Essay 1

 One of the most crucial elements deciding whether a show/play is decent or not is the setting. A good setting creates an appropriate atmosphere to the audience. If I'm going to design the setting for the show "The curious incident of the dog in the night-time" in a place with the size of Black Box theater, I won't  make it looks flamboyant. Black Box is not a huge place with a hundred different colors' spotlights and two thousand seats, it's only for the people that would like to enjoy a   delicate show with silent and peaceful environment. So the setting won't be complicated, with just a couple of chairs and decorations for the four scenes: The place where the dog got killed, Christopher's home, train station and Christopher's mom's house in London. I want the other scenes to be somehow ignored because the show can't be so long as Hollywood Movies, people often get bored and sleepy after an hour in a place like the dark theater. As long as the play shows the essence of the original work, then It's finished.
  But, what exactly is the essence of the show?
  According to the author of the original novel, "It's not a novel about disability, it's a novel about difference." The whole book is developing from Christopher's points of view, so the show should be mainly focusing on Christopher too. I would put Christopher in the middle of the stage for the whole time, and the background lights change with his mood. When he figures something out, the light goes bright; when he gets depressed, the lights goes dark; when someone is trying to approach to him, the stage goes dark except the light to the two people. This light effect can help Christopher carries the audience's mood with him. Music is also a big part, and changes with Christopher's emotions.
  The original novel tends to be pretty realistic, that's why the plot attracts so many people. Fantastical elements are usually not as understandable as realistic ones.
  Christopher is a student, so I want to make the student audience have reflection on themselves. The imaginative, adventurous, and anxious personalities from Christopher can be shown in a lot of peer readers. To maximize those feelings, whether the costumes, face expressions, or the body language must be matching the real life especially for Christopher.
  While Christopher is dealing with the difficulty in communicating with other people in the whole book, he is always lonely. There's a detail I want to add to the show. He can be carrying a big that's kind of big on him in the whole play, representing his insecure feeling. It doesn't make sense in some degrees and didn't show up in the original novel, but don't we all want to hold on to something when we are nervous? Somehow this kind of design should make the show a bit more unique.
  Last significant thing needed to be mention is the actor's voice, it's been so decisive to the plays but sometimes the actors just ignored its importance. In a small theatre like Black Box, the actors can't speak too loud, but there are actually scenes when Christopher screams, so the actor can't be that emotional. Otherwise, it would become a total noise.