Download Lesson 2 Stage Context

Stage Production
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night
Aims:

To identify the conventions of stage plays

To explore how are structured
To evaluate how these features will impact on the
story

Key Words:
Set
Props
Stage directions
Character
Dialogue
Establish
TO START: NOTES
Stage plays work very differently to a novel. Create a brief spider
diagram to set out some of these differences, you could alternatively set this
out as a table with two columns. Don’t forget to look at things like: Set,
props, text and structure. Remember to explore what kind of impact these
things may have.
You should try to find about 6 key differences between plays and novels.
-This can be a class discussion, silent book work or paired/group work.-
LINK
Accessing a script
Scripts work very differently from
novels.
Scripts are intended to be performed
as plays and as a result many of the
thoughts of the characters are hidden
from us, therefore the play either
needs to show us these emotions or tell
us them through a narrator or some
other trick.
Plays can also have multiple events
happening at once or the additions of
music, costumes and lighting. This can
make the play more effective than a
novel, but sometimes you miss out on
the inner thoughts and the closeness of
a character in a novel.
As a play is meant to be performed,
many of the parts of the script are
notes for people other than the actors
or the director. These help us know not
just what is said, but what is done.
Heading–
Introduces scene or
part of the play.
Setting– Part of
the stage
directions to help
establish the
location and the
surroundings.
Character– Name
in bold and a
description, also
part of the stage
directions.
Stage Directions–
In italics, not to be
read, show the
actions of
characters.
Dialogue– The
words said by
characters
Task:
1– Using what you now know about stage directions and how
scripts are written, use this to create an opening for the play
introducing Christopher.
Remember to set the location, define the character, explore
what actions are currently being performed as well as the
dialogue itself. You could try just introducing 1 character or 2.
You could try a scene where Christopher is eating tea with his
dad or where he is playing with the neighbors dog. This should
be about half a page and laid out as you would expect a
script.
2-Look at pictures A-D. For
each image make a note of
what is being shown on the
stage and how this could
connect to the character of
Christopher, you could use
some of your ideas from the
previous pages. Then roughly
draw/sketch the stage and
annotate features (watch some
of the videos from the
national theatre to help
understand what is around, or
look at the pack, also from the
national theatre)
Picture A– Christopher stargazing
A
Picture C– The set
C
Picture B– Christopher doing math and getting overwhelmed
B
Picture D– Christopher in London
D
Aims:

To identify the conventions of stage plays

To explore how are structured
To evaluate how these features will impact on the
story

Key Words:
Set
Props
Stage directions
Character
Dialogue
Establish
Ingredients of the stage.
Stage plays can be both very realistic and very unrealistic. That is because you have real,
live people which is often a better experience and more genuine than a pre filmed program.
However the stage is limited by what there is, the props and things like lighting and sound
which are used. These can help us picture the scene but are not as realistic as if we were
actually there.
The play ‘Curious Incident’ is obviously NOT realistic in many ways. The use of the LED lights
and projectors are very obviously different to real life. However they are very effective at
showing the main character, Christopher’s, emotions. These emotions and the way he sees the
world are different to us and the use of the lights and projectors help us to understand when
he is overwhelmed or calm.
The key parts of the stage production are: Lighting, Sound, Stage, Props, Actors and Costume.
This play also uses projectors and the lighting is especially advanced, using hundreds of LED’s
in the background and the stage itself.
Watch one of the clips from the national theatre about the stage and how making the set was
important to the play.
TO REFLECT: EVALUATE
Taking on what you now know about scripts and stage plays, evaluate how successful
you believe it was to set the story as a stage performance. Remember when
evaluating you have to be able to explain what it does and whether this appears to
be well done or poorly done. Your teacher will hopefully show you a few ‘making of’
clips on the board and you may have the national theatre pack in front of you. Use
these to help make a judgement.
This could be a class discussion or 2 paragraphs in your book exploring what is
effective and not effective about the choice of staging.
Some starters to help:
-The use of a grid on the stage can be suitable because…
-By only using a few props the story is sometimes less...