Many of the scenes are written to take place sitting down, but Carousel Players will be performing a version of The Incredible Speediness of Jamie Cavanaugh that is anything but static. Creating various levels of acting space also helps evoke the larger atmosphere of a suburban neighbourhood.īy challenging the conditions and scenarios in the play, Carousel Players will be creating more dynamic scenes than would be imagined if you followed the specific description of action in the script.
The set is designed so that there are ladders and stairs leading to various acting spaces, such as Jamie’s hideout, which will be the highest place where performing happens. An idea that Scott took from the preliminary design workshop was the use of the ladders as raised areas for acting. He says he approaches design by taking on board the actor’s perspective, to make sure the set is usable and useful. Scott underlined how the initial workshop, which we wrote about in our first blog, contributed to the set design. Normally, keeping a student audience interested during a play is difficult, but with all of the elements being used in this production, the quickness of Jamie Cavanaugh should keep the audience’s attention! On reflection, this reasoning does make sense because if the set can pull the audience in quickly, their focus on the stage action could indeed be heightened. Scott believes it will work well because the set will draw in the audience as soon as they enter the theatre so they get excited and start to understand how superheroes and comic books are used in the play. We asked Scott if the complex set design – with its colour scheme, its swooshes, and its backdrop of skyscrapers – might be distracting for audiences of middle school students. Scott agrees that it is a very useful way of rehearsing because sometimes, when the set is not present, actors get used to blocking with set pieces that are nothing like the final product. As Scott mentioned, the first mounting of this show had over two hundred props, which was not easy for the actors, so everything that can be done to make their jobs more streamlined is welcome!Ĭarousel Players insists on having the set in place from the very start of rehearsals so that the actors can fully experience it and allow for physicality, which is essential in children’s theatre, to emerge. The rolling furniture will allow for an abundance of physicality on stage and make movement freer for the actors.
The moving furniture is intended to evoke the chaos and speed of the pinball as it ricochets around the machine. We found out at the initial workshop that pieces of furniture on the set would be on wheels for easy mobility Scott told us that this idea came out of a key inspiration for the set – a pinball machine.
In the Courthouse Theatre, lights will also be used to exaggerate the comic-book nature of Jamie’s speediness, and to indicate the passage of time lights will not be used in performances at schools, however, as that would call for a too complex of a set-up. Jamie will show her lightning speed as she moves from location to location in front of the swooshes. Scott added the superhero swooshes to the set to illustrate the speediness of the central character, Jamie, who has ADHD. The colour palettes that Scott utilizes for the set include warmer bright colours such as orange, yellow, and red, along with cooler and darker colours like blue, and purple. Scott shows us the inspiration for the skyscraper backdrop, a photograph depicting a mysterious Batman-like city.
#THE AMAZING SPEEDINESS OF JAMIE CAVANAUGH PROFESSIONAL#
It is intended to represent professional buildings such as the school and hospital. An example of this is the large building in the center of the stage. The houses and building are not intended to represent specific geographic locations but are used as interchangeable spaces so that many locations can be shown during the production. He expressed that it is essential to locate this play in a suburb just outside of a large city in order to keep up with its chaotic mood. The setting of the play was evoked and inspired by superhero comic books and the video game SimCity. In the month since our last session, Scott has completed his design. Catharines, Scott shared many insights about designing this set, and briefed us about how the designs will be made into reality in time for the show’s opening in January 2015. In our meeting on November 18 th at the Courthouse Theatre in downtown St. This is a description of the set of Carousel Players’ The Incredible Speediness of Jamie Cavanaugh, as described to us by designer Nigel Scott, in another exciting session of our behind-the-scenes reporting experience.
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