How can the elements of production be used to convey ideas about society?
Your response should be 400-600 words in length.

Throughout all plays elements of production are used in order to convey concrete ideas to the audience based upon society, whether it is past or modern society. These elements include staging, lighting and costuming. All of these elements play a large role within plays as they create an understanding for the audience and have the ability to set the tone for the entire play.

Staging in particular plays a significant role within plays as it has the ability to create an impact upon the audience and can work to highlight hidden messages within the script which also furthers the audiences understanding of these concepts within the play. This is highly evident within the workshop that was completed within class where in groups we were supplied with different scripts that each included different hidden messages based upon the modern society that we live in. My group and I used staging to convey the idea of Alex McNiven being an imaginary character, which was done through the use of minimal movement from each individual on stage to demonstrate that Alex McNiven is not a tangible character, that he is unable to interact with others therefore no contact was made between anyone within the play and movement was clearly not evident. This clearly conveys the pressure that modern society places upon teenagers within year 12 completing their HSC and depicts how they are being forced to believe that they need to be this fictional character that is inevitably impossible for any individual to accomplish.

Lighting also plays significant roles within modern plays in particular as it not only has the ability to adjust the entire mood of the play, but also can be used to highlight particular characters or spaces within a play in order to convey a certain theme or idea. An example of this within the workshop was through the use of extremely minimal and dark outer lighting, although a sharp and bright beam upon the individual that was speaking to convey that Alex McNiven is multiple people, that Alex McNiven is a fictional character that was made up by the students as a release from the real world which is symbolised within the darkness around them, as the darkness is their reality that they are ultimately running away from. Therefore this depicts the harsh modern society that young teenagers are forced to grow up within that supplies them with an