of 'Alice in Wonderland'-mainly because of how 'unmagical' the environment is.
But from what we had became a gloomy, institutional feel of 2050 with inspiration of 1984's film set.
In addition the building itself was a big part of the play and performed individually well.
In the Space/ Two-minute Hate:
We had a large amount of room and decided to divide it into rows and columns of X's marked on the floor with white tape. In each corner of the room was a yellow flashing cylinder-shaped light.
When the video was playing the lights were turned off to create a stronger tension so that worked effectively as a piece of multimedia. We managed to get the audiences attention with the clip and they seemed even more uncomfortable as we were walking about as soldiers trying to intimidate them. The biggest challenge was setting up the video in time for when the audience came in because we had little time due to the other group having to set up their video as well on the same computer.
In Room 101:
From the members of the audience I asked they told me that this room was a very thrilling yet terrifying place to be in. I agree and I think that the set of it was very creative; linked well to the atmosphere of what was actually going on. The set design that went on in there included the footage of an eyeball being operated, which was projected onto a big wooden block. There was a bright sodium light in the corner of the room which rays of light struck onto the torturer and criminal. The light gave that power but it also gave off heat which made the room suffocating. We had the windows in the room blacked out so that no natural light could shine through-this made it darker and made the audience focus on the light inside the room. There was the horrible noise of a baby crying constantly which came to be very distressing. Another strong multimedia element of the room was the props: the tools laid out onto the table; blood over the actors and the room and the bench where the torturer operated. The tools gave the impression of how the criminals would be threatened and how the instruments could potentially harm them.
In my opinion far too many people went into that room which was kept as more of a surprise. It ended up with almost everyone seeing what was in there so little people were then curious of what was in that room.
The Food Hall:
There was a vocal engagement of people repetitively saying war is peace etc.. I thought this room was mainly about the set design because of how dresses the space was and how calm it was compared to other packed rooms. Actors were serving plates of cold soup (this played as an active prop and was used in the moment). Other props were there to dress the shelves or inform people of what other rooms there were, such as posters and leaflets. I witnessed ,as a soldier, a lot of notes being handed around in that room which were appropriate enough to cause trouble. It was great to see that one man in particular had gone along with the whole situation about notes and had actually started to run away from me. The room looked amazing and even though it wasn't the most criminally active, it brought another idea to the society of 2050.
415/ O'Brien's Office:
This was the only room which used theatrical lighting and I think that's a good thing. It gave the formal atmosphere for when O'Brien had his speeches.It was very technical and business-like due to the layout of computers. In addition, the light also came from the computers. I think 415 was the only room which used platforms-there was the normal carpet floor and a platform where O'Brien spoke. It was effective because we could see who in society had more authority and power. Further on in the dressing room was a lot of costume placed as the set. To improve, we could of got the audience to try the costume to involve them more.
The lecture theatre:
I didn't get to see this room but from what I was told it was a great start to our performance. The actors began by taking in a number of people into a cramped space and turning of the lights for a short amount of time. Even though it was about 5 seconds, it felt like more. It helped set the mood and took the audience away from the real world to be a part of 2050. The 'Suspension of Disbelief' was achieved from the very start.
Suspension of Disbelief
Meaning:The temporary acceptance as believable of events or characters that would ordinarily be seen as incredible. This is usually to allow an audience to appreciate works of literature or drama that are exploring unusual ideas. source from- http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/suspension-of-disbelief.html
The lecture theatre gave a presentation on prezi which must of looked quite impressive.
Brin's Room:
I didn't get to see this room for long enough as well but I know that it was very well designed and I liked the fact it was a small room with stairs. Apparently, he'd sit on the stairs with a chain of fake-lit candles around him. I saw the lights and I think it worked really well and the simplicity of the lights was effective for that particular room.- we could of made it a more threading performance. Had each room link onto the next or have it relate more in some way.
- Have a run-through with a practice audience before so that we got used to the immersive world and having to be floaters, improvise a few scenarios and be prepared to take on any surprises.
And The Acting?
Everyone did an amazing job on focusing on what they had to do. Actors kept well on schedule with timings, even when we had the time shift of the revolution which had to be passed down through each individual person. A lot of our class mates tried to put us off but luckily, we stayed in character and didn't 'corpse our character', as I like to say.
