These type of masks would be hanging in the ceiling in the back of the stage. I want these masks to be there just to give the set a more African feel. I feel as though this will help the audience experience this African piece. I would want the bar in the play to look very old like its been there for years. The color of the bar would be dark brown. It would have piece of the wood showing, where the paint or stain came off and its down to the wood itself. The bar would have wear and tear . The table would be wooden a well a bright orange and yellow. The chairs also be wooden and would be a dark blue. The pool table would look fairly new not really old like the other pieces of furniture. The walls in the bar would be a plain brown. The walls wood we made of wood and it would have an ancient look and fell to it. The back room would have 3 beds and there would be a poster of a famous African American pop star. There would also be a little night sand with an ugly looking lamp. I would have the room look a little messy with brown unappealing sheets. There would be magazines and nail polish on the floor. It looks just like the bar area without the bar, table, chairs, and pool table that are in it.
As far as costuming goes this type of look is what I'm going for. Sophie would be dressed in softer color material and have a cute looking variation of the traditional African attire. I would basically have Sophie look like the girl in the middle. Salima on the other hand would be dressed in darker colors. Her and Josephine would be wearing more riskay clothes. My reasoning behind that would because they are the two main girls in the story we hear about dancing all over men and sleeping with them, so with that being said they would need to look the part and not be dressed as conservative. Mama Nadi would have more sophisticated look. Although she ran the whore house she had a very strong personality and she needs to stick out from the bunch. The person on the right side is perfect example of what I would have her dressed in. During the last part of the play, I would want Mama Nadi to be wearing a nice green sun dress with white polka dots on it.
Now I'm going to speak on the men's attire. Christian of course would be wearing his old brown suit basically throughout the whole play until the final scene. Then in the final scene Christian will be wear a nice suit. the color of this suit would be black with a white undershirt and a black tie.
Instead of dressing the soldiers in traditional camouflage army clothes. I would want them to dress like the picture above. In the book they sounded really mean and dirty, so I feel as though that with their attire they need to portray that mean and dirty feeling. The government soldiers' outfits would look brand new, just like there leader. The rebel soldiers' outfits would look more older, just like their leader outfit. The man on the floor in the picture above, is a great example of how i would want the miners in my mock production should and will look like.
Now that I've got the basic design of my stage and the lighting down I've got to get into what I would do as far as sound! Since Sophie sings the whole time and is accompanied by guitar players and drums I wouldn't really need to worry adding in any type of extra music during the play. Expect, the tropical Ituri rain forest. During intermission and some of the scene changes, I would play this type of song as you can watch and hear in the video clip above.
My audience would be very diverse. I would want all different types of people to come watch this play. Its not a traditional play that families would go see together. So, I would only allow kids ages sixteen and up to see the show. There a lot of explicit language and sexual parts in this play. So, there would be a mandatory parent advisory for minors, that are under the age of sixteen.
