Set Design Deep Dive (AQA)

The AQA Rule: NO NATURALISM

If you design a highly detailed, realistic living room for the Hadley house, you will cap your marks. The Cooke adaptation requires scenes to bleed into one another instantly. Your set must be abstract, minimalist, and heavily reliant on the ensemble physically moving items. Click below to reconfigure the bare stage.

Configuration 1: Heathcroft School

The Big Idea: The ensemble rapidly pushes the wooden crates into neat, regimented rows to instantly create the strict environment of the Cross-dominated school.

🪑 Multi-Functional Props The plain wooden crates serve as school desks. By keeping them abstract, the audience accepts the location without needing realistic classroom furniture that would slow down scene changes.

👁️ The Exposed Stage Because the stage is surrounded on three sides (Thrust), the audience can see everything. The bare brick back wall reminds them that Albion is a harsh, unyielding place.

📝 AQA Terminology Bank

Thrust Stage

A stage surrounded by the audience on three sides. It creates immense intimacy during monologues but also exposes the actors, leaving them nowhere to hide during moments of violence.

Minimalism

Stripping the set back to only the absolute essentials. If an item isn't actively used by an actor, it shouldn't be on stage. This forces the audience to focus on the political message.

Multi-functional Props

Items like wooden crates, scaffolding, or chairs that can be repurposed throughout the play (e.g., a crate is a desk in Act 1, and a prison bed in Act 2).

Exposed Architecture

Leaving the back walls of the theatre (like bare brick or radiators) and the lighting rig visible. A key Brechtian technique to prevent the suspension of disbelief.