Chapter 12: Design
Set Design
When the actors step out onto the stage in performance, the actors enter the world of the play. But their performance, and the world they create, does not occur in a void; rather, the performance takes place someplace. From the beginning of formal drama with the ancient Greeks, there has been some sort of backing for the performance. This backing, if you will, represents the place where the scene or the play is set.
It has been mentioned earlier that the Greek performances took place in front of a stone building known as the skene from which we get the word scene. In many dramas, written throughout time, the lines of the characters spoken by the actors have provided vital information to the audience as to the setting of the scene or play. This verbal information is known as spoken décor, and it has been very helpful when materials or funds have made it very difficult to provide quality settings.
However, dramatists have always sought to provide a pleasing backing to the performance. Sophocles is credited with introducing painted panels to his plays. These painted panels (pinakes), three panels fixed together in a triangular footprint which allowed the panels to stand upright, were called periaktoi.
In Renaissance theatre in Italy, the painted panel system became even more elaborate when Giacomo Torelli developed the chariot-and-pole system. Grooves in the floor and carriages above held the painted panels in place. The Torelli system utilized one painted panel, fixed in groove and carriage, to be paired with another. The sides of the stage would be arranged with six to eight pairs of grooves. While the groove closest to the audience would hold the panels for the first scene, panels for the second scene could be set in place behind them. When the time came to change from Scene 1 to Scene 2, stagehands in the wings would pull the Scene 1 panels out of the way, thus revealing the Scene 2 panels. While Scene 2 played out on stage, the Scene 1 panels, off stage would be replaced with panels for Scene 3. And when the time came to shift to Scene 3, the panels would be slid into the audience’s view.
The system provided for an unlimited number of scenes, and the scene changes could be shifted swiftly and magically before the audience’s eyes.
To add to the magic of the scene changes, the 1400s also saw the utilization of perspective painting. The various panels were painted with a single design in mind which, to the seats in the center back of the auditorium, provided a picture developed in perspective. A street scene would show the street extending away into the distance. Buildings painted on the panels farther from the audience would be smaller than the buildings painted on the nearest panels. The technique provided the illusion of much greater distance than was actually utilized on the stage.
As a practical matter, however, the actors could never move up into the area of the panels, for they would appear to grow into giants as they moved closer and closer to the farthest panels. The area of the actors and the area of the setting were distinctly separate. There was no interaction, only background.
As theatre moved toward what would become the realistic period, the settings became more and more elaborate. But acting continued to be something done in front of the setting for several centuries more.
The most important revolution in stage settings was led by Adolphe Appia in the early twentieth century. It was Appia who pushed for a different type of setting, a three-dimensional setting, which would allow for interaction of the actor and the set. He suggested that actors might actually enter through a three-dimensional doorway rather than step onstage from the wings. He suggested that chairs and tables, and stairs and platforms, created a three-dimensional (realistic) world.
Modern set design accomplishes two important functions. First, it provides the boundary and framework to the acting area. Second, it provides important (and sometimes subliminal) information to the audience.
First, the setting defines the space. It provides the means and the limits of movement into, through, and out of the acting space. It tells us when we are onstage and when we are off stage. For example, a set design for Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller tells us where the kitchen table is located, where the bedrooms are located, and where the backyard scenes will be played.
As a result, the set design helps block the play. The director cannot have an actor exit up the stairs if there are no stairs. For this reason, the set designer must consult with the director early in the design process to understand the needs and desires of the director’s vision for the performance.
Second, the set design establishes the mood and character of the play; it provides a visual representation of the world in which the characters live. Some plays are set in realistic locations; some plays are set in nonrealistic locations. In Death of a Salesman, the playwright calls for a single set which can fluidly shift location and focus as the action moves from the present moment, into a flashback scene, and back again.
Imagine, if you will, performing Death of a Salesman in front of a groove-and-carriage system. Each of the various settings would have to be painted on separate scene panels. The shift from scene to scene would have to be accomplished by shifting Scene 1 panels out and Scene 2 panels in. And the actors would have to remain in front of the panels, never interacting with them. Unfortunately, some scenes become inoperable in such a system, for there are times where Biff and Happy (in their old bedroom) have lines interspersed with a scene between Willy and Linda (in the kitchen). And the shift to the flashback scene in the hotel room in Boston would require its own, separate setting to be created.
The design of a multi-area setting, where lighting can shift the audience’s focus from area to area quickly and easily, and where a simple table and a few chairs can represent the whole of the restaurant interior, shows the power and versatility of set design in contemporary theatre.
In most theatre productions today, the set designer is a position separate from the actors and director. In professional theatre, set designers belong to their own separate labor union.
Once the set designer is hired, she or he must quickly become intimately familiar with the script. She or he must consult with the director very early in the process to avoid wasting a lot of time. First, the designer needs to understand the needs and limits of the script. Second, the designer needs to understand the vision and goal(s) of the director.
Third, the designer also needs to meet with the producer to get a firm understanding of the fiscal limitations of the production. Designing on a tight budget is a key skill for a set designer.
Then the designer typically moves into the creative phase, even though this phase may be very unique to the particular designer. The product of this phase, however, is a set of drawings and models for the director’s review and approval.
The designer develops a floor plan, which is a scaled map of the setting as seen from directly above the stage floor. For rehearsals, the stage manager typically tapes the floor plan in the rehearsal space so the actors will know where the walls are, where the doors are, where the stairs are.
The designer develops elevations, which are scaled drawings of each individual unit of scenery as seen from immediately in front of the unit.
The designer develops working drawings for special pieces of scenery, i.e., a tree or stairway. These drawings show the measurements and assembly of the unit. They provide the carpenters with the necessary information they need to construct the unit for the play.
The designer develops a model for each scene in the design. These models provide the director and actors with a scaled, three-dimensional representation of what the setting will eventually look like. Since the actors may not see the finished set until a few days before opening, the models provide very important information for the actors.
To be effective as a set designer, one needs a variety of skills and knowledge. Set designers must be familiar with architectural periods so their work can be historically accurate. They must be familiar with stage conventions so their work is an effective element in the production. They must be familiar with safety and construction guidelines to ensure their sets are safe for the actors. They must also be familiar with architectural drawing techniques so they can communicate effectively through their drawings to the technicians who will construct the units.
Costume Design
Costume design refers to the decisions made regarding the clothing to be worn by the actors in performance. It includes the clothing and all appropriate accessories.
Costume design must take into account several considerations. First, the costume must be appropriate to the production design and character. Second, the costume must be securely constructed to withstand the use and abuse of the actor. Third, the costume must allow the actor to move safely while wearing it.
The costume designer, in most cases, is a person separate from the director and/or actor. In some amateur or community theatre (and some educational theatre), the actor is often required to supply his or her own costuming. In educational theatre, there is usually someone assigned the responsibility of costume design. It may be a separate instructor or staff member responsible for costuming and makeup, or it may be the technical theatre instructor (responsible for all areas of technical design and construction). And in professional theatre, the costume designer is a separate employee who may be employed exclusively to provide the costume design.
The costume designer must familiarize herself or himself with the script being produced. Then, just like the set designer, the costume design must consult with the director. In fact, the costume designer should consult with the director and the set designer (after the set design has been completed) so that colors can be determined which will complement the overall visual picture for the audience. You do not want to put an actor in a color which will contrast badly with the colors in the setting (unless maybe you’re costuming the villain of your play and you want the audience to have a subconscious reaction to him whenever he is on stage).
The costume design must be appropriate to the production and character. The costume designer must be familiar with clothing and fashion design throughout history. Unless the director desires a non-realistic production style, the play and its characters exist in a particular time period. The width of a man’s tie or the length of a woman’s skirt varies from time period to time period, and the competent costume designer will ensure there is no apparent error in the costume design.
The costume design is important in that it helps characterize the characters. Particularly in productions with large casts, costuming can help the audience identify characters quickly and understand relationships between characters. In Everyman, costuming should help distinguish the different characters (such as Strength and Beauty). In The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare, Shylock is traditionally dressed in red clothing to designate him as Jewish. In Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, the costume designer may use a particular color scheme for the Loman family to help separate them visually from the other characters in the play.
The costume designer prepares drawings (and patterns when necessary) along with swatches of cloth. This information is passed to the technicians who will actually construct the costumes.
In educational theatre, some school theatre departments maintain a large storage facility with costumes representing various historical periods. Once the designs have been developed, the technicians may pull from stock those pieces which may be appropriate. Stock clothing should be used when available to avoid duplication of effort in constructing new garments.
In professional theatre, costuming companies have been formed as outsources for costuming. One company will maintain a large storage facility and a team of technicians. From their resources, they will rent out costuming materials to several productions as once. They may rent to professional, educational, and community theatre groups as well as to circus companies, amusement parks, fairgrounds, historical societies, churches, etc.
In amateur or community theatre (as mentioned above), the actors may be required to costume themselves, or someone may be sent to shop at the local thrift stores for costuming materials. In these cases, the director can hope for little more than a general indication of historical period. There are plenty of churches out there with a couple of boxes in a closet filled with costumes representing the biblical period. These costumes are pulled out and used for children’s Christmas pageants and Easter programs.
When constructing costumes, it is important to keep safety and durability in mind. The clothing worn by the actor cannot impede movement. The actor must be able to move freely and expressively in the costume. Also, because the actor will not be wearing the costume as he would a regular piece of clothing, the costume must be constructed well with plenty of reinforcement in the seams and stress points.
Lighting Design
Illumination, color, and mood/atmosphere – these are the three components of lighting design. Everything else is math.
When we use the word illumination, we usually think of being able to see everything well. But in lighting design, illumination refers to being able to see well what the audience needs to see at any given moment in the play. Therefore, in lighting design, illumination means being able to see one thing and not being able to see something else.
In television and film, the directors and cinematographers/videographers have the ability to zoom in on a given part of the production. They are able to focus the eye of the audience on what the director wants seen, thereby omitting what the director does not want the audience to see. In a theatre production, the audience is free to look at any part of the set and performance, at any time. The lighting design helps focus the audience’s attention by focusing light where the audience should be looking and shifting the other areas of the performance/setting into shadow. This is illumination for the stage.
With the increase in electronic capability, some lighting designers have a tremendous amount of light power to work with. However, all this light has a negative effect on the performance in that it blanches out the details. The regular features of an actor’s face are blanched out by the power of the light. (Stage makeup helps counter this effect.) In addition, the colors used by the set and costume designer(s) are diminished by the intensity of the light. Therefore, the lighting designer adds color to the light to put color back into the sets, costumes, and actors.
Once the lighting designer is hired, he or she must become familiar with the demands of the script and consult with the director for special instructions. It is good for the lighting designer to meet with the director, set designer, and costume designer, after the set and costume designs are finished, so the lighting designer can see what colors will be used in the production.
Why? Because a yellow light on a red dress turns the dress gray. The lighting designer needs to add the appropriate colors to the light in maintain the colors of the set(s) and costumes.
But once illumination is provided and the colors are complementary, the lighting designer has one more area of concern. The lighting design also helps create the mood or atmosphere of the play. Comedies are usually light; we use this term because we want a lot of bright light. Tragedies are usually dark; we use this term because dim light and shadows help reinforce the mood of the play. The lighting designer needs to understand what type of atmosphere the director wants to create in the lighting.
And the rest is math. The lighting designer is working with technology in terms of amps and watts. Electricity is not only very powerful, it is very dangerous. The electrical current must be measured well in advance of plugging in the lighting instruments to ensure that the equipment does not create an overload on the circuits. All instruments and equipment must be securely grounded and protected to avoid accidental electrocution. Light hours for each instrument must be maintained so the lighting designer can anticipate the end of a particular bulb. One of the nightmares of performance is being onstage when a light, or many lights, go out unexpectedly.
Makeup Design
Some theatre productions make no use of makeup at all. Some theatre productions require extensive makeup preparations and implementation. The use of makeup onstage serves two primary functions.
The use of makeup on stage did not become an issue until the advent of electrical lighting instruments. As mentioned earlier, lighting tends to blanch the actors’ features onstage. Makeup counters the blanching effect. In theatres where the lighting is not sufficient to blanch the actors’ features, most actors wear no more makeup onstage than they do as part of their daily lives. Most actors like to add a little mascara and eye liner to help make their eyes more visible to the audience.
The second function of makeup involves characterization. Makeup can be used to gray the hair and add signs of old age to an actor who is visibly younger than the character she is playing. In some cases, such as musical theatre and/or fantasy dramas, makeup is used to turn a human actor into a lion or monkey or elf – whatever is demanded by the script and the director’s interpretation.
Makeup, including hair-styling, deals with any and all parts of an actor’s body which is exposed by the costume. It does little good to gray the hair and add wrinkles to the face, and then leave the hands untouched and still young-looking. Typically, makeup must extend at least one to two inches beyond the area exposed by the costume. The actor’s movement on stage requires this extra care.
Sound Design
Using sound affects to support the actors’ performance has been around since the Greeks. The choral odes, sung by the chorus of Greek drama, were accompanied by musicians playing flute-like instruments. In Elizabethan drama, musical accompaniment included drums, woodwinds, and stringed instruments.
During the nineteenth century, melodramatic productions demanded even more elaborate sound effects as the directors and designers attempted to stage hurricanes and earthquakes onstage. In addition, the evolution of American musical theatre has drawn upon the powers of vocal and instrumental music.
For a regular theatre production, the requirements for sound fall into three general categories. First, most directors utilize some sort of pre-show music which helps introduce the audience to the themes or mood of the play from their first entrance into the theatre space. This type of music is typically played again during scene changes and/or intermission.
A second type of sound includes the specific sound effects necessary for a given performance of a given script. A doorbell may sound the arrival of an unexpected guest. A gunshot may be heard offstage. A carriage may be heard going by on the cobblestone street outside. These are specific sound effects that will often impact directly on the action onstage. (Thousands of actors have been stranded onstage, waiting uncomfortably for the phone to ring, and thinking wildly of how to move the play forward if the phone doesn’t ring . . . and vowing to kill the technician when they finally get off stage.)
A third type is used more in professional and educational theatre than in amateur or community theatre. This third type is music or sound which underscores a scene. This type of sound is rarely used without the actors’ voices also being amplified. The risk is always there that the underscoring music will overshadow the scene and drown out the actors’ voices.
Some sound effects are produced live backstage. Some effects are stored on tape, CD, or computer and replayed as needed and on cue. Again, the type of sound (and the decision regarding live or taped sound effects) depends upon the demands of the script and the vision of the director.
Properties Acquisition
The actors provide the characterization and the set designer provides the place. But typically there are pictures hanging on the wall, or books on the bookcase, or music on the piano; characters wear watches and glasses and wipe their noses with linen handkerchiefs. All these little touches, on the actor and on the setting, are included under the general category of properties. And if someone is not given the explicit responsibility to find and bring in all these little touches, they’ll be forgotten until the last minute.
Properties falls generally into two categories: hand properties and set properties (or set dressing). The hand properties are anything which the actor uses onstage. Everything else is a set property. For instance, if the actor takes a book from the bookcase, that book is a hand prop. All the other books on the bookcase are set props.
The process of identifying what properties will be needed should begin with the first read through of the script. A good stage manager or assistant stage manager, someone who has already been put in charge of properties, keeps a pad of paper handy while the actors read through the script. Any reference to a property in the dialogue or stage directions is noted on the pad. The director (and some actors) will add to the list as they go.
Hand properties need to be identified quickly so they can be acquired quickly. Once the actors begin to put the script down (memorization), they will need to have the hand props ready to pick up. And they will want to be working with these properties throughout the rehearsal period. Many is the time an actor has mimed picking up the phone in performance because he always had to mime picking up the phone in rehearsal.
It may not be necessary to have the actual, performance prop available for rehearsals. Sometimes a particular item, like an antique phone, may be too valuable to risk in rehearsals. In these cases, a rehearsal property can be substituted and used in rehearsals. But the properties chief has to make sure the rehearsal prop leaves the building or gets locked up for performance. Again, many is the time an actor has carried the rehearsal prop onstage during performance, out of habit, when it was lying next to the performance prop backstage.
Set properties are sometimes delegated to the set designer and sometimes to the stage manager. It is important to make sure that someone is responsible for locating and securing set properties. These types of set dressing pieces are usually left to the last minute. Pictures can be hung on the walls and tablecloths can be spread on the table while the actors are getting into costume and makeup for the opening performance. They are simply there to dress the stage.
While some production companies and educational theatre departments maintain large storerooms of hand and set properties, there is no possible way to collect everything they will ever need. And some properties will work only for a particular production, and never again. As a result, some outsource companies have begun collecting, maintaining, building, and renting out properties as needed to various theatre production companies.
Design Exercise for Students
First, take a walk around your campus or neighborhood. You are looking for a scenic environment. It is a place that will serve as a good place for a performance. It could be interior or exterior. There needs to be a place for the performance and a place for the audience. There should be some sort of backing to the performance space.
Second, go to the library or Internet and conduct some research on costuming or fashion. You are looking for what a person would have worn in tenth century Europe. Go through your closet at home, or visit a local thrift store, and find some articles of clothing that will approximate the tenth century outfit. You are looking for clothing that will fit you.
Third, locate a walking stick that would be historically appropriate to the tenth century.
Fourth, using everyday makeup from the local retail store, you want to highlight the lines in your face and gray your hair. Don’t forget to highlight the lines on the backs of your hands.
Fifth, in costume and makeup, with walking stick, get a friend to take your picture in the scenic environment.
You are Everyman, onstage.