The space I created, I believe is a metaphorical feeling of a pressured and enclosed space.
With this fake perspective, my aim is to force the audience to be always focused on the doors as this space becomes more and more closed during the progression of the play. The double and different images of the set, brings the audience right into the space as they are given the impression they are the judges or puppet masters.
Just as Gods would judge humans for their actions, good and bad. In the beginning of the development of my idea for the floor originaly made out of plexi-glass with the use of projection under the stage, it would change (this idea did not follow through as the technicality of it was too great and over abiscious!) and would carry us into different locations throughout the play and also embody the unhealthy madness that some of characters create for themselves, these different worlds they embody and think they master. As madness cannot be mastered, our fates aren’t either able to follow.
Appearances and disappearances are as equally important, I had to fully incorporate this into my set, these entrances and exits vary throughout the space and are crucial. This is the reason for the different shapes of doors in the flats; each door represents a different feeling for each scene. Depending on which shape the door has when the actor enters, whether he is visible or not, how the light is used and how the actor emerges from the darkness, sets the tempo and gives an idea about the events that are about to be revealed within the scene. For example at the end Act III scene ii (the scene before Ferdinand catches the Duchess speaking of her incriminating act with Antonio) the key is given to Ferdinand by Bosola, the whole theatre is under darkness, only a tube of light shines between them as he gives him the key to the Duchesses bedchamber, the front part of their faces appear - the key between them.
Having a semi reflecting folia on stage, gives great opportunities for creating the space but also in technical terms it is challenging for lighting and what we are able to see behind the scenes, I find that in the actual production of this space, I will have a few surprises! I believe that there is only so much I can do for this project in order to resolve these problems, and having an accurate model wouldn’t be sufficient. But it would help to illustrate the interchange between lightness and darkness, how it evolves and how it changes during the performance. I hope that through the use of my pictures of the model, I will be able to create the sense and the feeling for each situation.
Sketches of key Situations in the Play
