Much like the lighting, the sound was to be simple and only played when necessary, for instance, the television show theme music was used to represent someone flicking through the channels of the television. The main sounds for 130,000 were two recorded verbatim extracts, added effects were made to the recordings, using the programme Audacity, to represent a televised and radio interview.

Below is the television theme music before the recording and effects were added:

Tv channel

Below is the final audio for the televsion theme music with added effects and recording:

Tv channel 2

Below is the recording for the radio verbatim with added effects:

Rob Radio Speech

Other sounds were used to determine where characters were, for instance, Ronnie’s witness to the stabbing outside was illustrated by a traffic sound effect, along with a Jay-Z song, as this is mentioned later on in the play.

 

 

The role of the lighting designer is a modern role within theatre, ‘in British theatre the term was largely unknown until the 1960s, when lighting was still controlled by the Stage Manager or Director’ (Palmer, S., 2010, p. 98). However, with the development of sophisticated lanterns and control systems it was realised that lighting had an important role within a performance, hence the need for a lighting designer.  Much like the stage management team, the lighting team differs depending on the size of the company and venue. A typical theatre company would include: a chief electrician (Chief LX), a deputy electrician (Deputy LX), two assistant electricians (Assistant LX) and a six or more casual staff (Palmer, S., 2010 p. 98). The lighting designer must produce a lighting plan, specify the types of lantern required and their direction, focus, intensity and colour.

WAKEUP Theatre transforms the same space into different spaces therefore, lighting is integral to that process. In 130,000 it was decided that all lights were to be simple and effective therefore, no colour was to be used so as not to distract the audience from the dialogue. The only exception to this was the sofa scene. To represent the characters watching the television a blue and white chase was originally used however, during the technical run this was found to be ineffective. It was then decided to use four colour gels and for each colour coordinate to the different sound effects. All the verbatim extracts were to be in spotlights and snap off to the next lighting state, this is because they needed to be distinguished from the fictional text. All other lighting states were simple washes firstly, to illustrate where the characters were and secondly, our chosen stage area meant limited rigging space within the venue.

Works Cited

Palmer, S. (2010) Essential guide to Stage Management, Lighting and Sound, Oxon: Hoddereducation