!!!!DIRECTORS UNIFYING VISION!!!!
__The play Runied is about the struggle for freedom in a third world country in the brink of war in Africa. The overall design of the play will display a mood of despair using dirty colors mostly brown, beige and sand to show that everything is weathered and deteriorating while the war rages on. The clothes will be of torn and handed-down fabrics and African cultural fabrics to show their culture and old Swahili related fabrics. Lights will resemble the smoldering sun in the harsh climate as well as props that have to do with war related things, soldier outfits, camoflauge, guns, and jeep trucks.
THEATRICAL SPACE
The production will be shown at Artscape Theatre in Cape Town South Africa. This location has been chosen because it will hit home for many viewers being from the same continent as the play, having much more culture and relation to the area and being close but still far enough away to not be in a dangerous area and instead have it staged in a very large city to gather its revenue. The target audience will be of people ranging from seventeen years of age to as old as possible, that way with all the sexually explicit themes, it will not offend anyone or harm anyone to young to experience the themes presented as well as have people of the right age respect and understand what the characters are going through and at least of somewhat understand the challenges people like Salima and Sophie face in countries that are third world and overruled.
SCENIC DESIGN
The approach to the scenic design will be to take advantage of rusty pipes, old wood and anything from torn fabrics to splintered floors in order to capture the feeling of a brothel in the center of a third-world war zone. Fabrics will be used to cover the windows as well as destroyed shutters for protection. The main focused colors will be of wood in order to kind of give the feeling of an old Hooters that has been closed for years and looks very weathered in order to show that it was easily built with mainly plywood with hardwood floors as well as showing it is a place of good time on the inside with tragedy and danger outside.
COSTUME DESIGN
Clothing for both Mama, Salima & Sophie will be very African as well in order to show their cultural presented through what they wear. Mama will wear unrevealing clothing, for she does not want to attract men and is very hostile to them, she will wear thick looking blanket-like clothes with mystic patterns on the front to show she is very mysterious only showing very little of herself to the public and the people around her. Salima and Sophie will wear more Swahili type clothing consisting of matching headbands in shirts along with skirts, all of which have patterns on them consisting of animals and daily joys for a teenage girl. Sophie will however will be dressed in lighter colors to express her beauty more since she is described as the prettier one. However, the difference between them will show their differences but the Swahili type clothing will make them stand out much more than anyone else on stage making their differences work with the play. Christian will be dressed in an old business suit that looks very dusty and sandy and very unappealing to the eye to show he is always out and on the move as well as showing he does not earn enough money in order to pay for a new suit or anything else to wear to be specific. Towards the end of the play, Christian will be dressed in a new suit to show the new one he tries to impress Mama with but although it looks newer and less weathered or worn it still looks comical and unappealing. Mr. Harari will be dressed in a suit as well but instead show a very attractive suit for a rich young man and also have a fedora hat to match. Commander Osembenga will be equipped with a dark blue military uniform with many stripes and badges on the front to show of his importance in his army as well as e the only one of his battalion to not sport a hat. He will also have a strapped rifle on his back with a knife attached to the end with a battle knife attached to his belt and long black boots. Kisemba will have a red military outfit and have a much less professional uniform to show he is not part of the government but just citizen, he will sport a sawed off shotgun and a knife hanging out of his pocket with bullets attached on a strap going across his chest and back. The difference in color from blue to ed will show a similarity to the civil war confederates and yankees and help the audience see the differences in each and how they are at war with each other.
LIGHTING DESIGN
The lighting design for the production will be consisting of basic colors or yellow, beige, and a rustic sandy color to show the sand dry area around them as well as the hardwood floors that surround them. When their is danger such as hen Comm. Osembenga arrives the lights will turn darker with a tint of red in it to display fear of the character. When Salima or Sophie seem to be harassed by other drunk men, the lights will fade and focus on them entirely.
SOUND DESIGN
The sound for when war is approaching will be of loud bass-filled blasts and explosions as well as close gunfire t times but consistently keeping a sound of far away gunfire to sounds of the likes of hissing, cracks and whistles from a distance, giving a sense that the women are far enough to be safe but the war is still continuing. The main sounds that will be the basis of the entire production will be of African sounds of bongo drums, melodies played through flutes and shaking rain sticks to once again express the culture thriving through the building. The melodies will become louder than any other sound while Salima and Sophie are performing their numbers to show their beautiful voices and innocence while it will become much more powerful with sounds of trombones and tubas when Mama begins to sing, and Christian will give off a humorous weak sound to show even though he is a man he is not good with women and cant woo Mama. When military men come into the brothel, the sound goes from a slow chimeing melody to a strong fading alarm type sound to give off he presence of danger and evil accompanying the dark red tinted lights.
