During the devising process, I saw two shows that had elements that were very similar to what out show was shaping up to be. These were Shakespeare Untold and Cell

Shakespeare Untold followed the story of two of Shakespeare’s play- Romeo and Juilet and Titus Andronicus. The piece had two sets, one for each story. The first was a strip of floor that looked like grass, some chairs, a ladder and a wall with a window. The second was a different floor, a table and the interior of a kitchen. Each act had a different story and therefore set.
During the interval, the set was struck: The top floor was rolled up and put in the wings, the props were taken off stage and replaced with the table and the box was turned 180o to reveal the kitchen. As we were intending to have a number of quick scene changes, the idea of a versatile set which was pre-set as much as possible seemed like a very practical way of designing our set.

Both stories were solo performances but the actors played around 7 parts, including the narrator, whom mentioned in the plays, but didn’t feature in them. To represent which character they were playing, each had a part of their costume that could rearrange- a scarf and a tea towel. When they weren’t being used, they were kept around the actors’ waists. Each characters they were being to portray had them being worn and used in a different way. This was also the case for the props. Certain props were used to represent different characters during narration to avoid confusion and help the audience keep track of the events and characters.
Both these devices were relevant to our ideas.
As we use ‘everyday objects’ to help our message and story which was quite fast paced, our props would have to be minimalist so they were suitable for quick changes, but objects that could be interpreted by both performers and audience members.

Cell was a three person puppet show that followed the life of Ted, a man diagnosed with MND. Ted was played by a puppet and featured no speech, just sounds. Other characters were puppets or by the cast, distinguished by one prop or costume element.
Upstage there was a three sectioned shadow puppet screen, with all props on the floor in front of it. Transitions in this piece were done through shadow puppetry. Like ours, characters had their own shadow puppet. Unlike ours, they had movement and interacted with shadow set, such as boats.
As an audience decides within the first 30 second whether they will like a show or not, Cell seemed like a good show to take inspiration from as the whole show was so simple but so engaging through the fantastic puppets and puppetry.

Regardless of whether these devices were used in our piece, the inspiration and ideas that they provoked hopefully would be.