Much Ado About Nothing

Group 54

Director: Ronnie Featherson

Set Design: Amber Cao

Lighting Designer: Andrew Caysido

Costume Designer: Mi Hong

THE DIRECTOR

A collaborator of theatrical aspects.

A Director’s Duties:

Coordinates aspects of the production

• Scene

• Costume

• Lighting

• Sound Design

• Chooses a script

• Develops the “spine” of the play

• Designates the Style of the play

• Casts the play

• Holds rehearsals

• And holds the final decision on what the audience will see.

The Director Must Choose A Script!

The theatrical play being discussed will be William Shakespeare’s, Much Ado About

Nothing.

Creating a “SPINE” for the Play

The “main action” will encompass characters being masked and truth’s turning into deception, while

when the smoke clears; LOVE trumps all the manipulations.

Choosing a Style for our Play

We will be implementing a Realism style to the play.

The play should present a realistic atmosphere to help the audience engage

in a natural scenery.

The acting must represent the 16th century lifestyle in Messina.

Though the genre of this play is a comedy the actors should present a natural

environment that includes their comedic acting.

Setting the Scene

The scene/setting should have Classical and Renaissance inspired influences.

The Setting and Location

The production will be set in 1600’s

It will be known that the location is a small town in Messina, Italy.

The scenery and props should be functional and portray the feel of the time period.

Focusing on a Central Image

It’s is important to have a running metaphor or image throughout the

production.

For our production, we will have the running image of MASKS.

The masks will keep out of view the unappealing traits of characters from the

rest of the casts.

Costume Costume should represent the time

period of the 1600’s

Colors should be warm neutral tones native to

Italy.

Lighting Lighting is a key component in this production

It should be used to focus the audience, and at times “mask” and scatter the vision of the audience.

CastingMale Leads

Leonato- Ian McKellen

Don Pedro – Jake Gyllenhaal

Claudio – Joesph Gordon- Levitt

Benedick- Johnny Depp

Don John – James Franco

Borachio – Leonardo Dicaprio

Conradee – Michael Ealy

Dogberry - Mel Gibson

Verges- Jonah Hill

Female Leads

Beatrice – Nicole Kidman

Hero- Anne Hathaway

Antonia – Diane Keaton

Margaret – Liv Tyler

Ursula – Natalie Portman

Keeping the Directional Concept

Keep to the original theme and direction Shakespeare intended.

Use the power of words to create images.

The inability of characters to detect the truth from falseness.

The use of “MASKS” throughout the production.

The realization of inadequacies of true love.

Set Designer

Stage-Proscenium Stage

-Creates a separation between the stage and the audience.

-”Fourth wall” is created as though the audience is visualizing the scene from a transparent glass wall and are able to view the three walls of the room.

-Audience facing the stage.

-The stage area allows for a more deep and elaborate scenery.

-By having scene changes concealed behind a proscenium opening, it offers a perfect arrangement for spectacle.

-Provides a more realistic scenery .

-Stage must be large and spacious for this play.

Mood and Style

*-The setting of play can establish the mood, style, and meaning of a play.

*-The use of lights can help distinguish the mood using colors, tint, etc.

The genre of ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ is a romantic comedy. To establish the mood and style of this play I would include an exaggeration of lights color and make the scene fun and comedic. To correlate with the realism style of this play I would design the stage so that the props and lightening can produce a mood in accordance to the characters.

-The architecture of the set must be arranged to fit Italy in the 1600s.Ex: Arches and columns.

Realistic and Nonrealistic Scenery

*The stage designer’s role is of special importance in distinguishing between realism and non-realism.

To create a realistic scenery I would showcase the war as a symbol in this production. The drama includes many real life situation. A main theme would be the love between the character. The play begins with the soldiers returning from a battle but the war continues on with arguments between the characters. Ex: Beatrice and Benedick (“Merry War”) The set design will provide an audience with a true idea of which the stage will appear to look like Leonato’s home; room and halls. The realistic scenery will resemble a room of any household in the 1600s.

Locale and Period

*-Whether realistic or nonrealistic, a stage set should tell the audience where and when the play takes place.

The production of this play is set in the, 1600s in the small town of Messina, Italy in the time period of the Renaissance. The scenery and props will have a background of arches around the house and stairs with an Italian feel to showcase ancient Rome. The architecture of the stage will be able to represent the wealthy people who reside in the the home. The props used would also help determine the period in which the play is being taken place.

The Design Concept

*-The design concept is a unifying idea carried out visually.

The design concept of this play will be a setting in which would showcase a place of an idyllic setting, a place away from the actions of war. The whole concept of design is to take away from the downs of the war and rejoice in a new area with a holiday-like mood that includes a comedic entertainment of wit. The setting of this play should showcase a stage with a very festive, romantic, loving banter atmosphere. The design concept of ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ should present a setting of architecture (columns, broad windows) to represent the social status of the characters in the time period of the 1600s in Messina.

The Central Image or Metaphor

*-Stage design not only must be consistent with the play but also should have it own integrity.

The setting of stage will be of Leonato’s house. His house is the central image/metaphor throughout the play. Leonato’s house is a place for soldiers to return and visit. Leonato’s house is used as a central image of the place of Messina, a battlefield, and creates an illusion of festive and lively environment a mind away from the war. Leonato’s home has a setting where the characters can find romance.

Coordination of the Whole

*-The designer has an obligation to provide scenery consistent with the intent of the play and the director’s concept.

The stage of the play should be emphasized and produced well because it shows the concept of the setting of Messina. I would incorporate the time period of the play and keep the theme that Shakespeare had intended. I would also provide a setting in which one can understand the characters. The setting well help provide an emphasis to the “masks” throughout the production and the different sides of the characters.

Solving Practical Design Problems

*-Each script presents unique practical problems which must be solved by a designer;  often these practical problems will help determine the concept and other design decisions for a play.

As a designer I must find a way to achieve either of these effects, of setting/stage changes. For example, the setting change to incorporate both the house and the garden. To create that setting I must establish a style and determine how the stage must be used in the production. In creating a stage set, the designer must be aware of several elements.

Garden on left, house on right.

Light Designer Spotlighting the show.

Aspects of Light Designing:

Duties include:

Creating, installation, and setting controls for stage lighting.

Properties of Stage Lighting:

1. Intensity

2. Color

3. Distribution

4. Movement

Light Intensity Much Ado About nothing includes a climatic scene in which the intensity of

light or brightness is important for climatic scenes at night where very little light is needed.

Such as is in the scene where Claudio confronts the false lies of Hero’s unfaithfulness, planned by Don john.

In this scene the use of dim right light will be shown at the window where the occurrence takes place.

To accomplish this, and

ellipsoidal reflector

spotlight will be used to

spotlight the window,

where the scene takes

place.

Color Is a very powerful part of lighting, and ignites the mood of

the scene.

Colors are selected to support choices made by scenic and costume designers to support the many actions of the play.

Color will alter and transform the stage set, changing and establishing different moods.

We’ll be using color to transform the set to illuminate the audiences imagination.

Distribution

We’ll be using stage lights that will be positioned from above. This is an excellent angle for lighting the actor’s face without creating shadows.

• Lighting which positions a lighting instrument being used at an angle at which the light strikes the performers onstage.

Movement Last property of light design where the lighting

comes to life.

Our purpose of light movement is to carry the viewer’s eye from one place to another by shifting the focus of lights.

This would give a rhythm of movement throughout the play and would also focus the audience's attention on certain areas of the stage as well as supporting the elements.

Spotlights We’ll be using the most widely used and

renowned Ellipsoidal reflector spotlights in our production.

This will be our “workhorse” in our lighting practice.

This will attract our audiences to the center of attention of the climactic scene bringing the “limelight” to our actors.

Qualities of a Good Light Designer:

A masterful light designer knows how to effectively collaborate with costume set designers, and the director.

Must know the plot and how to incorporate lighting to ignite the tone and mood of the play. The “pacemaker”.

Must be a master electrician responsible for preparation, hanging, and focusing lights.

Costume Designer

Objectives of Costume Designer

Establish the style of the production

Indicate the historical period of a play and locale

Indicate the nature of individual characters

Show relationships among characters

Symbolically convey the significance of the characters

Meet the individual needs of the performers

Be consistent with the production

StyleThe style that the characters will wear are of

high class and very elegant. They also will dress similarly to the 16th century renaissance

time period.

CharactersMen

The main male characters of this play are soldiers that have just gotten out of war, so they are generally wearing their uniforms. Their uniforms should be lightweight as well to allow them to move comfortably on stage.

CharactersThe main female characters of this play would wear light dresses but knee length to allow themselves the ability to move freely across the stage. Also flats for the women to look formal but comfortably perform on stage. Their makeup should be simple and very little to show their natural beauty.

Women

CostumesHero

To represent the character, Hero’s, innocence she would wear a white dress that curves to her body but isn’t too revealing.

Claudio

Since this character is a soldier who just returned from war, he wears his uniform to show his chivalry.

CostumesBeatrice

This character is more free minded and witty so her dress should have more color.

Benedick

This character is also a soldier that returned from the war but should have more color in his uniform, possibly in his ribbons or medal to show his similar personality to Beatrice.

CostumesDon Pedro

This character is referred to as a prince and has also come back from war. His uniform should be more decorated than Benedick and Claudio but still have the same color uniform.

Don John

This character is known as the villain through out the play. His costume

should be mostly black and red to

represent his dark

personality

Character Relationships

The two characters Hero and Claudio should both have shades of white to indicate their strong connection together and young pure love.

The two characters Beatrice and Benedick should have costumes that have more color to show their free quick witted minds that spark connection to one another.

Character Relationships

In Act II, the play’s setting is at a masked ball and all the characters wear a mask that cover parts of their face but still allows the audience to see which character is underneath the mask

The masks symbolize the theme of treachery as each character hides through their lies and deception.