Staging of Woyzeck

Ellisia Humberstone

Woyzeck Staging

I have chosen to use Traverse staging for my design concept of Buchner's Woyzeck (Image 1). Traverse staging creates a larger intimacy level between the actors and audience and other audience members as the audience can see each other and their reactions from across the stage. I wanted to create that close intimacy level in my staging, especially between Woyzeck and the audience. Buchner's character Woyzeck is based on a real person named Woyzeck who stabbed his wife for cheating. In his trial he spoke about the social class he was in and poverty that he could not escape from. The character in the play is based upon this real person, therefore making Woyzeck one of the first characters on stage to represent a low class, poverty stricken human being. This creates more intimacy between the audience and Woyzeck and by using Traverse staging we can heighten the intimacy level even more, making it easier for the audience to empathize with Woyzeck later on in the play.

Characters sketch in a draft of Woyzeck

Woyzeck (1979 film)

a draft of Georg Büchners Woyzeck - street scene

The raked audience seating creates a parallel between the audience members as a whole and the characters in the play. The way the back audience members are higher up creates a sense of social hierarchy that we see in the play between the characters that are lower class such as Woyzeck and the higher characters like the Captain and Doctor. The raised seating creates the sense that the audience is looking don on Woyzeck as he is on stage, representing the way almost all the characters in the play look down on him.

For the lighting element of the play , I have chosen to use both lower floor level lighting and ceiling lighting. The lower lighting will use a pale yellow filter. There will be 10 floor lights...