• Establish the scene, establish the idea and devices quickly.
• Explain How it works.
• Justify your ideas.
• Use quotes to justify your ideas.

Below is a still from a Vamos Mask play set in a hospital.

Beneath it is a paragraph that follows a WHAT -HOW – WHY structure to answer a set design question.

EXAMPLE

For Bedlam (Scene 2) I will design a set that has 3 zones. (Seward’s Office, the Corridors and Renfield’s Cell). These will be created with medical screens on castors (wheels)

[Quick sketch]

When Scene 2 starts, I want to create the atmosphere of a busy hospital. The ‘grim Nurses’ will enter from all directions pulling and pushing these screens. They will move them around to create corridors and a sense of business. Sometimes they will part the screens to reveal Dr Goldman “in and out of sight” “writing in her notebook”. At other times they will come together to make the 3 walls of Renfield’s cell where is ‘gabbling maniacally.’

The screens will be white but stained, showing that this is a neglected hospital. These screens will be easy to bring on and take off, and have a whole range of different configurations in the Bedlam scenes to come.  Because they are white they can be projected against (e.g: the bars of a window from a Gobo) or become shadow screens for images (eg: the silhouette of Dracula when Renfield is saying,“My Master is coming…”)

[5 Marks]

WHAT WOULD YOU GIVE THIS?