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If you’re creating work in the style of a certain theatre practitioner or genre, this will affect your staging of the scene. For example, the work of the theatre maker Jerry Grotowski didn’t rely upon any set, lights or costume to communicate ideas. His focus was the actor so the performers created the set themselves with their own bodies.

In total contrast to this, Stanislavski believed in recreating real life and truth onstage with authenticity. This is naturalism where the work is as close to real life as possible on the stage, or a stage truth. Lights will help to denote time of day and set and costume need to be as realistic and accurate as possible.

The style of your piece will influence the way you choose to use lights, sound, costume and set. Look at Drama medium to learn more. If you’re devising work from a script, consider the playwright’s chosen style and whether you should use the drama medium in an abstract or representational way or whether your interpretation should be more naturalistic.

If you’re staging your own work devised from a stimulus, think about a stylistic concept for your piece. What do you want it to look and sound like? You may have a clear concept for your play. Perhaps you have chosen to stage a classical piece in a modern setting. This is fine to do but you must make sure that your ideas are consistent throughout each scene.

Pace and dynamics

To stage a scene successfully you must consider its rhythm and dynamics. Just like a piece of music every scene has a journey and character of its own. There are moments where tension and atmosphere build, moments of activity, stillness, pauses and sections of higher and lower energy.

Examine your text or the structure of the scene you have created in detail. Break it down into its natural segments or ‘units’ of action. Are there changes in pace or energy? How might you be able to create these?

Consider where dialogue speeds up, where it slows down and which character is driving the narrative and action at any given moment in the work. Contrast makes drama interesting, so if the pace has been picking up and the scene moving towards its climax at breakneck speed, a long pause or moment of stillness after the event can be very powerful.

Attention to detail

Remember that all the time you are acting on the stage, even if you aren’t speaking, somebody in the audience will be watching you. Even if you do or say very little you’re vital to the success of the scene.

Map out your journey through it in detail. Are there moments when making eye contact is important? A turn of the head to look at another character, a simple sigh or a subtle gesture can speak volumes about what your character is feeling. Whether you have the lead role or a smaller part to play you are equally important and should know exactly what you will be doing at every moment you’re on the stage.