3. Casting
• Hero- Kristen Dunst, beacause of her role in spider-man she have better feel for the
role since, she falls in love fast and also experiences troubles that happen during
the relation. Also she fits the role as a young, good looking noble.
• Beatrice- Jennifer Lawrence, because she comes off as a independent woman and
she is witty with what she says and could play a loving character that tends to also
mess with people close to her.
• Claudio- James Franco, because he is young and can play a character that isn’t
trusting of others. Also in previous movies he’s in, he plays unstable characters just
like Claudio so it’ll be more natural for him to play out the part since he’s done
performances which are similar to that.
• Don Pedro-, Ian Mckellen, because he is a well respected person in the acting
world, his role as Don Pedro would make a greater impact and him being a older
figure he would fit more as the father of Hero.
• Leonato- Patrick Stewart, because also since Leonato and Don Pedro are old friends
in the play it would work well having Patrick Stewart play with Ian Mckellen since
they already have worked with each other in x-men and its very successful.
4. Casting Cont.
• Don John- Richard Griffiths, because of his role in harry potter, he
could play the part of a older villain, someone who would scheme
against everyone else.
• Margaret- Gwyneth Paltrow, because of her role in Iron man, she
could be seen playing a role where she has to assist one of the
main chars. while having problems with her love life as well. She
also would fit the part of playing a honest character.
• Conrad- Jet Li, Li would fit well in a role where he would be
working under someone and is dedicated to the other persons
goals and needs.
• Dogberry- Kevin James, He would be someone who could play a
role that involves a lot of dedication towards a job but can have
some faults resulting in humor.
• Verges- Tobey Maguire, a minor role but would fit as deputy to
Kevin James
5. Casting Cont. (2)
• Antonio- Jack Nicholson, Would fit a
elderly father role, and someone that
would probably have a witty daughter.
• Balthasar- Jack Black, because he is a
very outgoing actor and has personal
experience in music he would fit in well
playing the role of Balthasar. Also as
someone that would assist in getting
people together.
• Ursula- Emma Watson, minor female
role, but would work well as the lead
female actors assistant.
7. Theme in Design Elements
• Set- Should be bright and look like a
room in a upper class home, while
giving off a feel of a home.
• Costumes- Need to match the social
class of the characters, rich roles need
to be dressed more fancy and the
poorer roles need to dressed poorly.
• Lights- Needs to be bright and warm,
and set a pleasant mood for the
audience. Until parts like the climax
the lights need to be darker
• Sound- Needs to be gentle and calm,
can be soothing but in times where
dishonesty comes into play it needs to
become a bit more dramatic.
8. Style
• For this play I would say Realism would
work in nicely with the spine of the play as
well as the play as a whole. The characters
are ordinary people falling in love in a home
setting something we can all relate to. So it
would make a big impact on the audience
to have it as close to being real as it can.
9. Directorial Concept
• The play needs to strongly emphasize the love
conflicts and the relationships between all the
characters to avoid confusion among the audience.
Visuals need to appear warm at first and at the end,
but as the play gets to the spine, the mood should
change to something a bit darker to correspond to
the insecurity of the characters. The play should also
take place in a blackbox theater to make it easier
for the actors and to have a bigger impact on the
audience since they will be very close to the actors
themselves.
10. Set Design
A thrust stage space would be a good fit for the whole play
because this stage was very popular during the Shakespearean
period. The play is set in the sixteenth century so the backdrops
and props will be aged.
By Linda Cao
11. Act 1,
Scene 1
I would put a backdrop of Leonato’s house for this scene and
then add bushes and paths on the ground to show that this
scene is taking place outside of his house.
12. Act 1,
Scene 2 &
3
For these 2 scenes I would change the
backdrop to the photo below
and bring in couches and a table to have
a more inviting feel.
13. Act 2,
Scene 1, 2,
& 3
For these scenes I would not have any props on stage because it takes
place in a hallway. I will just have a black screen backdrop.
14. Act 3,
Scene 1
For this scene I would present a brighter atmosphere by presenting
a sunny background because the characters move out into the
garden.
15. Act 3, Scene 1 (continued)
Having flower pots on the
ground will help make the
stage feel more like a
garden.
16. Act 3,
Scene 2
This scene moves back to inside Leonato’s house so for this scene I will
make the setting in a office like space because the characters or
scheming. I would also bring in chairs for the characters and a table.
17. Act 3,
Scene 3
Since this takes place outside, I will have a dark backdrop of
buildings and lamps will be given to the performers as their props.
18. Act 3,
Scene 4 & 5
This scene begins with the servants so I will set the scene in a large
room where they get together.This scene leads on to scene 5 where
the maids will exit and the next scene can continue.
19. Act 4,
Scene 1
This scene takes place in a church so I will have a
backdrop inside a church.
20. Act 4,
Scene 2
The scene changes to a prison theme so the
backdrop will change to the photo above.
21. Act 5,
Scene 1
This scene takes place in front of Leonato’s house again so I will have
the same presentation as the first scene of the play.
22. Act 5,
Scene 2
The scene moves into the garden so I will bring
back this backdrop
However, I will not put flower pots like the scenes before
and just have a backdrop change.
23. Act 5,
Scene 3
This scene takes place in the church but I will change the backdrop to a
different one to show a different angle of the church.
26. What the characters should be
wearing most of the play
• Benedick: Since he is a lord and soldier, his clothes
should be of an upper class with bright colors and such,
at the same have some medals, some gold accents and
things to show that he is a soldier, but he should be
unkempt at the same time.
• Don Pedro: He is a prince, so his clothing should be the
best of the best, the one with that shows that he is a
prince. Possibly with even more gold accents than
Benedick. It must be extremely extravagant and made
with a brightly colored material.
27. Costumes Cont.
• Don John: The brother of Don Pedro and also the
bastard prince. His costume should be similar to
Don Pedro’s maybe just in a different color, a dark
color to show that he’s a bastard prince.
• Claudio: A count and friend of Benedick’s. A
count is a sort of noble person, but not as high
ranked as a lord, his costume should be subpar to
Benedick’s. It should contain more neutral colors
such a beiges and browns.
28. Cont.
• Leonato: He should have formal clothes since he
is a governor, the clothes should be fatherly
looking, as in the clothes older men wore in the
16th century.
• Antonio: He should have similar clothing to
Leonato since they are brothers.
• Balthasar: Is a singer, he should have middle class
clothing. His clothing should be something an
everyday person in the 16th century would wear.
29. Cont.
• Borachio and Conrade: They are both the
followers of Don John. They both should have
similar costumes. It should look like it is a higher
class than the middle class and under royalty
clothing, such as Don Pedro and Don John.
• Innogen: A ghost. The costume should be white
and flowing on the ground to signify that she is a
ghost. Possibly full white makeup with a smoky
black filled circle around the eyes.
30. Cont.
• Hero: She should have two costumes. One of
them being a dark smoky gray dress and another
crème/white dress. The gray one tells us that her
reputation has been tainted and the crème/white
one should be for when the reputation is pure.
• Margaret and Ursala: They are the women in
waiting for Hero. Their outfits should have some
sort of apron and a normal, middle class dress.
31. Cont.
• Dogberry: Since they are basically guards, they
should have some sort of weapon on both of
them. Perhaps a gun slung over their shoulders
and their clothing should be dark so it would be
easier for them both to hide in the dark and keep
watch undetected.
• Friar Francis: The priest. He should have an all
black robe with a white collar and possibly facial
hair, a balding spot and a bible and cross most of
the time.
32. Cont.
• Sexton: The judge. Should have a hat from
the 16th century and have the character dress
in a very formal robe possibly colored, but
perferably all black or white. Also with a cross
and bible.
• Beatrice: The niece of Benedick. She should
have a bright dress with very girly features,
such as ruffles and lace.
34. Act 1 Scene 1 and 2
• The setting of the first two scenes in Act 1 is in a
house so to portray the lighting we would use
lights set at a 45 degree angle from the top
• We would place a Fire lamp to portray the year
that the play took place
• We would make the lights feel warm by making
them bright
• We would also place a dim blue light behind the
window to show that it is night out and the moon
is shining in
35. Act 1 Scene 3
• This act also takes place in the house but the
mood of this scene is different from the rest
• To help the mood we would dim the lights to
help the “cold” mood
• We would also use a spotlight on the
character speaking to show his emotions
• The spotlight would not be to bright though
that way the audience is not confused on the
mood
36. Act 2 Scene 1
• During this scene the characters are in a ball
room waiting for a dance to start
• We would use a dim light do set the mood for a
dance
• The light would be covered in a blue gel to
enhance the dance floor
• Using a spot light we would show Hero and
Beatrice talking to each other before the dance
starts
• When more people show up we would dim the
spotlight
37. Act 2 Scene 1 Continued
• As the scene goes along different characters
have conversations and to emphasize they are
talking would move the spotlight to them as
they converse
38. Act 2 Scene 2 and 3
• During scene 2 we would use dim lights to
resemble the evil plot that is being devised
• We would use a dark blue gel to show evil
• During scene 3 The characters are outside in the
garden so we would use bright lighting to show
they are out in the sun
• As Don Pedro, Claudio, and Leonato walk towards
Benedick we would move the lights to focus them
on the moving characters from one side of the
stage to the other
39. Act 3 Scene 1 and 2
• In This scene we would d the same as scene 3
in act 2 because they are based off the same
thing just different characters
• Scene 2 is a few of the characters plotting out
a fake scene of Hero cheating on Claudio
• The Lights will be covered in blue gel to make
sense of the dark plot that is being made
40. Act 3 Scene 3
• Scene 3 is long but during the course of the scene the
character are outside at night which means we will
have dim lighting while the characters will hold lamps
• In order to show the “flame” we will emphasize the
characters by putting a medium bright spotlight with a
yellow gel on them to show the fire
• As the characters move around we will follow them
with this spotlight and when the watchmen hide we
will shift the spotlight to Borachio and Conrad because
they will be become the main focus
41. Act 3 Scene 4 and 5
• During scene 4 Hero and her maids are in the
house again early morning
• This means we will have bright lights to show that
the house is being lit up by the sun
• We will use a light behind the window like before
but this time it will be bright
• Scene 5 takes place outside the church so we will
have bright lights to represent the sun and maybe
have trees to portray shadows on the stage to get
a better feel for the day
42. Act 4 Scene 1 and 2
• Scene 1 is in the church and to make the feeling
of this we will use lights with bright colored gels
such as yellows and oranges to light up the stage
• As the scene turns though from a happy wedding
into an anger fest we would switch the gels to
dark colors such as blues and purples to show the
mood changing
• Scene 2 is in an interrogation room so the lights
will be dim and cold to set a dark and misty
feeling
43. Act 5 Scene 1 and 2
• Scene 1 takes place back at Leonato’s house
but this time we make the lighting a deep red
• We use the red to show the sorrow that he is
feeling as well as to show death
• When showing the windows we will use a
bright light again because it is during the day
• Scene 2 is outside the house in a field so we
will use bright lights again and add some
green into it to show the grass in the field
44. Act 5 Scene 3 and 4
• Scene 3 is at the gravesite of Hero and in order to show the
sorrow that Claudio is feeling we will use dark colored gels
like grey and purple
• We will also use some green gels as well because the
gravesite is in a cemetery
• Scene 4 is back in the church as well as outside in some
parts
• We will use the same gels as before when the mood was
happy in the church with the bright gels and use bright
lights with shades of green to depict being outside
• In order to switch from one to the other we must use two
side of the stage with one staying dark while the other
being lit up by the appropriate lighting
