Use Of Water example essay topic

In the Lincoln Center's production of "The Twelfth Night" by William Shakespeare, directed by Nicholas Hynter the concept of Eastern influences were used. The Eastern concept came from two art exhibitions entitled "Flowers Underfoot" and "King of the World". Besides those Hynter also took a Hackney approach to the idea. Using abstract yet rich in texture. The concept used extreme colors that are rarely used on stage. Hynter also wanted the effect of a dream like state that could be any time period.

He also wanted his set to not look like a permanent set. The set designer Bob Crowley used lots of water in his design to get the idea of an island and reflection in the concept. Crowley used a red, blue, and gold carpet design with flowers, coming from the concept of oriental feuilles or "a thousand flowers". The carpet was made out of Duval a fabric used in school auditoriums for draperies. Jane Snow used six flower stencils to paint the flowers on the carpet. Olivia's castle was made out of black scrims of varying weight and density and made with computer mock up to add texture and to give it a transparent look.

The stage was surrounded by silk so that it could easily dry when the rain fell or if water from the pool splashed up so that the actors were not inconvenienced. Bridges and planks were used to show the roads of life and how they can all end up in one place but also that two people could be at the same place, yet miss each other. Sound helped set the mood of the production. The songs written in the play by Shakespeare was a challenging act for Sound Designer Scott Stauffer. There were a total of six keyboards, violin / counter tenor, percussion, cello, woodwind, and guitar / strings /daxaphone on stage for the entire production. Also the mandolin that Fete carries with him for most of the production added to the equation.

Since Illyria didn't have microphones or speakers each musician was equipped with a Sennheiser wireless microphone and a camouflaged Anchor AN 1000-powered speaker. None of the actors were equipped with a microphone except for Fete. The theater is equipped with a System for Improved Acoustical Performance, which is made up of a series of microphones in the ceiling and seventy speakers through out the room. When the musicians weren't on stage they were divided to the left and right of the stage, where a concern of hearing one side more than the other came into concept. Other than music there were two sound effects used. They were waves and thunder effect.

The Sound designer was mainly there to support the musical director. Lighting also helped set the mood of the production, deeply saturated blues, greens, oranges, yellows, and pinks were used by Lighting designer Natasha Katz. Since water was covering a majority of the stage the lights had to be worked on "in the heavens above". Walking on wooden decking and using handrails helped the lighting crew hang the lights. The lighting design helped draw the audience into key things they were supposed to tune into to. The cyc was lit from the front and rear.

Gobo rotators were used to create a water pattern on the silk. An ETC Obsession 3000 controlled the lighting. Katz used a multiplexing design in racks to save power and cut costs. The use of water also took away most of the plugs for power so there wasn't enough to a normal system configuration. To help with the concept of a dream without a real time period set the costumes helped a lot. Catherine Z uber used silks and polyesters to give the warm and cool climate.

Her use of Asian, Indian, and English dress that was used back in the Elizabethan era is also dress that is used in those places still today by royalty and for special occasions. In my opinion the concepts worked. Even though some people may argue the fact that the castle looked permanent when they were on stage. I feel that by flying it on and off made it seem not permanent. Like the pools and waters were a permanent aspect and people just came in with their facades of buildings and walkways and performed a show. I don't really feel I would do anything different with any of the concepts that any of the designers used.

I feel that the color patterns and dream like atmosphere was a good and different was to produce a Shakespeare play. I do however feel that I would not have added glitter to the carpet like they used. Though the glitter might have helped with the reflection effect, I don't feel that it was to well seen by the audience. The overall production of the play went very well in light of what I know now technically.

I believe the visual and sound effects helped intensify what the actors were portraying with the text. I feel it wasn't to gaudy or over excessive especially when it came to Olivia. I also feel that the water helped with the relation to an island. My likes have to include the pools using a concept of reflection. I also liked the candles adding to the light and to the idea of reflection. The idea to use a fabricated stage I feel was ingenious.

The colors used for the lighting really helped with the mood. I did however dislike the dream like state of the play. Though it was a good concept I personally wouldn't do it that way. If I were to put on a production of this play I would use the concept of most of the stage in water. I would however make the background more stationary.

I would also probably take out the benches. I didn't see any point in the benches being in the scene at all. I would also make the costumes more to one set period. Even though I did feel the dream like atmosphere with no set period was a good idea it's just not my personal way to go about it.