Analysis

When I read a script for the first time, I analyze the scenes by the colors that best suit the mood. My first impression of the script led me to pinks, oranges and lavenders. It is the romance and setting of the Caribbean Illyria that formed these images in my mind. Psychologically, I see nothing dark about this play, but I have to remember the title is still a part of the play. The words “Twelfth Night” creates images of blues and dark colors which really does not go with the selected concept, but after reading the actual text I began to agree more with the chosen locale.

Viola’s (Brittney Kalmbach) journey is one of love. It begins with the decision to come to a new world, where her brother has good intentions of marrying her to someone who can care for her. But a storm changes their plans and separates the twins, forcing Viola to fend for herself in a man’s world. She takes on a new role and finds Orsino (Leo Barrales), a man in love with Olivia (Tori Ugarte). Olivia is in mourning for the loss of her father and brother and has turned her back on all courters, but eventually falls for the cross-dressed Viola. Viola’s twin brother Sebastian (Kevin Gonzales), who is assumed to have died at sea, appears in Illyria, and because he is Viola’s twin, they are mistaken for each other.

All of this is the set up for comical adventures with a sea captain, townspeople, Oliva’s servants, and Olivia. There are also subplots involving tricking a grumpy servant named Malvolio (Matt Guerra) and provoking a duel between Viola and Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Christopher Gelvin). The struggle of power is a major theme is these three story lines causing Viola’s change in gender appearance, Malvolio’s awkward behavior, and Sir Andrew’s idea that he has to fight for Olivia’s attention. The director decided to focus primarily on the first theme of masculine versus feminine by dividing the stage through scenery.

Stage right became Olivia’s world, lush in foliage and curved architecture. Stage left became Orsino’s world, very masculine and domineering over the rest of the stage with it’s second story. I retained this information and decided it would best be supported through color washes from opposite angles, but those final selections came later when I learned color schemes.

I really didn’t want to create light cues just for the sake of creating light cues, but the division of the stage made it feel as if every time we switched locales I had to change the focus. This kind of design always reminds me of a tennis match which fortunately, it really didn’t mimic. Lisa’s blocking took characters all over the stage regardless of where they truly were. Olivia chases Viola all over, even downstage of Orsino’s; Orsino, supposedly watching Olivia from a distance, wanders far downstage away from his home; Malvolio, Olivia’s servant, takes a seat on the steps of Orsino’s without leaving Olivia’s backyard.

Although I hate heavy isolation, I did want to really emphasize one part in particular. Viola seems to make a statement that I felt needed attention. Her aside sums up the main story line in two lines, much like the couplets at the ends of Shakespeare’s sonnets. Straight and to the point she says:

“yet, a barful strife!
Whoe'er I woo, myself would be his wife.”

The two lines preceding these are directed towards Orsino and are the start of the light cue that sweeps in towards her. And as soon as she’s said the next line, I began cross-fading to the next scene.

The first time Lisa saw this cue, she immediately came to me at the tech table and said the infamous phrase: “Roxanne, I think this cue is beautiful, but it’s a bit to theatrical. I think we need to cut it.” My first thought was to point out the historical inconsistencies on the stage or the fact that we were in fact sitting in a theater or the fact that she had described Illyria as a mystical place, but I remained calm and simply asked if there was anything I could do, because I really wanted the cue to stay where it was. She replied: “Maybe we could use it somewhere else, but it’s really… just… too theatrical,” then she walked away.

Later, we re-inserted the light cue in another place, it gave Viola more to say, but at this point in the script, I had grown weary of listening to Viola’s constant questioning of her abilities and actions in the story. Pointing out the foibles of the main character showed a weakness in the feminine though, creating the necessity to take on the masculine role for survival and I think it worked out fine in the end.

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Senior Project

We (the set designer) are now working on writing our senior project thesis so that we may graduate. We have already written an introductory paragraph, but it needs to be edited.


Below is my second section which deals with my first impresions of the play, which will be edited to go with hers. It is incomplete but it's a start.

I first met Lisa Wolpe in the movement class in spring of 2004. My first impression of her was one of amazement and intimidation. Her approach to teaching was one of Socratic Method, placing students in on-the-spot performance situations and answering in tones of skepticism and disbelief. She was not one to tout her own resume though, and I learned later from others of her very impressive list of qualifications.

During the winter quarter of 2005, the quarter when I took on Twelfth Night, I enrolled in Lisa’s directing class as part of my bachelor’s degree requirement. When I attended Fullerton College, I was able to design for a director while participating in their acting class. From that experience, I learned how to anticipate the director’s needs by seeing how they approach a script; I was hoping that would be the case again here, but it was not. Instead I was given a set of guidelines in Lisa’s class that plays should be directed with, but with Twelfth Night I witnessed the extreme disregard to those set rules.

My first meeting with the director, along with Bill Morse and Christina Russo, made me feel a bit unprepared. I had read the script, but was not given any information on the concept at this point, leaving me a bit in the dark when the set designer began pulling out photos of Caribbean architecture. I quickly had to begin rethinking my initial ideas due to the new information I received. My reading left me with a feeling of a romantic comedy that evolved into a television sitcom. Later miscommunications also had me confused on the final choice in time period; the director and costume designer both had about a century’s gap between ideal settings for the play.

After reading the play again, with more information to take into consideration, I began seeing the stage washed in pinks, oranges, and lavenders. I also had keywords straight from the director that I contemplated: “Life force.” Illyria is a mystical life force, lush with tropical foliage and femininity. Olivia and Viola take priority in the story, along with the gender change in casting for the role of Antonio, the Pirate King. The idea of life force immediately made me think green (a rather scary color for many light designers). Green is affiliated with many bad concepts (illness, envy, inexperience) and I had to try to position it in such a way that it would enhance the foliage and cover a wide area, but not affect the rest of the scenery or costumes and make-up for the actors.