A Guide to Studying the Relationship Between Engineering and Theatre

by Debra Bruch

Home

The Experience of Theatre

How Theatre Happens

Directing Theatre

The Relationship Between Engineering and Audience

-- Introduction

-- The Space

-- Technical Conditions

-- Climate Conditions

-- Safety

-- Theatrical Conventions

-- Performance Conventions

-- Style Conventions

-- Creativity

Theatrical Conventions

Magical

Suspenseful

The Unexpected

The Revelation

Suspenseful

Suspenseful means to raise a question in the audience's mind during or after the engineering product is completed during performance. Usually, the question is "What will happen next?" Close ties to the story and to the performance is necessary for this to meld with the overall production.

For the staging of Macbeth in the McArdle Theatre at Michigan Tech which is a black box theatre, the designer made a well placed front and center as part of the unit set. Actors could crawl under the set and enter through the well. The special effects designer attached red fabric across the well that was highly elastic and, if stretched far enough, breakable. For the witches' entrance, a red light angled up from the bottom of the well. "Demons" (actors in tight black costumes covering their entire body) crawled under the set and placed their hands and heads from the bottom of the fabric and stretched the fabric in waves. It was a wonderful example of making the engineering product suspenseful, as the audience wondered what it was and what would happen next. The "demons" broke through eventually and crawled out of the well while the witches entered the stage. Through dance choreography, the "demons" helped the audience focus off of themselves and onto the witches.

A close analysis of the play as well as a thorough understanding of the director's vision is necessary to successfully create suspense. Also, the theatrical artist/engineer needs to know blocking and express his or her ideas as early as possible. The use of fog can not only help create a visual mood, but can foreshadow upcoming events. For instance, using fog and lighting to help the actor playing Hamlet's father or Banquo in Macbeth to appear onstage is not uncommon. A "Trojan Horse" kind of scenic product can also create suspense. This is when a large scenic product enters the stage and the audience focuses on it in such a way that creates suspense. The touring production of Miss Saigon used this kind of engineering feat. Using the combination of a scrim, video, lighting, and sound, the audience saw (and heard) a very large helicopter enter and land. Because of the manipulation of video, lighting, and sound, it seemed real and frightening to the audience. It helped the audience feel the same as the characters onstage as well as creating suspense by the audience wondering if the characters would be saved. (Now THAT was cool!)

© Debra Bruch 2005