Scenography, costume, lighting and sound: visual and technical space
This domain tests scenography as visual dramaturgy: set, costume, lighting and sound are sign systems that organise meaning, not decoration added after the acting. PAU questions may ask you to propose a design, justify a cue, or distinguish diegetic from non-diegetic sound.
Set design
Scenography defines place, period, status, mood and movement. Set types include the box set with a fourth wall, the thrust, theatre in the round, the black box and found or site-specific space. Scale, texture, colour and sightlines are practical constraints. A design must answer: where do actors enter, how do they move, what does the audience see first, and how does the set change?
Costume
Costume signs period, class, profession, character arc and symbolic colour. Practical demands include quick changes, movement, dance, safety, durability and budget. The design process runs from research and sketches to swatches, fittings and dress parade.
Lighting
Lighting provides visibility, focus, mood, time, space and rhythm. Tools include key light, fill, backlight, wash, special, gobo, gel, dimmer and cue. The darkened auditorium is a modern convention, consolidated in the late nineteenth century. A cue sequence runs from stand-by to cue to blackout.
Sound
Sound may be diegetic (its source is visible or implied in the world of the play) or non-diegetic (score or underscoring outside that world). Functions include atmosphere, transition, cue, reinforcement and silence. Sound design includes playback, microphones, mixing and QLab-style software.
Worked example
A scene moves from a kitchen to a childhood memory. Reason: a realistic kitchen cannot become memory through acting alone. Solution: keep the kitchen table as an anchor, change lighting to a tight special, add a low drone, and have the actor remove an apron. The table remains; light and sound mark the shift. If you fly out the whole set, the transition slows and the actor's through-line weakens. A strong answer names the design element, its function, and the practical constraint.
Traps
Designing decoratively; ignoring power, rigging and budget; confusing diegetic with non-diegetic sound; using colour without motivation; forgetting costume in movement scenes; using blackout as a lazy transition.
Exam strategy
When asked to justify a design, link sign to action: what does the audience understand that it would not understand otherwise?