Initial Concept - Electra, Sophocles

Overall concept

Electra, written in approximately 420BC by Sophocles, follows the tale of the House of Atreus - A family embedded in corruption, lies and murder - and the daughter Electra's journey in dealing with the grief and loss after her father, Agamemnon’s death.  My overall design will be minimalistic, and I have decided to alter the location of the script to be the interior of the palace, rather then the exterior, which is the original design concept. The features I will include are the palace doors, steps leading towards the doors, and for my backdrop I would like to use cyclorama cloth.

There are many aspects which need to be considered as a designer when staging Electra, for example, the themes that will be emulated in the production's set to emphasis the play's overall meaning; In my interpretation, the theme which strikes me the most is the 'decay' of the family structure and the ways in which power can obscure a person's mindset. Therefore, in my design, taking inspiration from the John Engle's design in the 1997 Donmar Warehouse' production of Electra; I think it would be extremely interesting to make the palace look broken – include imagery of cracked rostrums,  decaying rubble on the floor,  and a mostly monochrome colour scheme throughout the entire set, additionally  then juxtapose the decaying aesthetic with symbols of power - one of my ideas is to include a grand oak tree towards Upper Stage Right, the tree would symbolise the family of Atreus, and how the history of their family is a 'constant' in comparison to the palace, which is fading vapidly.

Secondly, what also is an imperative factor  to consider is the play’s use of time – The play follows a two act structure, and all the drama takes place over one day. I intend to convey the play's duration though use of a cyclorama,  which will be positioned as the back cloth for my design. Throughout the production, I would intend to use different lighting to represent the sky changing from day light to evening - use rich buses of yellow, blues, and purples, until the play's climatic scene, the death of Clytemnestra, where the  lighting would remain monochrome. 

In terms of the staging, in keeping with the traditional Greek setting, I intend on building my design to be suitable for a proscenium arch,  end on theatre. As my design is fairly abstract and strays from the original intended design for the production - I also view it important to incorporate tradition, as the traditional Greek theatre design elements are there to enhance the level of tragedy.