Exploring the Designers Concept

When you are revising for your live performance exam, you will want to unpack what you think the Designers; set, lighting, sound, costume, props, make-up, and special effects, intended to be communicated through their choices. These activities will help you brainstorm and collate your ideas, as well as providing evidence or quotes to support your explanations and discussions around the exam questions.

The Colour Palette

A very distinct colour palette has been chosen for this contemporary performance of King Lear. The set, the costumes and the lighting feed into a distinct stylistic intention that supports the themes, ideas and symbols within King Lear. Use the following activity to unpack your ideas and observations.

ACTIVITY:

Draw a big circle, with a smaller circle on the inside. Create a colour wheel of all the colours you observed onstage, shading them into the circle. Then using arrows from each block of colour, group the characters that you observed wearing those colours. Further annotate your diagramme, thinking about each group of characters, what do they have in common? Is there a theme, motif or symbol that connects them? You could add in notes about how they connect to the colours of the set or the lighting palette used on each character. Share your diagramme with a peer or group and continue to add to it. By the end of this activity your original colour wheel should be surrounded by a web of annotation, where you will be able to identify themes, observations and ideas, which you will be able to include in your exam answers.

The Impact Of Sound

Sound throughout the performance was directly connected to the dialogue, the characters emotional motivations and what is happening thematically. It provides punctuation points for important moments, creates mood and atmosphere and builds tension. Use the following activity to unpack your thoughts, ideas and observations around the sound design of King Lear.

ACTIVITY:

As a class, roll some large craft paper along the floor OR use a whiteboard. Draw a line horizontally from one end of the page or board to the other. Below the line plot the main action beats of the play. Above the line annotate when sound played an important role. Describe the sound in detail, evoke what type of sounds you heard. Add notes about whether it foreshadowed something, built tension, mood or atmosphere or whether it was connected to a character. Add in quotes where you can. Once you have finished your sound timeline take a photo and make sure you save this for revision purposes.

The Stage And Elizabethan Theatre

ATC’s performance of King Lear uses a traverse style stage, with three entrances/exits at one end and mirror-like tiles at the opposite end. Use the following activity to think about the similarities between The Globe and ATC’s stage design.

Activity:

Split into small groups. Find images of The Globe Theatre in London, birds eye and front facing. If you have been provided with images of the set by ATC ensure you have some printed out, otherwise, sketch the stage. With the images side by side identify where ATC have drawn inspiration from an Elizabethan style theatre, where it feels completely different and brainstorm what you think the stylistic intentions of the design were. Share the ideas that your group came up with, with the rest of the class, adding to your brainstorm.

Sketching And Annotation

Sketching and annotation are an important part of your exam responses, often they can add information or allow you to expand on your ideas in your written answers. Use the following prompts to create a bank of detailed sketches and annotations:

Prompts:

• A moment where the set was used by the actors to create impact. What other technologies were at play?

• A moment where technology was used to create mood or atmosphere.

• A moment where a character was isolated. How did the use of technology impact this moment?

• A moment where use of technology revealed new information.

• A moment where the ensemble was on stage. What impact did the technology have on the tension of the scene.