Much Ado- An Immersive Production

After our lecture from Matt Fletcher today, I have been inspired to think of 'Much Ado' in terms of creating an immersive performance. This is a way of working that I am naturally drawn to anyway, and I have always thought that the theatre experience can only be enhanced by creating such an environment. In fact, for VND last year, one of my main aims of my set design was to create a completely immersive environment in which the audience are viewing the play, to add to the text's impact. Obviously this year I have a budget, so unlike in VND, I can't just build a massive house in the studio theatre and be done with it, but I have been thinking of some ways of creating that 'immersive' feel which could easily come within budget (providing the director is happy to go for my British Raj idea).

For example, I thought it might be quite a nice idea to give each member of the audience a garland and/or wedding favour as they enter the auditorium- maybe even including some fake rose petals to throw at the end. This way, they will feel part of the show and part of the world in which the piece is set. They will also be anticipating the wedding scene at the end, which may result in increased dismay when they learn of Don John's plans to scupper it.
Another idea I had was to decorate the seating blocks as if they were part of the set, shy away form the idea of having a singular staging area- make the entire room the set. It might be quite nice to hang some garlands across the struts on the ceiling, although I'd have to be careful not to make it look like party decorations- that's the last thing I want.

Maybe we could burn some incense too?

I think an important part of creating this inclusive atmosphere is to make sure the audience don't just feel like they're going to another AUCB production in the same way and the same space, there needs to be a barrier that alerts you to  the fact that you're entering another world. I felt the same about this for VND, and solved the issue by forcing each audience member to approach the front of the house, up the garden path, and have to ring the doorbell in order for the usher to let them in and seat them. For 'Much Ado' it might simply be a case of having a second set of doors not long after the entry doors, but created in a very Indian style. So as an audience member you'd have to go through the normal Studio theatre doors and are THEN greeted by the usher (dressed in Indian garments) and are shown through the second set of doors (which will be part of the set), so you can find your seat. This method also plays with the concept of audience anticipation, in that the longer you leave them without a glimpse of the set, and the more complicated a journey you take them on to get to the performance, the more likely they are to appreciate the set and the world in which it exists.
I think these are all very important ideas for 'Much Ado', sometimes when you are doing a completely new project, you are so scared of doing something wrong that you accidentally get bound by convention, and you forget the usual way you work, and you forget that this is your opportunity to do something different. I think I need to realise that there is no 'wrong' and that providing I stick within the budget, and work with the director, then I can pretty much do ANYTHING. So luckily our POP lecture today reminded me of that. The last thing I want to do is create a 'conventional' or 'unoriginal' production, because that's not who I am, and then... why have me design it?
I must keep reminding myself not to play safe.