In the dark.
Then silence
Only then would the play beginAnd I would make everything shorter - more concise.
If I did stage management, I would place everyone on a different level, give each their space in which to maneuver and a separate, unique dynamic.
If I had written the script, I would do it so that very next person speaking begins with a repetition of the last person's phrase. I would add humor, patches of light in the almost unbreakable dark.
I'll tell you what I do have control of - the music, lights and costumes. But we don't have the resources nor the equipment.
So I'm going to have to get creative.
The play, although one continuous flow, can be sub-divided into two parts.
In the first, it's a series of interlinking monologues - addressed to the audience and to themselves.
It's black.
There are four white spots, each positioned directly above the actors, so the light pools in a ring around them, falling over their heads and shoulders, illuminating most of their features - though the patches of darkness and uncertainty are there, flickering in and out of existence as the actor moves. The patches of ambiguity shrouding the character, the very ambiguity that allows for the message situation to be generalized for most rape cases.
When one moves and talks, their light is on. The others stand frozen, unmoving shadows in the darkness - silhouettes, invisible to the untrained eyes. This draws the audience's focus to the speaker, ensuring audience's undivided attention. The mind is drawn to what the eye can see, and the eye is drawn to the light.
This section reaches a climax as characters begin to talk over each other, mounting the tension until all four are talking over one another, yelling at the audience, moving agitatedly around their pool of light.
Here, the second portion of the play begins.
The victim steps on stage, and yells out "Shut up! All of you, just shut the hell up!" As soon as she begins to speak - the others are cut off, and freeze in place, still as statues.
Simultaneously triggered by her words, white and red floodlights illuminate the stage from both stage left and right, the light reflecting off the characters from bellow all of a sudden now instead of from above. Smoke would begin to roll across the floor, mixing the red and white lights in eery twirls as the smoke obscures the characters feet.
As soon as the victim continues talking, the spots slowly fade out of existence, as the red light glows increasingly stronger with the victim's anger.
Now allow me to explain - these aren't just lights positioned at random thing, well, this should look cool (although I would have to agree, it will look cool) - the spots from above, in the first part, are positioned to cast no shadows to represent each character's self-focus during the play, how they are talking to themselves, and are aware of none others around them as they are lost in thought. The audience, through this, appears to be merely an extension of themselves that they are addressing. The lights are also positioned from above in order to highlight that the struggle for the characters has to do with matters of the mind, and hence of a mixture of logic, thoughts, and emotions.
Later, when the light shines from bellow, this highlights the characters legs, and with that their ability to move - putting emphasis on the character's actions. The victim rages about their actions, derived from their minds and emotions, have affected themselves, others - and her.
The light is white for a duel purpose - one, to provide clarity, in the sense that as their is not excessive lighting being used due to limited resources available for the production, and this way the audience will be able to see the stage better. White also creates sharp contrasts between what is visible and what is not, reflecting the generalizations that one can draw from the performance and is applicable to reality, and what pertains to the ambiguous, our intervention and personal performance, and hence is fictitious and the translation may be ambiguous.
In India, white also represents mourning - hence it is appropriate for such a serious, depressing, tragic and very real subject matter.
The fog is a symbol of the Victim's inner turmoil, the mix of red and white light flooding the curling smoke representing her pain, blood and hurt (red) from what has occurred, and the white light her desire to move on, and continue living. The constant battle and mingling of the two visually illustrates her emotional turmoil for the audience to gape at, and brush the complexity of her feelings, visually viewing the mess being raped has led her to become. The fog and lights roll across the stage, flooding the entire stage, in an attempt to demonstrate how the victim's turbulent emotions affect everyone around her. As the stranger and politician are seated/ standing in slightly elevated positions, less fog reaches them - less of her emotions affect them, though they do not merely remain unaffected.
I'll post sound and costumes a little later. But yep, that's my plan :)
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