Notes From Meeting One
Friday 6th May
A Servant to Two Masters – Design Meeting
A few notes from the meeting…
Important that the play is funny, bright, sexy, light and, crucially, fast-paced
Locations must be clear to the audience (anything to help them understand the plot!) but we must be able to make transitions really quickly – the plasy depends on its pace and we can’t afford to break it for lengthy set changes etc.
Venice itself is an important character in the play – I’d like to suggest the time and place in which the play is set – but no gondolas, please!!
I quite like the idea of creating the impression that the play is going on against a ‘backdrop’ of Venetian life – are we talking about ‘extras’ eating at cafes, waiters bringing food to them?
Do we want to create the impression that the audience is walking into a Venetian environment? – or are they watching a slice of Venetian life from a distance?
How many in the audience? – I reckon we ought to work on about 130-140 per night – I’d rather do an extra night than compromise the set by cramming too many punters in!
Key ideas in the play are to do with misunderstanding.
We all now that it’s a play that we are watching and the text revels in the fact that its plot is unbelievable and implausible. Equally, the characters have clear origins in stock Commedia characters. We can play with this fact and have fun with blurring the distinction between what is ‘in’ the play and what is ‘outside’ it – we might have actors ‘planted’ in the audience who seem to be watching but then start to take a role – could we stab a member of the audience in the sword-fight? Could we involve the ‘real’ audience in some way – get them to come in costume?
Food is a key theme in the play – it’s what drives Truffaldino – could we feed the audience somehow, could we make some money running a pizzeria during the show?!
Very much like the ideas we discussed about the theatres within theatres, toy theatres etc.
A Servant to Two Masters – Design Meeting
A few notes from the meeting…
Important that the play is funny, bright, sexy, light and, crucially, fast-paced
Locations must be clear to the audience (anything to help them understand the plot!) but we must be able to make transitions really quickly – the plasy depends on its pace and we can’t afford to break it for lengthy set changes etc.
Venice itself is an important character in the play – I’d like to suggest the time and place in which the play is set – but no gondolas, please!!
I quite like the idea of creating the impression that the play is going on against a ‘backdrop’ of Venetian life – are we talking about ‘extras’ eating at cafes, waiters bringing food to them?
Do we want to create the impression that the audience is walking into a Venetian environment? – or are they watching a slice of Venetian life from a distance?
How many in the audience? – I reckon we ought to work on about 130-140 per night – I’d rather do an extra night than compromise the set by cramming too many punters in!
Key ideas in the play are to do with misunderstanding.
We all now that it’s a play that we are watching and the text revels in the fact that its plot is unbelievable and implausible. Equally, the characters have clear origins in stock Commedia characters. We can play with this fact and have fun with blurring the distinction between what is ‘in’ the play and what is ‘outside’ it – we might have actors ‘planted’ in the audience who seem to be watching but then start to take a role – could we stab a member of the audience in the sword-fight? Could we involve the ‘real’ audience in some way – get them to come in costume?
Food is a key theme in the play – it’s what drives Truffaldino – could we feed the audience somehow, could we make some money running a pizzeria during the show?!
Very much like the ideas we discussed about the theatres within theatres, toy theatres etc.
posted by Tobias Yarwood at 2:28 PM
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