Videos
Lighting Design
In terms of my lighting design the delusion sequences open doors for me to use lots of different interesting lighting techniques. The director wants there to be a stark contrast between the ‘real life’ office scenes, which I will light in a naturalistic manner using spots to merely highlight areas of the stage that we want the audience to pay attention to, and the ‘delusion’ sequences which will involve coloured washes as well as use of special lights such as; strobes, movers, floor level lights, and UV bars. So far the two delusions we have worked on are the aforementioned “silent movie” opening sequence and the “space man” sequence. The “Spaceman” sequence involves handyman Tom building a rocket and flying to the moon. We are currently devising a physical sequence that explores the effects of zero gravity when he is in “space”. Although the “silent movie” sequence is going to be mostly varying washes I plan on experimenting with creating an oncoming train using lights. On the tech rehearsal, I plan to experiment with both a boom stand from the wings and par cans on the stage pointing out to the audience. We are hoping to use UV lighting in the “space man” sequence to pick out Tom’s white space suit and also plan on using UV paint to create a galaxy effect on the costumes. I also plan on using a glitter ball in this section to create a starry sky effect. We have already incorporated a few lifts into this section and although our choreographer has done physical theatre before, along with other members of our company, to ensure the safety of all members of the company I have arranged for a physical theatre tutor to come in on a rehearsal next week and advise the group on how to keep each other safe.
What are we going to do?
‘What we are going to do?’ a question asked at every rehearsal and often there isn’t an answer. Not that because I can’t give an answer, but our group didn’t quite work out who were as a ‘Company’ and hadn’t quite worked out our social hierarchy as of yet. Of course, we knew our roles, I the Director, Jay, the producer and Dan, the Stage Manager. It made sense for us three to be in charge but with a fresh, new group it took us a while to find our feet and take charge.
After the first few rehearsals, witch unfortunately weren’t all that productive. With a company of nine people and hearing nine voices all at once and trying to bring them all together without clear leadership was a next to impossible task. Dan, Jay and I decided to do something about it. We spoke to our group and placed ourselves at the top of the hierarchy like roles would suggest. The group were happy for us to do this, Dan, Jay and myself met up weekly and planned each rehearsal beforehand so that the dreaded question ‘What are we going to do?’ would never be met in silence again.