Ruined is a specific type of play with very specific needs that needs to be taken into consideration by the director. In my production of ruined, my unified vision as a director is pretty clear. After reading the play and knowing what happens there is a sense of darkness about the play, I think that is because of all the bad that happens in the play. When I say bad I mean that women are getting raped and tortured, there is war, people are dying and the play in based in a brothel. We can all agree that there is nothing really bright and sunny about these circumstances.
With me saying there would be a sense of darkness to my production of ruined, I mean I would want a lot of dark colored materials for costumes, darker lighting with more shadows, no bright light always beaming down. My set would look old and rough, so that’s where I will begin, with my set. I can picture it now, dark wood walls with beams falling apart, splintered and just an old look to it, nothing new. Examples of what I mean I have included, the picture with the window is that way I would like for the front sides of the set, with windows to show, but not toward my audience, but around the sides of my audience to where it is clearly visible but in nobody’s way. Then venue that I choose for my production to take place in will have to clearly be able to fit this design because if the stage was in the center, and people where at all angles that would not work, so I have definitely taken that into consideration for my production.
This set design will work well for my production of Ruined because I want it to look old and used just as I mentioned before, and this type of setting definitely fits the part of that. My set on the inside that my audience will see besides the walls just like shown above will be beams, I would like to have wooden beams propped up around the stage and set to where people will know just by looking at it, that it is old and the beams are a big part in what it holding parts of the building together. I will have the bar set the left if you are looking at the stage. My bar will just look like an old wooden home made built bar, nothing fancy.
My stools will look just as old and used as the bar and in the center of my stage and to the right of my stage I will have a few matching old dark wooden tables. Behind the bar I would have a sign on the wall that looked like Mama Nadi even made it herself. I think it would work perfect if it said something along the lines of, “leave everything at the door or leave.” The reason that I would choose this for my play is because she lets all the men from the war in and she doesn’t choose sides, she wants all the problems to be left outside so it would make sense.
Moving on to lighting in my production, like I have already mentioned the lighting would be darker, because they are inside this old bar/brothel and light shining bright in there wouldn’t make much sense. What I would do is at the back if the stage directly in the middle I would have a light make a special light that looked bright white on the dark stage to where people could identify what it was, that light would represent that of a door. Characters that come in and out of the bar would come through the white light, which is the door. Now I know you may ask, well you want wooden walls around the sides of the stage and even with windows so why not just make the back of the play the same way and have an actual door? For my production I don’t want to do it that way, this is because I will have my white light representing the door because the girls have really nothing more to do with the outside world, by choice or not, and its like with the light it can push to represent the good or the bad on the other side.
The lighting to show on the inside of the building though, where my set it will be very dim, with shadows being shown. With the dark essence that the play has about it I feel like shadows will be appropriate. Next we are on too my costumes in the production. My costumes will be dark also, dark patterns with nothing bright and flashy. Only one character in my play will have bright costume that will stand out among everyone else and that will be Harari. This is because he is portrayed as a man with more money than what Mama and the girls had and he stood out to them. I would actually like to put him in a white suit with a very bright blue tie. I even would like him to wear glasses and a hat, almost with the look of a painter’s hat. Mama, Sophie, Josephine and Salima will wear old tattered looking dresses, for an example with fabric like these:
When it comes to sound in my play, when people are walking around and entering the bar I would like my audience to hear the noise of squeaking old floors to give it a realistic feel. Also in the bar a type of music that I would have them play is a slower music, instrumental only, this will be especially for when Sophie sings in the play. Other sounds that I would like to incorporate are of course gun fire in certain scenes where it will apply too, rain, and the sound of talking like people are walking outside passing the bar. Anytime a beer or bottle is opened in the play I would also like the timing to be perfect so that we could hear the sound of a bottle opening to make it realistic as well. The small things I believe are what make your audience feel in the moment because it is real and they can relate to it, so well that they may not even notice.
Last but not least, where my play will be performed. As I mentioned earlier how I want my stage to be set up, it is crucial to have the perfect venue, and I have it. I want my production to run in Las Vegas Las Vegas
The audience circles around the stage but not completely around and the way that it is will work perfectly. My play to me will have hopefully the same sense you get after reading the book which the feeling of darkness, portraying it into real life on stage.
