Sophie Neil

Art Department

The Threepenny Opera

Blackheath Halls, London 2006
Director: Jonathan Cocker
Lighting: David Holmes

It was necessary to pull the action into the centre of the large hall, giving power to the bodies in space and following the natural shape and proportion already present. Traverse staging demands a certain amount of recognition and participation from any audience – something that we wanted to embrace in an attempt to evoke a more intimate atmosphere. Our aim was for the spectators’ eye to be powerfully drawn into the action. The traverse heightens the distance between characters, inducing a sense of journey by visually mapping out a through line and indicating a directional path to carry the drama onwards