“Theatre is able to tell stories that help enact social change…The aim of theatre is for the audience to leave a show feeling moved and then inspired to incorporate the moral into their own lives. Theatre is a gateway to understanding imperative topics by being put into the experience.” (Labaziewicz)
Theatre and its ability to transport audiences into alternate worlds allows for a new sense of growth and change among human consciousness. The ideas presented and performed in a piece of theatre can lead to an understanding of issues that are far more complex than assumed. The play Lac / Athabasca by Len Falkenstein is a piece that simplifies and expands on the immensely complex issue of environmental negligence. The script itself leads the audience through multiple storylines and timelines to speak to the subject of environmental corruption. If the play is put on well, it will transcend words and provoke thought, understanding, and questioning. My production of this play will especially accentuate Burke’s idea of purpose, and following, scene. These two concepts have importance to the play as they work together to truly impact the audience through meaning and scenery. These factors will transform the audience into the locations in the play, providing them with a chance to be immersed in the world. Next, agent is ranked as the characters within the play allow for the words written in the script to become intricate stories of humanity that stimulate meaning. Then, agency and the way in which the plot is delivered follows. This is important as I see the play to be executed in a stylistic and slightly abstract form of performance. Finally, act is ranked last because the other pentad elements create more of an effect than the action.
Firstly, purpose is ranked first as it will be majorly woven into my production as the impact on the audience and the social issues spoken of in the play are extremely significant. Theatre is so important as it speaks to audiences and conveys a meaning that can spark change. For my production, I will make sure that the issue of environmental corruption is clear so that the audience can leave with critical thoughts and questions that will lead them to knowledge on the serious matter. I will achieve this by directing the play in such a way that it is brimming with dark tones and a consistent mood of tension and uncertainty so that the final few scenes allow for understanding. This will be achieved through lighting and the sounds that work as connections between one scene and the next. These elements will help set a mood for the audience and leave them wondering and yearning for the next scene.
Secondly, scene is a component of my production that is particularly important as it will transform a simple stage into a world of ever-flowing meaning and symbols speaking to corruption. I believe that through a set that will move the audience between timelines and plotlines, the play will be more cohesive and thus effective. For the set, I imagine a theatre-in-the-round stage with a floor painted to look like the Alberta oil sands, marbled with black and tan sand. The set itself would be similar to that of the performance of The Bakkhai at the Stratford Festival, directed by Jillian Keiley. A theatre-in-the-round stage with a main centerpiece that reflects a theme in the play, for Lac / Athabasca, it would be a small pool-like fountain filled with black water, made with fulvic acid, to represent the oil and water mixture that occurs in the play as well as a symbol of corruption in the otherwise pure water. In addition, I want to stage the separate scenes in slightly different locations on stage to convey that they are at different times and places. For example, for Ben, I want to have him on the stairs, right next to the audience. There will be one stairway blocked off for Ben’s “glacier trekking” and as well for François, Wawetska, and Edward’s canoe. To portray the lake as well as the glacier, the stairs will be painted a deep blue for both states of the water. The canoe will be made so that it is corrugated and easy to remove and place on stairs, as it will sit on them and be tilted, but not fall with people inside of it. Also, for the rest of the scenes, I see them at the centre of the stage with minimal props to simply convey the setting. For example, when Peter and Janice are in their laboratory, they will be wearing lab coats and have a simple movable table with glass shelves under it to show beakers and other laboratory apparatus. Additionally, the sound effects are significant as to keep the stylistic parts of the play involved. The play is written in a disjointed but also connected way which thus leads me to want to direct it so that the style, sound, and lighting is similar to that of the play. Ergo, the scene is immensely important but it needs characters in the scene to work well.
Subsequently, agent follows as it is very important for the characters and their stories to speak to the audience. The characters in this play are so significant to understanding the themes and stories behind this play. They create fascinating connected allegories all leading to the same major theme of corruption in the environment. I will use characters to further express the purpose of the play through accentuating their stories with talented and diverse actors. Agent is important as well as the characters and their stories also speak to human ideals. For example, some characters go through moments in which they are not as morally correct as they can be, like Janice in the scene in which she drinks the “discoloured and murky” water, attempting to prove to Peter that the water pollution is not worth making a big deal of. (Falkenstein 17-18) This moment, as well as others, convey to the audience that humankind’s morals are misaligned due to anthropocentrism, the idea of human self-centeredness as well as humankind’s immense desire for money and power. Janice’s odd moment of acting against her own words and “swallowing everything [she hears] from a bunch of people” proves that she perhaps cares more about not making a fuss and making money. (Falkenstein 18) Through all of the characters and the element of agent, it is evident that characters are important to the direction of a play, just like how they act and deliver their lines are important.
Next, agency’s significance is clear when explaining the way that the play is delivered and performed style-wise. I want to direct this play in such a way that it is stylistic and abstract but also contemporary. With moments of characters building their town out of model buildings and trains, the play automatically has a stylistic aspect. I want to expand on that and add more moments like that one. For example, when Phil is explaining the story of the train coming towards the town and shaking the bar while a “pretty girl” and her band perform, I would want to have Phil at downstage performing a monologue while the actions occurs upstage in dim lighting to show a stylized version of what occurred. (Falkenstein 8) These style choices will lead the play into being more interesting and complex conceptually. However, it is important to note that style is also clear when action is clear.
Finally, act is ranked last to prove that other elements will be effective enough as the play is not action based and more style based. Act is very important, but due to the way in which the play is constructed, with more action occurring at the end, the other elements of Burke’s pentad are far more important. However, the action in the play is major, so I would want to stage it well. For example, in the scene on page 64-66 in which a plethora of characters and citizens of Lac Madawaska run around after hearing the explosions, I think it would be very effective to have multiple things occurring to provide an immersive experience. While lines are shared, there should be a chaotic tone set with sounds of explosions, firey lights, and people running all around to get away but still keeping the action on stage. The sounds would be completed with characters speaking their lines in a panicked frenzy until Maurice and Phil finally say, “I made it”, causing everything to freeze. (Falkenstein 66) The sounds, the lights, the people. Suddenly, everyone would become solemn and slow to emphasize the imminent danger of the explosion and then contrast to the after-effects and depression. The action and element act is also highly important as it gives a major effect on the rest of the play. It helps for all of the previous scenes and events to gain a common thread and new understanding of their significance.
Overall, this play provides the audience with a message of human morals and environmental corruption. Lac / Athabasca is most effective in performance and through my ranking and staging of the play, it is further developed in meaning and immersion. The ranking of purpose, scene, agent, agency, and act express the true reasoning behind my directional creativity, through the meaning being far more important than what occurs. Through all of Burke’s pentad elements, the play’s true meaning is evident and significant to society. The elements allow the audience to see the play and question, why is it that after all of this hard work to protest and perform plays with messages of change, humans still ignore the truth and the morally challenging questions?
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