Set Props and Costumes
In all of the Ludus Dance shows, the set, props and costumes are a very important feature and are thought about early on in the devising process in order to work successfully with the choreography, music and film. These three elements can help to communicate the issue, make it more accessible, realistic, add colour, style and sometimes humour.
The set can give us a clear sense of time and place. The props can be used to set a scene, change the space, help to enhance a character, or be an integral part of the choreography. Costume can emphasise a particular style within the choreography and create different characters and place them in the past present, future or in a completely different world.
For each Ludus show there has been a very different approach to the use of set, props and costumes, depending upon the chosen theme and overall style of the production. Lets look at some examples and see why these choices have been made.
Sets
Clip 1: ID:me and Trapped
Here we see two contrasting sets. The ID:me set is a recognisable place; walls and doors of houses or flats surrounding an outdoor space covered in grass. Is it set in a particular era? The show follows four very different people and their lives together in the same community. The set creates a street space and makes it easier for us to see them as neighbours. Look at the varying size of the characters’ front doors. One character, Lisa, appears from a bin in the shadows. What do the different types and sizes of doors tell us about the characters and their status in the group?
The TRAPPED set is less recognisable as being one time or place. Many props hang on a frame like a backdrop and these are used throughout the show to change the space and create different places and scenes. The set looks rather surreal and this is in keeping with the whole fairytale style of the show.
Clip 2: SOLD
In the ‘Crows’ section from SOLD, the use of this towering moveable steel chair is particularly effective in creating a dark and sinister scene. The ‘Crows’ represent large powerful companies who manipulate and exploit children as their workforce. Notice all the different ways in which this structure is used by the crow characters and how integral it is to the scene.
Clip 3: Perfecting Eugene and Zygote
In PERFECTING EUGENE, four tall metal lockers are used as a moveable and versatile set. Depending upon the intention of each section, they can be placed to create different spaces on the stage, create walls, mirrors, barriers, or background, or conceal and reveal surprising characters. The lockers look futuristic and rather clinical and this style helps to portray the world of scientific discoveries and experiments.
In ZYGOTE, four simple white chairs are used. In the opening section, the chairs create four separate private spaces, four teenagers in their own rooms. The rest of the performance is based on a game show format and so the chairs are used by the contestants and in the various tests and quests that they have to go on.
Props
Clip 1: Perfecting Eugene
Measuring
In this section of PERFECTING EUGENE called ‘Measuring for Perfection’, we can see props being used as an integral part of the choreography. Choreographing the movement using real tape measures makes it instantly clear to the audience what is happening in the dance. Some really interesting shapes can be created and the sounds, sharpness and speed of the tape measures adds some exciting rhythms and dynamics. Do you think this section is only about someone being measured? What else could it be about?
Clip 2: Perfecting Eugene
Torches
This opening section of PERFECTING EUGENE looks at the idea of searching, racing and competition, and in particular the idea of different countries racing against each other in their search for the next scientific discovery. Why do you think that the head torches were chosen here? What do these props add theatrically to the scene?
Clip 3: Perfecting Eugene
Clones
Here are some hilarious, life-size props and an example of how to create a scene of nine ‘perfect’ people on stage when you only have three dancers! The scene is looking at what it would be like if we were all perfect, and so the ‘clone’ puppets were created as a humorous way to fill the stage with identical people. This just goes to show how there are no limits to how weird, wonderful and ingenious the props can be!
Clip 4: Trapped
In TRAPPED, in a similar way to Perfecting Eugene, a wide variety of props are used throughout the story to transform the stage and create the different scenes. Here we see how the props, which are everyday objects are produced by the Tricksters to create a scene of the Mother and Daughter at home. The props are used with the choreography, and make each scene more realistic or recognisable which in turn makes the story easier to understand.
Costume
Clip 1 - Clash and Perfecting Eugene
In these two sections from CLASH and PERFECTING EUGENE the costumes were carefully designed and made in order to create larger than life, fantastical and comical characters – parts of the brain in Clash, and cells, chromosomes and DNA in Perfecting Eugene. In both scenes, a lot of information had to be conveyed, about the workings off the brain, and the structure of cells and DNA. It was important to make this information accessible, easy to understand and remember. An effective way to achieve this is through humour and unusual or surreal characters. The costumes were cleverly designed to highlight certain characteristics, for example in Clash, the cortex as a professor, the thinking sensible part of the brain and the amygdala twins, the fight and flight reflexes, as an aggressive boxer and frightened tortoise.
Clip 2: ID:me
In ID:ME, the four characters wear everyday clothes, and the same clothes throughout the show. Why do you think that these decisions were made? What do the different styles of clothes tell us about each character?
Clips 3 & 4: SOLD
In this section from SOLD called ‘Street Compete’, we can see how costume is used directly to convey a particular idea. The dancers appear wearing increasingly large baseball hats, trying to impress each other with the latest trends. The hat looks ridiculous, which is intentional to show the extent to which peer pressure and advertising can influence us.
In this section called Pulse/Vulcan, the dancers constantly change their reversible jackets and stick different logos on them, depending upon what is being ‘advertised’ to them on the film screen. They keep changing their movements too, and gradually get more and more confused about what to wear and what to do as the images change. How effective do you think that the scene would have been if the costumes weren’t used with the choreography? Why?
