Backdrop

I wasn’t sure whether I even needed a backdrop for my set. The pieces of scenery, i.e. the walls and the staircase, basically created the representation of the room. The audience just had to imagine the rest. I’ve seen plays where the stage has a permanent setting, and the only thing that changes are the props that are brought on, usually by the actors. I went to see Great Expectations at the Stables Theatre in Hastings, and the set for that just had some scaffolding set up, which was used in every scene. There was no backdrop or Flooring. But it worked just as well as if there had been.

Link to photographs: http://web.mac.com/artypharty/Site_9/Great_Expectations.html#9

Looking at my set I know I won’t need flooring, the black of the theatre floor works quite well. If I did choose to have flooring I wouldn’t know what to have, without being given moiré time to think it through. There could be a minimum of two complete scene changes in my design, and the flooring would be quite contrasting for either one. For example, if I chose to have wood panelling for my flooring for the interior scenes, when it came to the outdoor scene, wood panelling would look rather strange, and vice versa.

For the backdrop I have painted a continuation of the room and included a chandelier on it.
Originally I had made it quite detailed, and included the stripes. However, when it was next to the other bits of scenery, I found that it distracted me and I ended up looking at the background instead. I also moved the chandelier further down the backdrop, because when I had put the teasers in the chandelier was hidden.

First Attempt

Second Attempt

The backdrop was glued to a piece of 6mm dowel to enable it to become interactive.

The staircase is too big to move on and off the stage, therefore it will be a permanent structure on the stage. For the outdoor scene later on, there would be another backdrop positioned in front of the staircase, so for that scene the actors would perform downstage. For other scenes props like the books can easily be moved on and off, and I have checked that both bookcase and the smaller decaying wall both can fit through the gap and be moved on or off if needed.