In what ways were drama techniques and effects used?

We came across many problems with the staging of our production because we had different ideas we wanted to communicate. Firstly we wanted to create the idea of a circus by using Theatre in the round however there were more cons than pros and although this helped create an image of the circus the room was too small which would limit the audience we had. Also, it would be challenging because we would have to perform to both sides which would limit how we acted in the scene.

After trying out different styles of staging we decided on having the audience end on this helped increase the size of the audience and made it simple for us the actors because we only had to perform to the front. We also decided on having an apron through the middle because it helped us get on and off and were an extra exit when needed to leave the stage but was also good to get close to the audience and interact with them more.

The set of our production was simple because we had limited equipment but also we wanted to keep it simple because it meant as a group we would have to work harder to create the illusion and let the audience use their imagination. We used basic props as well because there were numerous scenes so it was difficult to take them on and off. We decided on a few scenes were props were necessary e.g. clown scenes and Punch and Judy we found that we needed props in Punch and Judy because they help the storyline and create the characters, props helped make Punch and Judy look more like a cartoon and helped make it humorous because we exaggerated the size of the props e.g. Punch had a huge cigarette. We wanted to put a modern spin on Punch and Judy while sticking to the original storyline and the props are what help the audience to familiarize with it.

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In general we used physical theatre techniques meaning most scene had no or very little speech. This meant we had to show messages through symbolic movement. Our body movements and facial expressions helped convey the message to the audience. For example in The Mirror Scene we had to show the difference between two characters without speaking so we used exaggerated faces and movements to express the emotion of the piece.

We used lighting and sound throughout the production to convey the atmosphere and emotion of the piece. In the first scene we wanted to make the audience feel the excitement and thrill that a circus usually gives, so we used lots of different coloured flashing lights to give the idea of a circus and also disorientate the audience. The sound we chose was slightly strange sounding, we wanted to show that this wouldn't be a typical circus and give the impression something scary was going to happen. Another sound we used was a drumming sound to crate the idea of panic and chase with flashing bright lights to disorientate the audience again.

For the end scenes we wanted to show a contrast between the emotions of the first half of the play were we symbolised in one scene love with soft pink lighting and classical music with the darkness of the second half. During the freaks scene we tried out different sounds however decided that we would make the noises and overlap each other, making it distorted. This meant the noise wouldn't be clear and keeping the lighting dark and too a minimal with just one single light on helped create an uneasy atmosphere and keep the audience on their toes.

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