Towards Modular Concepts in Scenic Design Heuristics: Influences from Production Sceneries in the Cinema Hall 2 of the National Theatre of Nigeria. (1995-2001)

Abstract

The relatively high cost of making theatre sets to match the scenic symbology of dramatic productions in contemporary Nigerian theatres has engendered a rather unsavory scenic practice evidenced in the repetitive use of stock sets. Besides the sense of movement that is seriously dislocated, these sets are used without recourse to the technical problems associated with structural weakness, media weight, surface corrosion and stereotypic defects. However, the problems generated by this tendency are aggravated by the misnomeric use of the term, ‘flexibility’ in design and by the desire to re-use sets made predominantly from a material (wood) which does not, in the least, assist this concept. In authenticating these claims, and in an effort to improvise a design concept that can assist in reducing stereotypism in set form and use, this thesis gathers its sample data from the scenic forms and concepts used in five widely varied dramatic productions by the National Troupe of Nigeria, in a stage space known as the Cinema Hall 2 of the National Theatre of Nigeria. The scenic forms and concepts are presented from their construction media, joinery forms, rigging patterns, measurement variables and rendering styles, not leaving out authorial and space considerations. These are achieved through a Historical Research Methodology that leans heavily on primary data of photographs, videos and interviews. An analysis of the scenic design concepts behind these forms reveals a scenic trend that has suffered from acute stereotypism and indeterminacy of forms owing to concept multiplicity and financial problems, amongst other reasons, in the Nigerian theatre. However, the implications from our research findings fructifies in the recommendation of a new, more gratifying material of scenery, thermoplastics, and a modular design heuristics that can ensure flexibility, adaptability and re-usability without suffering from these problems. Though the proffered ideation encapsulated in what this thesis calls ‘polymorphic stage design’ has its technical limitations, it is, nonetheless, seen as a design heuristics that can give impetus to the needed scenic design experimentations in the Nigerian theatres. As its contribution to knowledge, this work goes beyond the shores of constructivism and its apperceptions which it affirms to evolving a new concept in set design heuristics that it refers to as polymorphism. Through this research exercise, knowledge is equally made of the traditions of production and set design in The National Theatre of Nigeria and in contemporary Nigerian theatres.