In order to gain a better understanding of presenting a story within set limitations I went to see the Dundee rep theater’s performance of Dragon.
Their use of small objects wheeled on and off set to create multiple locations was an interesting use of minimalism to stage their world in while managing to imbue an almost fairy tale like quality into the atmosphere of their tale.
Yet even the broken and fragmented scenery plays into the depiction of a broken emotional state representing the fragmented state of our protagonist emotional life.
The absence of spoken words, save for a “Hi” at the end, adds to the feeling of isolation that the main character experiences through out the play.
While not much is said it is through the use of body language, music, ambient sound, interaction with others and the main characters relation to the Dragon that tells the story.
It’s us of soft and cool mixed against bright warm colours create some truly interesting visuals as our protagonist works through his fear and anger expressing them outwardly with those around him and inwardly with the Dragon.
As the main character Interacts with the Dragon the scenery becomes more minimalist as the story unfurls, a nice representation of his increasingly insular state.
I feel that this was a valuable performance to observe as it, in many ways, expressed how to capture a characters journey and relate that purely in a visual medium.
kagrier 