As anyone who has worked in the entertainment industry knows, the success of a production – whether on screen or stage – depends utterly and completely on how realistic and believable the world that is being created can be.This means that the actors playing the parts of main characters have to win over the hearts, minds AND imaginations of the people in the audience. An audience member cannot be transported to another world if the characters don’t help him or her.
In short; if the actor doesn’t believe in the world on stage or on screen, neither will anyone else.Actors are only human, just like you and I. Many of them have a real talent and love for performing, but all actors will talk of a role or a time in their lives where they could not get ‘into character’. Perhaps there is something confronting about the part they are playing, perhaps they are being consumed by a more realistic drama in their personal life, or perhaps they cannot connect with the character or the story.
If this is so, then it is the responsibility of the other actors, the director and the production team to bring to life the world of the script. Not only does this have the effect of making it real for the actors, but it does the same for the audience.This is done by using theatre sets and props that are realistic in their looks, their touch and their feel.
When a character in a production based in the 1960s dresses for the day, her clothes should feel like they are made from the polyesters that were popular during that time, the props in her kitchen must be true to the retro style and the theatre set should evoke a very different time and place to the one outside the theatre doors.A talented production team will weave magic with theatre sets and props, in order to create a new world for those on stage, and those in the seats.