In keeping with the fantastical and idealistic world that I’ve been experimenting with over the past few weeks, I feel I’ve developed a concept that now has room for progression.

These are the ideas I have accumulated over the past couple of weeks:

*To take a fairy tale and the structure of a fairy tale as the basis from which to create my monologue – taking on story telling in its literal form

*To perform the piece to children – recreating fairy tales – Sarah Lewis Theatre Maker and Designer – the production of Rapunzel at the Nottingham playhouse – a structure built in the centre of the stage which the actors climbed to give the sense that Rapunzel was actually in a tower  – to recreate something similar in our studio space, maybe as in The Princess and the Pea…

Bignell, L. (2013) Rapunzel.

Lewis, S. (2013) Nottingham Playhouse Intermediate Youth Theatre.

Lewis, S. (2013) Nottingham Playhouse Intermediate Youth Theatre.

Lewis, S. (2013) Scale Models for the Willow Pattern.

The first image of Sarah Lewis’ designs I like for the projection on the screen at the back which creates a sense of time and place that can be specific and personal to the audience.  The second the use of light through the curtain that creates a little shadow and gives an element of darkness to something so beautiful and the third image I like for its use of shadows that creates something wonderful and mystical in what is seen to be another world.

*Using the studio walls as a chalkboard – the body as text

*A Shakespearean fairy tale  – a dream within a dream

*Using song lyrics as the basis from which to create text – playing with tone, pace and structure

In being influenced by all these ideas, I now wish to create a solo piece that explores the performative use of space.  A place of escape, a retreat from the busyness of everyday life.  It will delve into the innocence and playfulness of childhood that will retain a fairy tale-esque feeling, combined with the idea of a journey into the world in which struggles and obstacles are faced.

At this stage, I imagine that the performance will be very visual. As a result of this, my next step is to focus on the dialogue and the content of the piece that will hopefully tie together and strengthen the initial concept created.

My Stage Layout – Initial Idea:

Nicholls, N. (2014) Stage Layout.

References:

Bignell, L. (2013)  Theatre Designer. Model Maker. Prop Maker: Rapunzel. [online] Nottingham: Nottingham Playhouse.  Available from http://lucybignelldesign.blogspot.co.uk/ [Accessed 3 March 2014].

Lewis, S. (2013) Sarah Lewis: Theatre Designer and Maker. [online] Nottingham: Nottingham Playhouse.  Available from http://sarahlewisdesigns.tumblr.com/ [Accessed 3 March 2014].