Fabric selection

The costume design for our play has reached another level, the designs haven´t been finished but we have already started looking for the fabrics which are going to be used for the play taking into consideration, the price (since we have a limited budget), the texture, how it would react to the scenery and how could they mix.

When looking at the fabrics at our disposal we realize that most of them resemble fabrics used in kabuki, most have a soft texture but some have a much more rough feeling. When taking a look at two different blue cloths, the difference, even when you are not touching them stands out, hence we have to find a balance between the rough and soft textures in the costumes. A balance in how individual costumes must look, we cannot overdue a costume with print fabrics as it would look messy and unbalanced. In addition we also have to find their reaction to the scenery, how the color scheme would match it and whether it`d be appropriate or not.

This process is long and tedious but helps us understand how many elements in set design come together, we understand there must be a harmony between all the elements in the play, actors would not be able to perform to their fullest if the set design elements were not well-placed and for this to happen costumes must not interfere in the acting, neither should the objects which form the scenery, the selection of fabrics and color scheme should go along with the scenery and the rest of the elements, should highlight certain characters but should always be in harmony with other elements like the lights, different light effects might have a different effect on different fabrics employed.

When reflecting upon this last part, I stumble upon a question about set design in general, to what degree can a bad mixture of the elements in set design affect a performance which has already been rehearsed to its fullest? Would the actors be able to overcome those difficulties and still give the finest performance possible? Or would the lack of harmony in those elements prevent in all ways the finest outcome?

SET DESIGN

When studying set design and its importance we´ve had to read through different texts to understand the basic functions of set design. When learning the importance it has we realize the true purpose behind a concept and how it might apply to a performance, as we read through the texts we are presented two different approaches the first being a much more general approach to the history of set design through different periods of time, however the second one, written by Adolph Appia, showed a much more in-depth look to set design and its involvement to a performance.

Appia presented a different approach to set design by focusing mostly on the lighting, making us understand something we truly never thought of before, why some elements such as painting wouldnt work on a performance and how does the light effects are able to change the mood in a play. When thinking of the light effects we must understand the setting in which the performance will take place and how will that affect the position of the lights and their audience, in a proscenium arch we might be able to use lights from above and in front of the stage but in a transverse stage it is most likely the designer will have to place the lights in the floor near the audience.

Different approaches have been created for set design , some highlighting a performance in its entirety while others show it incomplete, for Kabuki we are approaching the set design superficially, the play does not look to comprehend human nature or to reflect upon human nature.

Does one of these approaches limits or enhances a play´s importance and value?

Design Concept

As we approach the rehearsals for the actual scenes of the play we have to finish up the designing process so these two aspects don´t get mixed up. Because our design concept is already establish all that´s left is the actual designing of the elements in the performance, how will the cyclorama look? how are the costumes going to look like? Even though I am not in charge of the designing aspect, I am still involved to help, support, and to help to improve when feedback is needed. We do not want to end up mixing up the deadlines and rush out the designs in the last minute so we are already starting the production aspect, soon the cycloramas will arrive and we are already starting to get the designs out of the way so the ones in charge of designing, and which act at the same time, are much more free to rehearse when needed.

This is probably the shortest entry in the blog but nonetheless will help me remember of what this process was like in the future when my IB is coming to a close.

however I still ask to myself what advantages could there be by producing a play by yourself? it might sound a much more hard task but thinking about it, you do not have to worry about explaining and reaching to an agreement with your companions.

Performance concept

During this week we have decided upon our acting and design concepts for our kabuki performance and agreed on the concepts of "Pressure" and "equivocation" respectively. When thinking of the concepts we had stumbled upon different problems, how did the proposals related to the main direction concept " plate tectonics", we had several problems when trying to connect all the pieces together and realized the reasons for their incorporation into the performance had to be important and be tied together with the direction concept.

My task was the acting concept, Pressure, through a mental map we arrived to other key elements of this proposal, how tension was always present and was static and dynamic at the same time, in addition they merged together into a pose. We tied it together with plate tectonics which are always in tension, and with equivocation, because characters may pose as other elements from other locations, "theres more than meets the eye".

In addition we´ve also had to focus much more into how do we explain all these ideas we already know and understand. Only when we are able to explain to someone who has no idea of what our concepts are and make them understand what we are saying, that we truly say we fully understand what we have created and plan to use in our performance.

How well would our concepts in general fit a traditional western play? It would not be necessary to have a restrained passion which suddenly bursts out with great passion on certain occasions, therefore how well would these concepts adapt to a traditional western play, such as Hamlet or "La vida es sueño?