pirates of pananze
Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Set Design and Construction
Forum Discription: Post your questions or suggestions about designing or building a set here.
URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=5278
Printed Date: 10/30/25 at 12:10pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 8.05 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: pirates of pananze
Posted By: gdharrisayuh
Subject: pirates of pananze
Date Posted: 3/05/12 at 10:31am
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rock constuction,cave ,beach
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Replies:
Posted By: pdavis69
Date Posted: 3/06/12 at 7:57am
Yep. You need all that.
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Patrick L. Davis
Fort Findlay Playhouse
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Posted By: edh915
Date Posted: 3/06/12 at 2:19pm
"The Pirates of Penzance"
This isn't Twitter, you know. You're actually allowed to use nouns, verbs AND adjectives - and include ALL vowels, too!
Seriously - I'm not sure what your question is. What you do with your set depends on the style of your production.
The original Gilbert and Sullivan productions in the 19th century prided themselves on their realism. They presented totally naturalistic sets, e.g. they studied the rigging on the naval ships in Portsmouth harbor so they could reproduce it on stage for "HMS Pinafore", and they imported authentic Japanese silk brocade for "The Mikado" and had the costumes sewn by Japanese artisans.
Nowadays, because of the satirical nature of the shows themselves, theatre groups have a tendency to present them like old-time vaudeville and/or melodrama - with obviously fake sets and over the top costumes. Obviously fake, painted, boulder-shaped flats should do very nicely for your rocks - maybe with obvious stairs behind them that the chorus can climb up and down during the "Climbing over rocky mountain" number. Sand is obviously a non-starter, so don't worry about it. Keep it as cartoonish as you wish and I don't think you can go too far wrong.
Caveat to the director: Do not make the actors themselves act in any sort of cartoonish manner. The key to excellent Gilbert & Sullivan lies in realizing that the characters don't know that they're in a ridiculous situation. It's all very serious to them.
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Posted By: falstaff29
Date Posted: 3/07/12 at 6:30pm
Originally posted by edh915
The key to excellent Gilbert & Sullivan lies in realizing that the characters don't know that they're in a ridiculous situation. It's all very serious to them.
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I think that's the key to all comedy, more or less. Don't wink to the audience, but play it straight.
edh915 makes another good point that your set requirements will be dictated by what sort of a production you want thematically. That, too, is a basic truth in theater, but one that's often ignored. The set should reflect the vision of the production that the audience sees performed for them.
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