I chose to make my set design bare as I felt that the set is simply supporting of the characters, and not as important to the play as the dialogue. However, my set does have some important pieces in it. Firstly, the set contains no bed. I did this because we see little action taking place in the bedroom, and felt that by removing everything but the bed, I enabled the actors to have much more room to act, but also that it made the stage seem more sparse, something that I believe Williams would have liked to have shown about the Kowlaski household, to help emphasise the level of wealth that they felt.
The bathroom and the living room have quite a bit more furnishing, for two reasons. Firstly, these are the two rooms that have the most action in them, and by adding more furnishing that necessary to these rooms, I am able to give the impression that they are cramped, without restricting acting space. I did this through adding things like lights and making the table fairly large, so that it takes up the majority of the room.
My set design is based around having main focuses for the stage. The bathroom has the bath, the living room has the table, and the bedroom has the bed. These focuses give the audience a place to focus their attention, and by having these focuses we have a sparse but usable environment. These focuses also allows the actors to know where to stand, and mean that the action is easily concentrated in one area, which makes it easier on the audience, too.
The bathroom and the living room have quite a bit more furnishing, for two reasons. Firstly, these are the two rooms that have the most action in them, and by adding more furnishing that necessary to these rooms, I am able to give the impression that they are cramped, without restricting acting space. I did this through adding things like lights and making the table fairly large, so that it takes up the majority of the room.
My set design is based around having main focuses for the stage. The bathroom has the bath, the living room has the table, and the bedroom has the bed. These focuses give the audience a place to focus their attention, and by having these focuses we have a sparse but usable environment. These focuses also allows the actors to know where to stand, and mean that the action is easily concentrated in one area, which makes it easier on the audience, too.
Where is the image? Ms. M
ReplyDeleteJames, would it be possible for you to post the image?
ReplyDeleteAlthough I do like your concept of only having one 'major' piece of furniture per room. (You've left out Blanche's couch, but that could easily be moved on and off-stage if it was absolutely required.)
Something that I am confused on is whether or not you planned on showing the bathroom. In the script Blanche is not seen actually in the bathroom, rather she is shown entering/exiting the space or singing in it. Would you intend to keep this space an 'unknown' and only furnish a door into which the audience could see, or would its entirety be shown?
All-in-all this concept does sound like both a remarkably simple set that could be constructed with much less effort than a traditional set which would be more complex. The stage-tech geek in me approves greatly of this, both in its construction and the ease in which the actors could be lit.
-Sam W.