Whichever kind of theatre you’re working in, it’s important to establish the different areas of your performing space.

The stage area is defined by the areas that the audience can see from the auditorium (onstage), and the areas they can’t (offstage). Onstage, the audience sees all the designed elements of the production: the sets, scenery and props (short for ‘properties’ – smaller items or objects that the performers use to help tell the story).

In a traditional theatre, a ‘rake’ or raked stage slopes upwards away from the audience. and trapdoors in the stage can provide opportunities for performers to appear or disappear into the understage. In any kind of theatre, you can use a revolve (part of a stage that can rotate) or a jack-knife set, which uses wagons on castors to quickly pivot items of scenery on- and offstage.

A backcloth (usually made of a thick, heavy dark material) hangs at the back of the stage, and panels of either wood or fabric placed at the side of the stage called ‘legs’ are often used to mask the exits from the stage into the wings.

The following video offers tips on the different kinds of scenic elements you can create to fill your model box.