Scenographic considerations in staging Dipo Kalejaiye’s Danger Awake

Abstract

The theatre is a collaborative art which entails the coming together of different artists for the sole aim of putting a performance before an audience. These artists of the theatre include the playwright, the director, the stage manager, the set, lighting and costume designers as well as the make-up artist, the sound man, the props man and the actors. This implies that the theatre is as auditory as it is visual. Scenography therefore is basically concerned with the visual aspect of a theatrical production which in actual fact involves the creativity of the scenic designer, the lighting designer, the costume and make-up artists as well as the property and the sound designers. However, the art of the scenographer does not stop at the decoration of the set and the provision of costumes and properties but entails all the creative work that comes into a theatrical production. The problem of this study therefore is to interrogate the creative responsibilities of the scenographer in the production of a theatrical work beyond mere decoration of scenery. This is done through an examination of the technical requirements involved in the staging of Danger Awake,a play written by Dipo Kalejaiye with the aim of aiding prospective producers of the play by providing scenographic blueprint towards a comfortable and aesthetically pleasing design for an adequate realization of the play on stage for the proper understanding of the audience.