Embedded Files
What is the Project?
The Murder Mystery performance was commissioned to the HNC/HND Courses as Gloucestershire College by "Gloucester Welcomes Refugees", we were asked to create a Christmas themed Murder Mystery for charity.
The Story starts in 1920's London, where the Countess has her annual Christmas Masquerade Ball, in which she invites all the townsfolk to celebrate the holidays as a community, little does she know however that the evening will take a very... Interesting turn.
On this page I am reviewing my Backstage role which in this project was Set Designer
My Role as Set Designer:
As the set designer, my job is to create a suitable set for the performance we are going to take part in, this involves thinking about many different aspects of the environment the characters are going to be interacting with, such as time period, level of class and for this performance especially, the time of year.
As our Murder Mystery is set at Christmas in 1920's England, I had many ideas flood my head for what kind of set to make. As this is set in the house of a 'Countess' I did some research and found many European styled ballrooms that followed a similar colour palette and type of furniture.
Colour Palette:
When doing research I found a lot of classic and elegant ballrooms had a warmer colour palette, this is due to a lot of them having beige coloured walls, alongside candles as a primary source of light. This was very perfect as the palette also reminds me of what I believe Christmas to be like, the feeling of when your in the living room with the fireplace lit, it's warm and cozy.
Furniture:
For furniture I wanted a more stereotypical look regarding the early 1900's and more specifically, the higher class, I wanted to go about this by getting the main aesthetics right, that being the tables. The reason I chose tables as a high priority was purely because that is where the audience will be for the whole show
Design Brief / Start of the Process
Time Period:
At the beginning of the process I had a meeting with all of my peers and we discussed the setting, so the time and theme etc. While we had the original idea of masquerade in the 16-1800's, we chose to go a bit more recent, this is due to the budget and getting effective costumes that corresponded with the time period the show will be set, there was also a brief suggestion of making it nearer the 1970's to 80's, while I did like the idea I personally believed making it closer to the 1920's would work, this was due to the surge of popularity regarding detective stories between 1920 and 1939. Once we had picked the decade it was then the location.
Setting (Country):
While we originally suggested to keep the location as Venice (The Inspiration Murder Mystery Game), when we changed the time period we also chose to change the country to England, this was to help with characterisation and not having to learn an accent in a short time, Once we decided England it was then our job to find a place, while we originally went with Oxford we later chose London as we believed thats where the higher classed individuals primarily lived in the England.
Setting (Stage):
We decided from very early on that we wanted the show to be set in a banquet hall, the real question was where? After a discussion we decided to set it in a London manor which was owned by a countess, this was to help create characters and their personalities, this also helped with how characters communicated also, as we felt having them in a manor might give the feeling of a more 'close community'.
Inspirations (Behind the Scenes - Film)
Victorian British Ballrooms
DisneyLand's Tower Of Terror:
Even though this is a Christmas themed performance, I've taken inspiration off of the Hollywood Tower of Terror, for me, I took the Pre-Show from the attraction as a baseline for how the trailer for the Murder Mystery should go.
Even though our performance is set almost two decades behind, I used this as a way to understand how classic advertisements work, how the audio sounded and the grammar that was also used, alongside this I personally find older adverts to be somewhat unnerving, I tried to re-create that for our own advert. I wanted a good balance between welcoming but also adding a bit of mystery.
Watch The Tower Of Terror Pre-Show here!
Hotel Transylvania:
In this murder mystery, I came across this inspiration while watching the film Hotel Transylvania, while unintentionally finding it, there is a brief scene where they are in a ballroom sorting out tables for a birthday, in which the design of the room represents the kind of aesthetic I was looking for, early European dining hall with the warm lighting.
Watch The Hotel Transylvania Scene Here!
Indiana Jones And The Temple of Doom
While a rather odd inspiration, I was watching this film recently and noticed in the first scene, the tables were almost identical to my original ideas, even though this scene is set in a nightclub and not a classic ballroom, is still gave off a similar Aesthetic of a higher class establishment. The white round tables were exactly how I invisioned the tables at first alongside this I also found the environment to have a similar feel as to the one I had envisioned for the show also.
Watch The First 10 Minutes of Temple Of Doom here!
Inspirations (Agatha Christie)
Her Influence
Some of Her Works
1920 - The Mysterious Affair at Styles
The Mysterious Affair at Styles was the first appearance of one of the most famous detectives Poirot, a Belgium Refugee. In the story his first case is the case of Emily Inglethorp, a woman who helped Poirot get settled in England when he first arrived. The reason I put this piece in is because of the character Poirot, his influence on media changed murder mysteries and made them a staple in theatre. He took your average murder mystery and gave them a turn into the psychological. He also inspired the idea of brains over brawn in murder stories.
1934 - Murder On The Orient Express
The Murder On The Orient Express is probably Agatha Christie's most famous work. By revolutionising the ideas of 'Morals' when it comes to a murderers true intention, it also introduced the idea of an isolated location when it comes to detective work, instead of having multiple locations, all of the possible murder suspects were confined to one location. The huge impact of this story led to it getting multiple theatre interpretations and on top of that, several films too.
1935 - The ABC Murders
The ABC murders had a unique interpretation when it came to detective work, while the detectives usually work on their own, this show had Poirot work alongside the police, which adds a new dynamic to the show.
Her Staging
A Murder is Announced - Agatha Christie
When doing research on set designs for a Murder Mystery, I chose to look at Agatha Christie's work and on top of that, the staging associated with them also. The show "A Murder is Announced" was a great inspiration for mine, as you can see, the picture on the bottom left surprisingly matches my imagined set, you can see this with the red walls, chandelier and the banquet table. As I said in my video discussing Murder Mysteries, one of the great parts of the genre is how you can perform one almost anywhere in a range of different places. This showed me that you don't need the most extravagant set, all you need is a set that represents the location and era.
Appointment with Death - Agatha Christie
The Appointment with Death, while it may not be accurate set-wise to my final product, I took inspiration from the minimalism. It showed me that some of the most effective murder mysteries are fairly simplistic, as long as you have the correct set pieces, this helped inspire me and also showed me that even though I can't have the unrealistic set that I dreamed of having, I can still effectively make the setting of 1920's London with a few things, as long as I make what I do put in more detailed and accurate to the time period.
The Mousetrap - Agatha Christie
The Mousetrap I would say matched the kind of room I wanted for the Murder Mystery the most, as you can see at the back of the photo in the bottom left, there is a raised floor, I wanted a similar effect in the murder mystery with the countesses family table in the same place, similarily with the fireplace, while I couldn't practically get a fireplace in the show, thats when I discussed the idea of a warm lighting. Hoping to give a similar illusion of a fireplace.
The Room
Original Idea:
For the room my initial thought matched the Directors vision which was a classic banquet hall, like you see in the films, red walls, tiled marble floors and alot of dark wood, the stereotypical theme.
For these images we used AI to design what we envisioned, while we could've went onto google images to find an inspiration image, we felt it was better to use AI as we could describe exactly what our vision was and to get a fairly accurate result.
Concepts (Staging)
Stage Layout (Concept 1)
Estimated Resources Required:
Audience:
20 x Desks/Tables
60 x Seats
Cast & Staging
8 x Staging
1 x Long Wooden Table
2 x Desks/Tables
11 x Seats
Guest Seating:
In this first concept I had the idea of putting a lot of tables together to maximise seating and on top of that I thought it give the illusion of one big dining table which was common for the era, the only concern would be groups being sat next to each other and overhearing the others discussion.
Set Design (Actors):
As you can see there is an extended stage in this concept, this was to make the show feel more theatrical in its run, this was a short-lived concept as it wouldn't have allowed for wheelchair access. On top of that we felt it went too far from the audience.
The Constraints:
The constraints for this set design were purely down to the number of tables required and on top of that, the limited table cloth's for the table. If I chose this design I felt I would've sacrificed my original idea of smart white festive tables.
The Risks:
While in the design process of this show there were many factors to consider, when sorting out the tables one of the main ones being traversal for the cast, while a lot of shows have the audience entering from a different location than the actors, the murder mystery had the cast blend with the actors so it could feel natural (as the audience members were invited by the countess) one of the main risks that were caused by this was fire safety. I felt as Set Designer there wouldn't be enough room for the audience to safely evacuate in case of a fire, mainly due to the chairs and the curtain taking up alot of room.
There was also Wheelchair accessibility, as I stated earlier we wanted some of the cast to enter with the audience, one of the members of our cast is a wheelchair user, me and the directors decided it would be best to make sure there was enough space to accomodate all members of cast and the audience, on top of this as well, we also decided to remove the middle staging which led to the accusation table, this was also due to accessibility reasons.
Stage Layout (Concept 2)
Estimated Resources Required:
Audience Seating:
12 x Desks/Tables
60 x Seats
Cast & Staging
6 x Staging
1 x Long Wooden Table
3 x Desks/Tables
11 x Seats
Guest Seating:
In this concept, a few drastic changes were made to accommodate for the previous concerns, we chose to change the idea of one long table to twelve individual ones, this was because it was easier to acquire and separated the individual groups so they could have a more personalised experience, this would also allow for more freedom when discussing evidence.
Set Design:
As you can see the extended stage was removed and replaced with an extra table, there were a few reasons for this, the first reason being accessibility, the second being staging, I came up with the idea of having two tables, the top table being the countess and her special guests, the lower table being for the higher class that came on their own accord. I felt this was a good way to also help the audience understand the characters and their direct relations with Red Cloak.
The Constraints:
While the constraints for this set design were a lot less than previously, I still felt like there were a few problems with this design, this is mainly due to the tables and viewing, as you can see there are tables in the corner, which I worry will mean the view will be blocked for members of the audience.
The Risks:
When marking out the floor and testing these tables in their places, I felt like the original risks had been resolved, I'd put more room behind the tables and made sure there was plenty of access in case of an emergency, but I was personally unhappy with the design, while there was wheelchair access through the main door I still felt there wasn't enough room to ensure comfort for those who need it, there was also a lot of crowding with the seats also, I also felt this could be a risk of audience members possibly colliding with each other.
Stage Layout (Concept 3)
Estimated Resources Required:
Audience Seating:
8 x Desks/Tables
2 x Round Tables
60 x Seats
Cast & Staging
2 x Staging
1 x Long Wooden Table
3 x Desks/Tables
11 x Seats
Guest Seating:
In this drawn concept, I had substituted a lot of the square tables for more efficient round ones, this was to tackle my previous concerns about Audience visibility, while I was originally worried about members of the audience in the corners of the theatre, these tables were my solution to that problem.
Set Design:
The Set Design remains visually unchanged (There is still a bottom table, I forgot to draw it), The one major change was having the interrogation table be taken on and off stage instead of permanently on, we felt this worked better for the lighting and also the traversal of the actors, as all of the characters interact with the audience we wanted it to be as manoeuvrable as possible.
The Constraints:
The main constraints I had with this design were purely to do with spacing, while the tables did fit like I had hoped It was the chairs that I had more of a concern with.
The Risks:
As I mentioned previously I had a concern with the chairs, this was like my earlier concept when I stated about audience members coliding with each other, this staging didn't rectify that issue but I felt might have made it worse, I also found it would've been more challenging to allow wheelchair users in, as I worried about the audience being in their way. Alongside this, I was also worried about the accusation table, I say this because of where I had to retrieve and remove it from, I was worried if I did it wrong I could injure possible audience members.
Stage Layout (Final)
Estimated Resources Required:
Audience Seating:
8 x Desks/Tables
2 x Round Tables
50 x Seats
Cast & Staging
6 x Staging
1 x Long Wooden Table
3 x Desks/Tables
11 x Seats
Guest Seating
This is how the Stage was layed out in the final performance, while the Set Design remains the exact same, The tables were substitued for extra room, this was to do with the number of ticket sales. I thought it wouldn't look right to have a fancy banquet with empty tables so I chose to accommodate and remove some tables to ensure that the audience can feel like the table was saved for them. The round tables were added as a way to help fit audience round the corner of the theatre. In the final Performance we managed to fit everyone on a table.
Set Design:
While the Set Design hasn't changed from the previous one, I had changed placement of where I get the Accusation table, this was primarily for ease of access and the safety of the audience.
The Constraints:
For the final design I was happy with the way it turned out, I was allowed to shrink the amount of chairs I had to fit in (That being from 60 to 50), because of this I felt like I could comfortably fit all of the tables in without them being to close proximity-wise.
The Risks:
I felt by the final performance I'd removed all the risks that I felt were major, there was enough room for wheelchair users and plenty of seating room for the guests also.
The Tables
Original
When it came to the tables, I believe they are a vital part of the murder mystery, this will probably be the most viewed set piece when it comes to the show (as that is where the audience are sat) I wanted your stereotypical 1920's ballroom, so naturally my mind went to white table cloth and fancy cultery, to allign with the Christmas aesthetic I also wanted to cover the table in Tinsel.
Concept Drawings:
Here are some sketches of my original table designs, as you can see I drew multiple in different shapes, this was so I can have a good concept for each type of table, this is also depending on what tables the college can provide. my original design I had intended to have very big tables (This was before I did any proper measurements), as you can see on each table there was intended to be plenty of room for five (six on the square table) with full sets of cutlery and plates etc. As I already said I hadn't fully considered budget yet, so while I had an extravagant idea, I managed to emulate it well with what resources we had open to us.
AI Designs:
These designs down below were created mainly because I had a specific vision I couldn't represent by drawing, so instead I chose to use Artificial Intelligence to help create my vision.
This image was AI generated, I chose to do this to get what I invisioned as accurate to an image as possible.
This image is from a rental site for 1920's themed events. I felt it worked well as it is also a modern interpretation
Table's (Audience First & Final)
30th September (First Design):
This was the first prototype for our tables using only found props and set dressing from the college's prop cupboard, as you can see there is a blue tablecloth, one of the original suggestions to save on budget was to have different coloured table cloths for each table, this was due to being limited by the ones found in a box. While I believe this would've worked for a more modern era, I personally believed that a higher class banquet in the 1920's would have a more 'set' theme, in the sense that the tables were almost identical. The one design we kept however was the decorations on the table, as set designer I think the Tinsel and candle helped keep the idea of christmas in the audience's head and on top of that, wasnt too over the top and over-stimulating to the audience.
12th December (Final Design):
This is what the final design of the table was, which was really close to my original vision, as you can see the table cloth's are now white, I felt that this was a Must when it came to the final show, I say this because while doing research, I found that all the tables I saw had a white table cloth with some form of tinsel. I wanted to try and emulate that design as much as possible while making sure there was enough room for the audience to write their evidence down on. The candles were all turned on in the final performance to add to the aesthetic I was aiming for, A warmer environment which I think goes perfect with the world we were trying to create (This being a Snowy Winter Night).
The Table (Cast)
The Higher Class Table
While originally having all of the characters on one table, we decided that it would be better if we had two tables to represent the relationships with the host (The Countess) in a more prominant light, This table was designed for The Countess and her Family/Close Family Friends, this is including The Dove, The Dragon, The Lion & The Bluebird, As you can see the table cloth is different from the rest of the tables, I chose a more patterned table cloth of a more high quality material, I also chose the longer wooden table to put at the top, this is to help show their standing in society, On this table I also chose to put some Candleabra's as a way to differentiate the Countess's family from the rest of the audience, this is to also help portray her character trait, as someone who makes sure she has the best first.
The "Lower" Class Table
This table was designed for the guests of the Countess who had prior connections to members of the Higher Class Table, The characters sat here were The Hare, The Weasel, The Stag & The Wolf, I designed this table to be a smaller and not as eloquent table as the Countesses one, this was to help represent their stature, I did this by having a more standard table cloth, while higher quality than the rest of the audience's, I also only chose to put one candelabra on this table, not just because of the size but once again as a way signify them being "Lesser".
The Lights
Original
When it came to lighting, I had alot of ideas which were very unrealistic, my main want was a chandelier dangling from the ceiling, this was due to the vision of a 1920's ballroom, I wanted the aesthetic to be properly represented, below are a few sketches of what kind of design I wanted.
Online
After my concept sketches, I decided to look online to see if any of my designs were 'realistic', to ensure mainly that my designs weren't too overboard, I found some chandeliers that matched my concept drawings fairly well.
Budgeting
The Budget:
As we are doing this show for charity, we decided to keep the budget as low as humanly possible, personally however my goal was to use already existing items from the college, this worked to my benefit however as I feel it helped me to be more resourceful with the items around me. I was trying to spend as minimal as possible, I did this by requesting my fellow cast and crew to bring in props from home they wouldn't mind bringing in, by doing this I saved up to £40, this was due to Charlotte lending the college some old table cloths, alongside this everyone bringing in their own Christmas decorations to help with set dressing. The only external item I put money towards was the table cloth's for the guest tables, whilst Charlotte lended some table cloths, they were of higher quality and I believed it would help give the effect of the "Higher Classed" seating for the Cast. The Table Cloth's I did order were cheap, reusable and came in a large quantity.
Prop/Sets List
Investigating For Dummies - Price £11.99
What I Bought/Made
When it came to the Detectives book, I took it upon myself to create my own, this was purely so I could have the say in what goes in the book, as it belonged to my character, the notebook used was a diary I purchased for myself earlier in the year but never ended up using, so I thought I could transform it into a detective book. The Title and description on the back I made on PowerPoint, this was to help give it some life and character.
Drinks (Cups) - External and College Props
What was used
Drink Bottles
When it came to the drink bottles, I was lucky when my peers said they would look for some old unused wine bottles for the show, this completely removed wine bottles from the budget, as the average cost of a wine bottle in the UK is £7.85, we saved a lot of money thanks to my peers.
Prop Cups
The plastic wine cups were already props in the college which made life alot easier, as finding appropriate prop cups would've taken some time, alongside this I also discovered due to research that the average price of plastic wine cups were £15-20.
Here are some example plastic wine glasses I found on Amazon
The Gun - College Prop
What was used
When it came to the gun, as a vital prop, we were lucky to have a big selection available to us in college, I knew about this due to having to use a gun prop in a show a few years back, that being Sister Act, so when I found out that we needed a gun prop I was lucky to already know where to look, when I found them, there were a few options, these being a small pistol, the gun I am using in the photo, also a classic flintlock. I ruled out the Flintlock because of the period they were most common (this being the early 17th century), this being over 100 years before the show was set, I also ruled out the small pistol because of its size, as I was in the tech box when the Hare was shot, I wanted the gun to be noticable.
The Snacks - £62.40
What was Bought
When it came to the snacks, Josh, Charlotte and Sonia went to Iceland to look for some appropriate snacks for the show, this being some sugar-free drinks and mince pies, this worked well as it matched the aesthetic of Christmas the most. These went down a storm with the audience, as it gave them multiple options regarding snacks and drinks. alot of the Audience had different tastes so it was good we had the wide variety
Candles - £5.94
What was Bought
With the candles, I thought it would help with the Christmas Aesthetic, the candles have been part of the table design since day one, I was originally going to use candelabra's, but while doing research I found how expensive they are, with the few we had however, we decided to implement them into the Cast's tables as a way to show their class and stature.
Candleabra's - College Prop
What was Used
As I said regarding the table candles, the candleabra's while we only had a few, we managed to implement them into the design aesthetic of class, showing the Cast are implied to be the highest class of society. I was lucky considering we only had three, even though I was originally browsing online to find candleabra's, I think in the long run it worked out best for budgeting and for the presentation, the average candleabra cost a minimum of £15
Here are some example Canleabra's I found on Amazon
Tinsel - External Source
What was Used
Regarding the Tinsel, we had a good selection to choose from, this was a mix of college resources and on top of that, materials brought in by my peers, with the amount required for the overall set and seating, we had more than enough tinsel at our disposal.
Christmas Tree - £15
What was Bought
With the Christmas Tree, it was a last minute purchase from me, I say this because I originally had a tree I brought in from home, but I went to the Sainsbury's next to the college and saw this tree on clearance for £15, I purchased this because I wanted a christmas tree of my own and on top of this I thought it would look alot better for the show, as it was a six foot tree while the original tree I had was designed for desks.
The Bible - College Prop
What was Used
Like the Prop Gun, the bible was also a college prop that was utilised in a previous show, this being Sister Act, while the bible is a fairly cheap text. It still would've cost in the long run, as this is for charity I aimed to spend as little as possible, which is why I was lucky to find this prop in the college.
Table Cloths - Price £20.86
What I Ordered
These are the table cloth's I ordered off of Amazon. My main criteria for ordering and buying externally is the 'reusability' of it, I didn't want to order things that would only be used once. I felt these would work the best because of the price and also how many came in a set, I felt they were good quality for the money and also could be reused by the college for events and other shows.
Other Murder Mysteries
Risk Assessment:
Working with Other Roles
Feedback
Link
Here is a video of my Set Design in our Tech Run Through
Here is a video of my Set Design in The Final Performance
Advertising
Inspiration:
The Style:
The Manor:
The manor in the trailer is a real National Trust Property in Somerset, also known as Tyntesfield, the photo's were originally taken by my mum when her and my dad went there in 2024, it was sent to me via text message. There were other options but I felt this manor matched the aesthetic I was going for the most
The Music:
Crew
Producer & Marketing:
What do these roles do?
Producer:
The Producer in theatre is top of the food chain in the theatre industry, they hire on Directors to make their visions a reality, they also manage budgeting and show schedules, they are also in charge of promotion, being the head of marketing.
Marketing:
In marketing, their job is ensure the production they are working on gets the necessary promotion it requires, they do this by making Video Adverts, Posters & More, without them most shows might not get recognised by the public eye.
Executive Manager & Lighting Designer:
What do these roles do?
Executive Stage Manager:
In Theatre, The Stage manager ensures everything runs smoothly from the start of rehearsals to the show day, they are in charge of the backstage crew and cue them on the show day, they are also in charge of all technical aspects to a show.
Lighting Designer:
A Lighting Designers job is to create and install a suitable light display for the show, without them the show might not be able to portray the correct tone as it was implying.
Director & Script Writer:
What do these roles do?
Director:
A Director's job in theatre is to bring the Producers vision to life, they do this by analysing the script and creating a performance that matches the tone set by said script, they lead rehearsals and are in charge of how actors move and interact with the world around them on stage, they also guide the actors by giving feedback on how to improve with their interpretations
Script Writer:
The Script Writer will create an appropriate script that follows the producers vision, they do this by analysing their intentions, characters and setting and write a script to follow that, without them there would be nothing to act on stage as they are vital to a show.
Director & Script Writer::
What do these roles do?
Director:
A Director's job in theatre is to bring the Producers vision to life, they do this by analysing the script and creating a performance that matches the tone set by said script, they lead rehearsals and are in charge of how actors move and interact with the world around them on stage, they also guide the actors by giving feedback on how to improve with their interpretations
Script Writer:
The Script Writer will create an appropriate script that follows the producers vision, they do this by analysing their intentions, characters and setting and write a script to follow that, without them there would be nothing to act on stage as they are vital to a show.
Set Designer & Marketing:
Sam Gwilliam
What do these roles do?
Set Designer:
The Set Designers job is to collaborate with the director to create a set or set's that match their vision for the show, they do this by setting some base details as era, genre and location, and work from there. Their sets can range from minimalist to extravagant, this shows their range of talent.
Marketing:
In marketing, their job is ensure the production they are working on gets the necessary promotion it requires, they do this by making Video Adverts, Posters & More, without them most shows might not get recognised by the public eye.
Hair Designer & Makeup Manager:
What do these roles do?
Hair Designer:
The Hair Designer makes sure the characters have an appropriate hairstyle that match them and the setting, this has a variety of factors to think of, such as era, occupation and general lifestyle. Hair has a big impact on a character as it helps lay the foundation for who they are.
Makeup Manager:
The Makeup Manager makes sure all of the designs are what was envisioned and also organise the makeup for use, they make sure there is no hassle when it comes to makeup application and also ensure their are no skin reactions from applied makeup.
Makeup:
What does this role do?
The Makeup designer ensures that characters in the show have appropriate makeup that match the shows aesthetic, for example time period, genre etc, makeup also helps with characters personalities and how they are represented.
Costume Constructor:
The Actor:
What does this role do?
The Costume Constructor takes mesurements and creates costumes approprate to the show, using a variety of fabrics and materials, this could be used to either add to an existing costume or to create an entirely new one.
Costume Constructor:
What does this role do?
The Costume Constructor takes mesurements and creates costumes appropriate to the show, using a variety of fabrics and materials, this could be used to either add to an existing costume or to create an entirely new one.
Lighting Operator:
What does this role do?
The Lighting Operator ensures the Lights run smoothly in a production, this is by following cues given to them by the Stage Manager, without the lights, the show wouldn't be able to portray the message they are aiming for correctly.
Choreographer:
What does this role do?
The Choreographer is in charge of creating a suitable dance choreography that matches the music, setting and environment the show has. They do this by creating a routine that utilises the Actor's/Dancers to the directors vision.
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