Today’s workshop was focused on scenography; the visuals of theatre and the impact it has on a performance.

In world driven by developing visual mediums, such as HD cameras and screens that have the ability to capture the most subtle details and drones that can capture footage from new angles previously inaccessible. These developing medias create realistic portrays; portrayals that are almost better than seeing scenic views with the naked eye. Thus, theatre makers/ stage designers are faced with the challenge to create spaces on stage that are as equally pleasing to the spectators eye as is found through digital media.

in support of today’s discussion was read extracts from Arnold Arsonson’s Looking into the abyss: Essays on scenography (2005) in which he highlights that as human beings we are spatial creatures. He uses the example of baby being born, they shift form womb, an closed space, into an openness and thus instinctively respond to that new open space. When an audience is presented with a stage or a performance space, this becomes their focal point. It is a space open for interruption; which is heavily influenced by the spectator’s relationship and the play itself. For example, in 2012 I saw a production in London of the woman in black, throughout the show there would be occasional moments when the stage would be in complete darkness signalling that something terrifying was going to happen. At no point during that darkness was seeing an empty space, the darkness represented a presence.

It may be argued that within theatre scenography and semiotics are inextricably intertwined. They depend upon each other for their meaning. Arsonson views this interpretation of space as a ‘physiological phenomena’ (5) because it is a culturally constructed sign system. Different cultures assign different meaning to the same sign. Therefore in a live performance a spectators understanding of the semiotics within the play will depend upon that sign system they have been taught.

 

works cited

Hans-Thies Lehmann, T. H. (2006) Postdramatic Theatre. Translated by Jürs-Munby, J. London: Routledge.