Multimedia and the creation of the scenographic space in the stage realization of Emmanuel Emmasealu’s nerves

Abstract

The major objective of the scenographic team is to create an illusion of reality, a perception of life as seen from a perspective. In doing this, the textual director (Artistic Director) usually relies on the skills and knowledge of the artistic or audio-pictorial director (Technical Director) to coordinate all the virtual and acoustic aspects of the production into a unified point of view for the audience, to reinforce the directorial approach and spine of the production. The skills and knowledge required by the artistic director in designing and coordinating the audio-pictorial composition goes a long way in determining the artistic success of the production. This paper attempts an artistic exploration of theproduction of Emmanuel Emasealu’s Nerves as designed and directed by Idiata Frank, a third-year student of the Department of Theatre Arts, Niger Delta University in an experimental multimedia production in which multi-media effects were well welded with two and three dimensional scenic pieces to affect a stunning presentation of the select text despite the paucity of technical facilities at the NDU theatre. The aim is to highlight the need for innovative approaches to textual and artistic directing in contemporary theatre productions. It is the opinion of the author that the theatre stands to gain from iconoclastic and new approaches to textual an d artistic directing by upcoming studentsdirectors and designers.