One of these things was the way they used the Space and the Set Design. For this show the Old Vic was designed in the round, this gave the audience a new experience, as it was not the usual state for the Old Vic, By doing Electra in the round and having the actors on the same level to some of the audience, and not on raised rostrum, made the audience feel closer to the action as the character would say their lines out to us to bring us in to the scene. The acting area remained the same throughout the production, as the play is set in one location (Outside the mother’s house). This is common for Greek theatre as they would not have had the budget to keep changing area and set. By the director choosing to do this show in the round it brings back the authenticity of the Greek Amphitheatre, as they were usually in the round with the audience on racked seating with the actors at a lower level.
For the set for Electra the designers kept it very naturalistic, by changing the stage floor to make it look all worn and dusty by adding scattered rocks around, this gave the audience an idea of where the play would be set and what sort of era. The designer only used one set for the play, which represented one location of the house. From this people entered to talk to Electra, within this area there was the door and steps, with a tree stump and a water pipe. As the play was in the round it makes it harder for the acting area to have lots of different exits and entrances. For this production there were three exits/entrances, the main one which was used was through the house door and then two others located by going through the audience, By putting the actors entering through the audience gave the audience the impression that the house was not near any others, as the actors would have to walk further to get to it. The audience could then link this to status by thinking that I could not be near any other houses as they are of higher status. The whole of the set was quite muted in colour, using mainly browns and greys; this gave the scene a very plain, sad, sombre mood, which fit the play as it starts off very sad, with Electra grieving for her father. By putting the characters within the set that was very bland, with a very run down looking area, doesn’t necessarily reflect the characters wealth yet the whole mood of the play.
The lighting for Electra was very simple and used in a naturalistic way. By keeping the lighting very simple it gives the audience the idea of the play being very naturalistic and straight forward. The designers started the play off with lighting the stage with a blue wash, this helped set the scene before the play had started, by giving everything as sad mood with the blue lights, this then faded into a general wash, as if it was a sun lit day, this made it clear to the audience that the play was starting. The designers chose to light the set with a yellow tinted wash, this linked well with the muted colours used within the set. The lighting remained in this general state for most of the play. However the designers used lighting to draw the audience’s attention within the set, like a light coming from within the house and out the door to show the audience that someone important will be entering the scene. Or in the scene where the chorus and Electra light the fire, the lighting focused one, red spot light onto that area to make it look bigger and more significant than it was on the stage. Small hints were made to the audience about the era that the play was set in through the use of lighting. The designers had placed lanterns around the area to not necessarily help light the area, yet to give the audience an idea of the time set, as they would not have had electricity in old time Greece. The lighting as never focused into sharp edged spot lights, as would make it look very serious and sharp, however they used very washed out lights which gave the scene a messy look, which could the relate to the mood that Electra was in.
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