With my script now written, my new chief priority was to decide the staging, lighting choices, and sound requirements for the show.

 

SOUND & LIGHTING

While I was researching spoken word poetry, I came across some videos of poetry with a soundscape of synths and vocal samples, which helped to create a ambient and gothic atmosphere:

 

This gave me the idea to create a soundscape to couple my text, not only to add ambience to accompany the narrative of which I was trying to tell. Using Garage Band, I was able to take vocal samples, and place them at intervals in between each section of my poem, this would act as additional backstory to the murder as a young man, depicting his fathers brutality during his formative years.

SECTION ONE:

Prison Ambient Sound Plays.

A man sits in a chair in a dimly lit room, in front of him is a table with documents spread across it.

One gets the impression of an interrogation chamber, however the set is vague enough, that it could be anywhere in the world.

CUE  A crescendo of voices is heard in the background until it abruptly stops. 

 

SECTION TWO:

CUE Prison Bars can be heard again.

Another voice, a man’s, can be heard shouting abusive language, as though he were doing it to a child.

 

SECTION THREE:

CUE Prison Bars can be heard again.

A police siren begins to sound, screams of animals are heard, as well as children screaming.

 

 

SECTION FOUR:

CUE Prison Bars can be heard once again.

A sound bite of a brutal murder can be heard, the lights go out. All that can be heard is a vicious murder. when the sound stops, a slow and sinister sub-bass is heard and continues.

PRISON DOORS LOCK FOR THE FINAL TIME. SCENE.

My lighting cues, were simple in the fact that I only had a fade up, and fade down, for each different section, I did this to recreate to abrupt lighting change in a prison at ‘lights out’. I thought in this regard there would be some power in simplicity, and thought the soundscape would be better accompanied by darkness, than a technical lights display. In addition, the sadistic nature of my show, would have perhaps looked out of place, brightly lit and full of colours.

 

 

COSTUME:

My costume choice was simple- all black. This was to create a solid focus on the text and the soundscape. As my performance was poetry based, the visual aspect, for me at least, needed to be purposely dark.

 

SET: My set was, again minimal, although still needed to serve the purpose of the narrative: a man on death row, having his final interview in the interrogation room. To achieve this, I placed a large table in front of the spotlight lit chair, and had my eight seats for the audience scattered around it in a semi circle. This made the setting intimate, which was necessary in order for each member of the audience to feel as though the killer was talking to each one of them personally.