My Gotcha Set Design

Set Design and Staging-

This is my annotated set design for 'Gotcha.'

My idea for a set design for 'Gotcha is in the round. I have chosen this stage shape for y set design as I like the idea of the actors being able to enter and exit through the audience and from different directions. This stage shapes allows for a more direct and personal interaction with the audience as it removes the 'fourth wall' between them and the characters.

I understand the problematic side in the sense that the actors have their backs to some of the audience at all ties but with the right staging and directing, this could really well for Gotcha. It gives different audience members different perspectives and therefore different takes on the drama as it unfolds.


Lighting-
In terms of lighting, the 'in the round' design set may be difficult to do and even more difficult if you're on a budget. However, I would use a combination of lighting both on and off of the stage. I'd have a loose- looking, bare bulb hanging from above and filtered lights shinning on from the corners, all with a dim, yellow-looking tonne.


Sound-
With sound, I'm happy to continue with Barrie Keeffee's music choices as I think they compliment and reflect both the plays concept and story beautifully. The mix of the low and fast tempos reflect the slight insanity of the boy, the use of popular, well known songs reflects the idea of Barrie wanting to get the silenced heard and the use of pop and rock shows the vast diversity each character portrays. Punk songs would, however, fit well with 'Gotcha' (perhaps in place of the 'rocky' ones) but they weren't available to Barrie at the tie the play was written as the 'punk craze' hadn't yet started and was more of an underground movement back then.

Costume-



The costume on the right is something I'd have Lynn (the female teacher) wearing in Gotcha as it's quite teacher- like (especially the shoes) but is also fun and exciting as well as on-trend at the time. Also, we know in the play that Lynn is wearing a skirt, so this portrays the story.

The image on the right it what I'd  have the headteacher wearing. It's all very sensible and smart, the way I believe he wishes to put across.

The image on the left is what I'd have the P.E. teacher, Ton, wearing as it's a sporty, put also a teacher- vibe to it and is something I imagine him to think himself cool wearing. It also clashes a lot with Lynn's outfit, which he may have done intentionally in order to make the two look as least like a couple as possible.

Finally, the image on the right is what I'd have the Kid wearing as it was in fashion at the time but very popular so therefore, it probably would have been cheap and as a result his 'lower class' family would have been able to afford it.

Getting Ready Task- Initial Gotcha Context

Q1.

Barrie Keffee’s ‘Gotcha’ was written in 1977. At the time there were a lot of changes happening in the world of Politics. One example is that in Israel there were the elections for the 9^th Knesset and the right wing winning. Also, a referendum on political reforms in Andorra.

During the era that ‘Gotcha’ was written...

As well as other playwrights, Willy Russell did a lot of work in this era... He wrote various TV, drama and stage plays including Our Day Out, the award- winning musical John, Paul, George, Ringo and Bert. He also wrote the stage play Educating Rita which was commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company and later turned into a film.

Q2.

The boy belongs to the lower class of society. He wasn't  a high achiever so was deemed as lost in teh education system.

Gotcha Context

Like all plays, Barrie Keeffee's 'Gotcha' (part of the the Gimme Shelter set), is influenced hugely by what surrounded Barrie Keeffee at the time of writing and the years before. This is what's called the context. The context of a play is made up of three main categories, social/ political, cultural and historical. All the parts of context can be considered as contributing factors to the play.When looking closer at the context, we can see that all of these categorizes to infact overlap. 

When writing the play, Keeffee used a lot of his personal history in terms of likening him self to the character of the kid in the sense that he went to a big, tough school and felt he was lost in the education system with that feeling of being anonymous. At the time the play was set and written, Keeffee felt that the more intelligent, the 'uni goers' were the only known ones within school and this level of context evidently has an impact on the play.  This is shown throughout eh uncertainty of the kid on what he's going to do after being made to leave school at the age of 16. 'Dunno...' he answers to 'What are you going to do? ... What job?'

This point (above) also relates to the cultural context, as well as the historical one, as Barrie Keeffee admits he wanted to give voice to people that would't normally get this in the theatre. This relates directly to the historical context of the play, with the boy not being heard or noticed by anyone in the education system. 

The context of the play is still relevant today as this sense of loss in the education system in this day and age. I feel this is something Barrie Keeffee intended to do when writing the play.