Production Blogs- The Last Resort

  Candidate Declaration - I confirm that the attached portfolio is all my own work and does not include any work completed by anyone other than myself.

   For this term's project, I have decided to partake in designing the set for our performance of 'The Last Resort'; the set design company- being myself, Emie and Kadie, rationalised our work load and adequately decided that both Emie and Kadie should pursue their efforts onto Little Women, whereas Keira and I could greatly utilise and liven the atmosphere of 'The Last Resort'- both our more individualised groups had separate visions, in which mine and Keira's just so happened to be more fitting for the more jovial tone of 'The Last Resort'. Both myself and Keira share the immovable view that the planning and production of a performances set lends a hand to the immersive nature of a piece- if one is able to encapsulate the atmosphere of a time period or setting without making the audience leave their seat, then a set designers job is complete; the setting of the stage is apart of the story, as much as the words and actions of the actors within the play. For example, for this show, I have taken inspiration in both performance and production from Willy Russel's 'Our Day Out'; which happens to be the production designs of John Coleman for the original performance; I believe that the uncanny feel of the bright lights of the arcades to the dull segment within the cliff scene in the original play really makes thge set realistic, yet fresh- without having to constantly move set around the stage- it all feels like one environment, which is an idea I want to bring forward within my deisgns. Narratively, The Last Resort draws immense inspiration from the 1977 Willy Russel comedy- a crude yet realistic comedic take on a trip to the seaside, with a cruel twist towards the end, which subverts the audiences expectations and contrasts the genre entirely; I wanted to allude to this tonal shift throughout the set- by making the design of the set orientated around the cliff really helps lure attention to that part of the set, foreshadowing the harsh tonal contrast later within the play.

15/05/23 For my production role for this unit, both me and a fellow peer called Keira have decided to tackle designing the set for our comedic end of year piece 'The Last Resort"; both myself and her have set a timetable for ourselves in order to meet deadlines and be as efficient within our proceedings as possible, whilst also being realistic with the knowledge of balancing our performance work also. I believe that if we are able to meet our self assigned deadlines, then we should be able to get the most effective product out of our production role.

19/05/23 Today marks our first self guided deadline of out endeavour to design the set for 'The Last Resort', which we easily fulfilled. In addition to this, myself and Keira have split out work load evenly, in order to get the most beneficial outcome; I am to work on the design of the set and she is to work on the making of the set once we get into the space, along with sourcing the physical props. 

24/05/23 For today's self imposed deadline, me and Keira have exceeded our own expectations and pushed ourselves ahead of schedule; I have completed the final concept for the staging within The Last Resort, and have completed my section within mine and Keira's split timetable- in spite of the fact I will still be helping to campaign for people to give us props for the set, some of which have already been sourced. For example, two pre assembled deck chairs have already come to us, therefore they are marked off of our stage props list. 

25/05/23 To further advance our progress within our self constructed timetable, Keira, myself, and other members of The Last Resort cast all banded together to build two additional deck chairs for the staging; the other sourced deck chairs have been considered for personal props for characters who bring their chairs with them on and off stage, such as The Bright Family. As of currently, we are up to schedule and beyond where we were expecting to be- the next part of our journey happens when we can finally begin crafting the set.