Exit This Way?

Creating the name of a show or piece of theatre that had yet to be completed proved more difficult than we initially thought. Though we now had a basis for our show, a complete script was not yet complete and ideas were still being continuing altered.

Through the name of the show we wanted to indicate what the performance was about and what our theatre company stands for, without giving too much away. The name needed to hold a sense of intrigue for potential audience members to entice them enough for them to take an interest in without giving too much away.

Though we had a rough basis for our show, the theme of escapism, and an idea towards the fragmented structure, the rest was still in development and yet to be decided. This consequently made it more difficult to name as it needed to represent something that did not yet entirely exist.

When thinking about ideas regarding the name, the main theme that appeared to me, was the idea that ‘escaping’ is in some way leaving reality into what feels like a safer fantasy. This appeared ironic as theatre itself is a form of escapism for many people, including myself, as it helps to forget your own reality and become absorbed into the spectacle of theatre and the performance. As is the profession of acting as a person escapes their own identity to be become another through within a show.

‘Exit This Way’ came from the glowing, green sign obvious to see in the LPAC auditorium, the very setting the show will take place in. As ‘exit this way’ is a common phrase often used in everyday life, it occurred to me that escaping is something normal that many people do daily also. ‘This way’ also suggests there are multiple ways of leaving or escaping and not everyone does it the same, a key theme that is shown throughout our show.

 

 

Exit This Way sign that inspired our show’s name

(Exit This Way, 2016)

 

The imperative in the title also suggests escapism can be powerful and dominating over a person’s life. This is also portrayed throughout our own show as the character of the host appear to somehow own and construct this world that is built on the stage throughout the show and could represent someone’s own controlling thoughts.

We further tried to show this aesthetic through our poster for the show. The idea regarding the poster was to show the idea that the narrator had a greater power than the other characters in the show and had the ability to influence the way that people escaped. Working with our marketing manager, we decided that as our show was exploring the serious topic of escapism, however through a comical style, the poster and name itself needed to imply this.

 

Our finished poster

(Nixon, E, 2017)

 

 

 

Works Cited:

Exit This Way (2016) Exit This Way. [blog entry] 30 August. Available from http://nerissagolden.com/2016/08/exit-this-way/ [Accessed on 1st April 2017].

Nixon, E. (2017)