The Directors Notebook for William Shakespeare's London Theater: The Winter's Tale Set Design - Term Paper Example

 The Director’s Notebook for William Shakespeare’s London Theatre: The Winter's Tale Set Design William Shakespeare displays his prowess in playwright in the play, The Winter's Tale that became an instant success. The global success of the play arises from the effective use of literary techniques coupled with realistic themes Shakespeare addresses in the play. Art provides representation of a society with the artists often using their artistic talents to criticize the society. William Shakespeare portrays this as he criticizes the society and numerous human features through creative thematic issues prevailing in the society. He does some using creative and appropriate characters who exhibit the qualities that enhance the intended messages in the play. Additionally, Shakespeare constructs his statements artistically using appropriate languages thereby not only criticizing the society but also uses his choice of language to define his target audience. Among the most conspicuous themes in the play is friendship. Friendship refers to the cordial relationship among people who share common values. It thus is a common virtue in every society and Shakespeare strive to portray the nature of the relationships and friendship at different levels. The play opens up with Polixenes, the King of Bohemia visiting his lifelong friend, Leontes, King of Sicilia. The two were cordial friends and had misses each other for long. The two share a strong bond of love and affection as they share intimate stories and make merry in a celebration of their reunion. Among the features of friendship, that the play portrays is the fact that friendship develops progressively as people spend more time together. Additionally the play portrays that when friends do not see each other for a long time, they miss each other a feature that wells emotions thus validating the intensity of the bond between the two friends when they see each other. Another equally conspicuous theme in the play is jealousy and its destructive effects. Jealousy is a human feeling that resonates in heightened negativity thus destruction both at personal and society levels. After spending nine months in Sicilia, Polixenes decides to go back to his kingdom an occurrence that Leontes opposes and therefore decides to persuade his friend otherwise. He does not succeed and therefore sends the wife Queen Hermione to persuade Polixenes to hang about a while longer. The wife succeeds without much effort a feature that makes the king jealous. The following is a series of accusation and counter accusations that eventually destroy the life of the king. Leontes, King of Sicilia is jealous of his friend thus accuses his own wife of infidelity. He exposes both his wife and daughter, who he claims is a bastard to numerous undesirable features thus killing the wife. Such is a perfect manifestation of the extent of jealousy and its destructive nature. Blocking Among the major effects of the King’s jealousy is suffering. The king causes suffering to numerous other characters in the play. Shakespeare covers the suffering through vivid description of both the settings and actions in the play. Queen Hermione pleads innocent; the king refuses to believe her and therefore orders for her banishment from the kingdom coupled with intense punishment. Such actions cause the elderly woman intense physical and psychological sufferings. The queen later gives birth; the daughter undergoes intense pain in her innocence because of the king’s jealousy and obsession with power both of which capitalize on the position of women in the society. Mammillius, the son of queen Hermione for example becomes sick and later dies because of the pain he feels seeing his mother humiliated and tortured. The king therefore loses his prince and eventually hurts as well. This way, Shakespeare artistically develops the connection and sequence of soreness in the society thus portraying the ramifications of jealousy. The play portrays the position and roles of women in the early English society. The male chauvinist society has a series of structures that enable the men to subdue their women. The women are therefore submissive and have specific roles in the society. Leontes, King of Sicilia for example has numerous hateful ideas about women. The ideas dominate nearly half of the play as the king accuses his own wife of infidelity. He neither trust nor believe her and therefore exposes her to extreme rough handling and humiliation. The association connecting the king and his queen depicts the position of women in the society. The woman tries to defend herself but the society does not believe her owing to the influence of the king coupled with the widespread position of women in the society. Gender is therefore a major theme in the play as William Shakespeare strives to present the position of women in the early English society. William Shakespeare develops a unique structure in the play owing to his ability to infuse intense pain and suffering in the first three acts in the play but ends the play comical and happy acts. As such, compassion and forgiveness are two major themes in the play especially in the final acts. In the final acts, King Leontes is distressed and mourns for his loving wife. Furthermore, the kingdom needs an heir but the death of Mammillius means that the kingdom would not have any. The king mourns for is wife in a show of compassion as he realizes his mistakes. He sanctions the creation of her sculpture. The move among many other cases in the play portrays the society’s obsession with arts and culture. When complete, the sculpture reminds the king of his lovely wife thus heightening his emotion. Miraculously, the sculpture turns into the queen to the amazement and merriment of the king. He rejoices and apologizes. This way, the play ends on a happy tone with both the characters and the audience learning the importance of conclusively in the development of cohesive societies. Other themes in the play are youth and old age as Shakespeare tactful analyses the disparity between the two age brackets. The old such as the two kings and their age mates in the society have a different view in the society as they humiliate their women. The youth on the other hand are increasingly becoming liberal and mindful of the position and roles of women in the society. The play also portrays Shakespeare’s obsession with time thus making time a fundamental theme in the play. Winter is a season thus a time, the use of such coupled with Shakespeare description of time in the play implies that time is of essence in the play since it influences the different ideologies. Theatre and Stage The stage will include numerous features key among which will be the royal setting complete with the king’s royal seat. The heavily carpeted floor is clean and equally colorful in order to portray the wealth and generosity of Sicilia. As the king arises to welcome his friend Polixenes, the King of Bohemia, the stage must appear vivid portraying the lavish life of the royal families in the society. The two kings then retreat to palace a feature that requires the stage to portray all the features of a palace. The stage should therefore exhibit dynamism and easy of change as the stage changes in accordance with the dictates of a scene. Later in the film when the jealousy of king compels him to jail his wife for fears of adultery, the stage must change immediately to present the beautiful queen in prison. The stage will therefore comprise of caged bars and scanty placement of facilities. The state of the prison must exhibit the deplorable situation in which the prisons in the kingdom were in thus resulting in the queen’s sickness and eventual death. The dynamism of the stage requires that the each scene in the play has a unique stage that befits the action in each scene. The two are fundamental features that influence the consumption of media content especially plays. The creation of the stage, which in this contexts acts as the setting of the action, influences the effectiveness of the drama thus enhancing the success of the play. Different adaptations of the play in the contemporary theaters in order to fit the modern film and drama audience registered varied success. Key among such is in 2013 by the RSC in Royal Shakespeare Theatre. The theatre is strategic and offers the modern audience the modern ambiance. The success of the play portrays the appropriateness of the play written 1923 even in the modern society and the success of the developers to create an appropriate theatre and stage for the play. Design: Set and Costumes Leontes, King of Sicilia will be dressed in crisp yellow robes fastened at the waist in a portrayal of his royal status. Yellow is a distinct color that portrays the royalty of a host. Additionally, he will have the royal crown on his head in a show of his royalty. He will have low heal sandals to portray both the comfort that a king requires and the fashion sense of the time. Accentuated with an equally royal belt hat fastens the robe around the waist, the king will therefore exhibit the comfort and luxury required of a royalty. His friend, Polixenes, the King of Bohemia is yet another royalty but a guest. The guest thus dresses in equally flamboyant attire with the view of portraying his royalty. Polixenes, the King of Bohemia will therefore dress in an equally befitting cloak thrown to the back and fastened at the waist. He will also have low and comfortable sandals and a crown of his own. The two crowns must therefore differ in the design in order to portray the difference. Other characters in the play will also have unique costumes that portray their respective roles and position in the play. The queen will have costumes hat portray both her feminism and flamboyancy of her palace while the servants of the palace will have costumes that portray the uniform and discipline required of their respective positions. Set and costumes are some of the basic features mandatory in a play. The two enhance the communication roles of a play by ensuring the typical representation of ideas as presented by the author. As discussed earlier, time is a major theme that William Shakespeare strives to portray in the play. This implies that any subsequent adaptations must strive to capture the essence of time through the numerous ways key among which is through costumes. Dressing the characters must therefore portray the historical timing of the play. This will require specially designed costumes to exhibit the attire in the early civilizations. Additionally, attires portray timings of the day and seasonality. The costumes of the characters must therefore exhibit such basic functions ensuring that the characters dress appropriately for the different climatic condition and times. Design: Lights and Sound Light performs the basic illumination function thus ensuring that the action on stage in visible. However, as a communication medium in arts, light helps communicate fundamental features of play thus requiring effective consideration in the design of a play. The same applied to sound, which refers to both the audibility of the discussion of the characters and the theme songs among many other fundamental types of sounds in a play. In reproducing the play, lighting and sounds remain important in ensuring that the play communicates effectively to the contemporary audience. Lighting the stage effective is essential in enhancing the consumption of a play. Illumination of every part of the stage is fundamental in ensuring that the action is visible from every part of the theatre. Manipulating the intensity of the light on stage helps vary the themes of the stage thus portraying the different times such as day time, night and the dinginess associated with cells among other similar places. The audibility of the characters on stage is paramount. This implies that even when the characters talk in low tones, the entire auditorium must hear them. Besides the voices of the characters, theme songs among other sounds must complement the thematic issues in the play with the developers ensuring to capture the varying tones in the play as they change seamlessly from the sad preliminary episodes to the comical ending. Scene Direction This refers to the nature of action in a scene. The chronological flow of action coupled with the appropriate dressing of the characters and the numerous sounds and lighting of the scene are some of the fundamental features that require effective directing in order to ensure that the play is a success. The first act of the play for example opens with the Polixenes, the King of Bohemia entering the palace of his old friend Leontes. The heightened action coupled with the intense happiness requires a series of activities music and lighting to portraying both the ambiance and the message. The lighting of the stage should for example portray the daytime thus requiring an effective illumination of the entire stage. This makes every activity on the stage visible. The two kings must beam in joy and happiness as they hug each other. The effective lighting of the stage must portray the lavishness of the occasion as Leontes welcomes his friend into his palace. The palace turns busy as the two jokes and laugh. Different lighting intensities will help accentuate the happiness of the occasion. The scenes in the act are busy with numerous characters as the two king’s feast with their friends and the family of king Leontes. This implies that such sense area busy with numerous characters. While the tables in the dining area will portray intense activity, the sounds the audiences hear must emanate from the table of the two kings. The other sounds will therefore provide a slow hum of natural sounds expected in celebratory occasions. Characters and Casting Polixenes, the King of Bohemia and Leontes, King of Sicilia will both be charismatic characters who can not only master their respective speeches but also exhibit their royalty and confidence. The two characters must therefore have befitting personality traits such as the generosity and charisma required of royalties. The same applies to the queen who must have the beauty and graceful personality required of a queen. Additionally, she will exhibit a submissive personality in order to portray the position of women in the society. Additionally, the sequence of action in the play must follow the play as developed by the author. This enhances the reception of the play since the audience will relate with the community developed in the play as an actual representation of the society developed by the author of the play. Such features as costumes, lighting and sounds are fundamental and must influence the action of the characters while on stage. Conclusion Audience satisfaction is always paramount; the developer must therefore strive to satisfy the unique demands of the audience. This requires the portrayal of different features of the plat as portrayed by William Shakespeare in his original play. The audience in this context must relate with the ideas presented in the play. The play is a typical placement of the action in Shakespeare’s action in the contemporary society without changing anything. This helps portray the change in the gender roles and the position of women among other thematic issues that Shakespeare addresses in the play. The audience must therefore see this and judge for themselves the gender roles in the early society thus compare such to the current state of affairs in the country such are important issues that the audience identify with thus heightening their concentration in a play. Works cited Shakespeare, William. The Winter's Tale. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1908. Print. Read More