The Use Of Water In An Enemy Of The People
An Enemy of the People: Stagecraft
An Enemy of the People, authored by Hendrik Ibsen and adapted by Arthur Miller performed by the Playmaker’s Repertory Company, was a tremendous spectacle of production. To enhance the audience’s overall experience, key production elements included superior scenery, costumes, lighting, and sound. Each of these elements was required to support the script in a creative and engaging manner. Every decision made by the designers is entirely relevant. The collective workings of these elements dictate the show’s success of spectacle and overall value.
McKay Coble, scene designer, was tasked with sending the story back in time. She used crisp and clean retro furniture to return to the 50’s. The walls were covered in portraits, suggesting that this home was inhabited by a very close nuclear family. Above the stage, there were permanent fixtures of exposed pipes, and along the perimeter of the stage, there were open grates suggesting that water would play a pervasive role in the story. Every so often, these pipes would leak onto the grates. Whether this was done deliberately or not, every time a droplet of water fell, the audience was reminded of the over-looming aquatics. The role of water cannot be understated, it is very much related to the main conflict and assumes the role as a major thread throughout the show. The home was divided by two partitions, with a dining room upstage, and a living room downstage. Making these two rooms visible to the audience was quite the challenge for Coble. The walls that divided the rooms were lined with a see-through fixture so that the dining room and all action was entirely visible. Before intermission, the stage mechanically retracted to expose a larger concrete area. A writer’s desk, complete with a typewriter, pens, and files, ascended from a trapdoor center stage. This total transformation was a smooth transition from the Stockmann’s home to the office of the local paper’s editor. At the end of
An Enemy of the People, authored by Hendrik Ibsen and adapted by Arthur Miller performed by the Playmaker’s Repertory Company, was a tremendous spectacle of production. To enhance the audience’s overall experience, key production elements included superior scenery, costumes, lighting, and sound. Each of these elements was required to support the script in a creative and engaging manner. Every decision made by the designers is entirely relevant. The collective workings of these elements dictate the show’s success of spectacle and overall value.
McKay Coble, scene designer, was tasked with sending the story back in time. She used crisp and clean retro furniture to return to the 50’s. The walls were covered in portraits, suggesting that this home was inhabited by a very close nuclear family. Above the stage, there were permanent fixtures of exposed pipes, and along the perimeter of the stage, there were open grates suggesting that water would play a pervasive role in the story. Every so often, these pipes would leak onto the grates. Whether this was done deliberately or not, every time a droplet of water fell, the audience was reminded of the over-looming aquatics. The role of water cannot be understated, it is very much related to the main conflict and assumes the role as a major thread throughout the show. The home was divided by two partitions, with a dining room upstage, and a living room downstage. Making these two rooms visible to the audience was quite the challenge for Coble. The walls that divided the rooms were lined with a see-through fixture so that the dining room and all action was entirely visible. Before intermission, the stage mechanically retracted to expose a larger concrete area. A writer’s desk, complete with a typewriter, pens, and files, ascended from a trapdoor center stage. This total transformation was a smooth transition from the Stockmann’s home to the office of the local paper’s editor. At the end of