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Punch Drunk

OPC

Refer to the question

Extract ( quotes)

Play as a whole

Aim/ Impact on the audience

Target from last essay: justify all of my ideas and keep coming back to my concept

As a director, discuss how you would apply the methodologies of your chosen theatre
practitioner to the stage pictures of your production concept.

Extract P42 - P44

Antigone is a play written by Sophocles about familial love, corruption of power and justice. I
have chosen PunchDrunk as my practitioner as they use a fully immersive stage space, set
up in large warehouses and transforming the space into the world of the play, adapting to the
site (site-specific set). I would do the same: creating the world of my concept- post-war
London- in an intricate, lifelike set. I have chosen to set my production in post-war London as
the play itself is set after a war, and I also felt that the theme of questioning those in power
would fit in well in this era as it saw the rise of dictatorships (e.g Hitler). Questioning those in
power is my aim of my production: I want my audience to reflect on current and past
governments after watching the play as to have a lasting impact. The original play would’ve
been performed in an amphitheatre with simpler stage pictures, but I am more inspired by
PunchDrunk’s symbolic use of design, portraying plot and meaning.

In the extract, we see an interaction between Theriasis- a powerful seer- and Creon- the
dictator-like king, corrupt with stubbornness and power. To show how Theriasis is
questioning Creon’s leadership, I would place them in a set incongruous with my costuming
of Creon. In the Prologos, my audience would’ve entered a broken down pub on a street to
watch Antigone and Ismene’s blasphemous conversation, as PunchDrunk always have a bar
included in their set. On this same street I would create a small, dark, mysterious shop with
imagery of witchcraft and magic such as constellation drawings and a beaded curtain
entrance, using flats to create the walls- as do PunchDrunk. This use of flats is not dissimilar
to the original performance conditions where setting would be inferred by the use of rolling,
painted flats called skenes. My set, however, would be much more intricate and realistic, so
my audience feel as if they are actually walking into Theriasis’ shop. As the shop is small
and claustrophobic, I would have only a few audience members enter at a time, in very small
groups. This is a PunchDrunk technique called One-to-ones, where audience members are
selected to watch scenes close up. The shop would be decorated with draping purple, blue
and green fabrics and with haze created by incense, as PunchDrunk often use haze to
create a feeling of discovery. Haze also accentuates lighting choices effectively, so I would
use this in my prop of a light up glass orb in the centre of the room, placed on a small, round
table. On the line “You’re like a man balanced on a razor,/ Likely to fall- or cut himself to
pieces” I would have the orb glow red, changing the hue of the whole room, to foreshadow
Creon’s impending downfall. My choice of red is symbolic, as not only would my audience
relate this to death and blood, but also because in the rest of my production, red symbolises
the “fire glowing within” Antigone- showing how Antigone has formed part of Creon’s
downfall. PunchDrunk often use symbolic meanings behind design elements.

My costume, as mentioned before, would work to isolate Creon and make him seem like he
does not fit in with his surroundings, creating a visually interesting stage picture. This would
make my audience question his authority, as he would appear less intimidating as he does
earlier in the play, where he is surrounded by people dressed similar to him. I would costume
him in mid-brown leather shoes with a navy chalk stripe single-breasted suit and matching
navy blue hat- a style of clothing popular for upper-class men in 1930s London, giving an
overall put together look, showing his wealth and power. As he sits at Teriasis’ table on the
line “Tell me what you mean”, however, my audience would immediately see how he is
beginning to fall from power. As he sits down, he would take off his hat for the first time in
the play so far, revealing thinning hair from old age, immediately downgrading his sleek
clothing. This messy hair may remind the audience of some questionable leaders we have
had in the past (Boris Johnson and Trump), therefore promoting them to question his
reliability. In other moments of the play, I would costume him in a beret, a symbol of military
power and also reminiscent of dictators of the past such as Hussein and Franco. As
Teiresias tells him of his impending downfall, I would direct the actor playing Creon to take
off his suit, as if he is getting flustered and feels intimidated by this questioning. Under his
suit he would have a bright-white, ironed, button up shirt with a navy blue tie, contrasting to
the deep, jewel-toned aesthetics of the room, which is inspired by Romani fortune teller
shops. This would be the same shirt he wears throughout the production, and by the
Exodus- when he pleads “I should be dead”- I would dress him in this shirt without the tie
and in a much more dishevelled, wrinkled condition, showing how he has lost his dignity and
power. Furthermore, it would be stained red from cradling his dead son Haemon from the
scene before. In the original performance conditions, this scene wouldn’t actually have been
acted out, as it is told to the audience by a messenger. But I, as do PunchDrunk, feel that
physically portraying story to the audience rather than telling is much more effective.

Teriasis, on the other hand, I would dress in robes not completely dissimilar to the ones he
may have worn in the original performance conditions, when actors wore simple one
coloured tunics. On top of a blue simple tunic I would have the actor playing Teriasis wear
an abundance of scarves similar to the ones draping the room, and wear dangly gold
earrings and necklaces with rune symbolism. As I would be utilising the PunchDrunk
technique of One-to-ones, these small details would be seen by audience members close
up, which would’ve gone unnoticed in the massive scale audiences of the original
performance conditions, where audience members would be far from the action in an
amphitheatre. As Teriasis is a mythical character, I would dress this character in ungendered
clothing to show how he questions society’s structure and Creon’s authority, seen in the line
“With stubbornness… he is nothing but a fool.”. This openness and exploration of gender is
something that interests me as a director and is prevalent in theatre today. So, to engage a
modern audience, I would incorporate this in my costuming of Antigone as well, as she too
questions societal expectations. In an earlier scene where she is described as “burying the
body”, I would incorporate ancient Greek mourning rituals, where women would traditionally
pull out their hair. I would direct the actress to cut off her hair into a short, jagged cut similar
to that of her brothers using a knife from his trouser pocket, before putting on his coat with
padded shoulders and military embellishments such as badges, making her look like a male
soldier. The more rigid characters, such as Creon in this scene, and Ismene in the rest of the
play, would stick more strictly to gendered clothing, therefore highlighting rebellious
characters such as Antigone and here, Teriasis. This would therefore enforce my aim of
questioning those in power as it would bring attention to Creon’s narrow-mindedness.

To conclude, I would create visually interesting stage pictures pulling inspiration from
Romani culture and 1930s fashion, using symbolism to represent themes, character traits
and plot, and an immersive, realistic set, as do PunchDrunk.