Ideas for act 1

Scene 1

•  a swarm of kids will enter through the building playing and messing around
• a group of the kids will approach the tree and birds will fly out 
• The children will become the birds and 'fly' off stage
• The balcony will then turn into the ship 
• The actors will all be on the balcony, then when they abandon ship they will run through the audience (chaos)

Scene 2 

• The Nation will enter from all different parts of the space - celebrating, singing, dancing 
• Mau should be dressed in all white (shows purity)
• Milton will be wearing very bright colours
• Locoha can wear black feathers around wrists and ankles 
• The tribal people should be bare foot, wearing flamboyant and over the top masks  

Scene 3

• The balcony will be the shipwreck 
• The stage will be the island and there will be sand on the stage 
• There will be two blue lights which will give the idea of the sea 
• Daphne will be standing up on the balcony holding a lantern
• Daphne will also be looking through a telescope and there will be a projection of what she sees on the wall

Scene 4

• Mau will be up on the stage and Daphne will approach him, walking through the audience
• they will have their first meeting up on the stage
• when Mau runs at her, both will retreat down into the audience
• Daphne will use an umbrella from an audience member as a gun

Scene 5 

• Scene 5 starts on the wreck of the ship
• Daphne and Mau have tea together 
• Daphne's grandmother turns into a bird - there will be a blackout and a puppet of a bird will appear to represent the transition of the grandmother turning into a bird 
• The interior of the ship will be below the balcony 

Scene 6

• Mau, Daphne and Milton are sending Robert's body off into the sea 
• The stage is the island and Roberts body will be sent off from the stage 
• People standing in the audience will carry the body along, as if they are the ocean 
• Locaha will be a collective of people 
• Use the push theatre company as inspiration for Locaha

Scene 7

• Cox enters at the back of the space and walks down through the audience towards the chief, who will be up on the stage
• Four radars will be standing behind the audience, drumming in unison 
• Cox will get dragged by the radars up onto the stage
• Cox shoots the chief and he will fall into the orchestra pit
• When cox says his monologue he will walk around the whole space 

Scene 8

• The night sky will be projected onto the walls and ceiling 
• There is a lot of nature in this scene - green umberellas will be used as tree tops 
• When Chale gives birth to twinkle she will be behind a lit up sheet, so the audience can only see her silhouette 

Scene 9

• A tipi will be created up on the stage and this will be where Chale gives birth
• The tipi will be made up of brooms, umbrellas etc ... 
• When Daphne sings 'twinkle twinkle little star' she will sing the first verse, then the ensemble will sing the chorus
• The song will show how Daphne is bringing her own culture to the nation 

Scene 10

• This scene is where Daphne and Mau suck milk from the pig 
• It will be a ritualised ceremony 
• Sow and piglets will be up on the stage 
• As Daphne and Mau travel to the sow, they will go through the audience

Scene 11

• Foxlip and Polegrave will be brought through the audience lead by a group of radars
• cox will come in through the double doors and go up onto the stage to look closer at the prisoners 
• the rest of the scene will be up on the stage 

Scene 12

• heavy rain - sound effects using rain sticks 
• Mau will be standing on the stage and Milo will be among the audience
• Ataba cuts his foot 
• the islanders will stand between the audience 

Scene 13 

• Mau, Milo, Pilo and Ataba are all on the boat
• moving in unison to show they are all rowing 
• Locaha will be up on the balcony 
• only hear the voice of Locaha 

Scene 14 

• Daphne will fall into the orchestra pit when she dies, then climb out when she goes into the under world 
• in this scene the actors should play with levels
• make the lighting dark and sinister  
• mysterious soundscape 

Scene 15 

• use puppets for the dream fish
• puppets on long sticks being controlled by people in the orchestra pit
• same lighting and soundscape as scene 14 

Scene 16 

• the whole of the nation will be standing up on the balcony watching over Mau and Daphne
• Mau and Daphne lying side by side under the balcony 
• their friends standing in a circle around them