Staging configurations: end-on/proscenium, thrust, in-the-round, traverse and found or promenade spaces, the actor-audience relationship each creates, and how the choice shapes sightlines, intimacy and meaning (underpins all components).

What this dot point is asking

A staging configuration is the physical relationship between the stage and the audience, and the choice shapes everything the audience sees and feels. Eduqas expects you to know the main configurations and how each affects sightlines, intimacy and meaning, for devising (where you choose how to stage the piece), for the set text (where a director's configuration is a real choice), and for the written paper's vocabulary. This dot point sets out end-on, thrust, in-the-round, traverse and found or promenade spaces, and the actor-audience relationship each creates. It underpins every component.

End-on, thrust and in the round

These three differ in how close and surrounding the audience is. End-on is the familiar arrangement: the audience watches from the front, sightlines are simple, and a detailed set and a maintained fourth wall suit it, so it fits naturalistic work. Thrust brings the audience around three sides, increasing intimacy and the sense of being part of the event, while still allowing a clear back wall for entrances and scenery. In-the-round is the most intimate and exposed: the audience surrounds the action, every angle is seen, and there is nowhere for an actor to hide, which can make a scene feel raw and the audience feel complicit, but it demands careful blocking so no group's view is blocked for long and minimal set so sightlines stay clear.

Traverse and found or promenade spaces

These configurations create more unusual relationships. Traverse sets two banks of audience facing each other across the action, which naturally suits scenes of opposition or a sense of travelling along a path, and it makes the audience aware of each other across the space. Found spaces (a warehouse, a corridor, an outdoor site) bring the world of the piece and the real location together, which can make the action feel immediate and real. Promenade staging moves the audience through the space, so they follow the action and stand within the world rather than watching from seats, creating immersion but demanding clear management of where the audience goes. Each is a deliberate choice with consequences a written answer can explain.

Choosing a configuration

The decisive skill is choosing the configuration that suits the piece and explaining what it does for the audience. A naturalistic family drama may sit comfortably end-on with its detailed room and fourth wall; an intense, exposing two-hander may gain from the round or traverse; an immersive, site-specific idea may call for a found or promenade space. The choice affects intimacy (how close the audience feels), sightlines (what everyone can see), and meaning (the round can make an audience complicit, traverse can stage opposition). A common weakness is naming a configuration with no reason; the marks are in the consequence. For the set text, considering how a director's configuration would shape a section, and why, shows the AO3 understanding the higher bands reward.

Examples in context

A group staging an intense interrogation might choose traverse, seating the audience on two sides with the table between them, so the audience feels caught between the two characters and aware of each other watching, heightening the tension. A group with an immersive idea about a hospital might use a found space and promenade staging, moving the audience through corridors so they feel inside the world. A student considering a tense set-text confrontation might argue for in-the-round, so the character is exposed on all sides with nowhere to hide and the audience surrounds the conflict. Each choice has a named effect on the audience.

Try this

Q1. What is theatre in the round, and what is its main effect? [2 marks]

• Cue. The audience surrounds the action on all sides; it is intimate and exposing, with nowhere for the actor to hide, and can make the audience feel complicit.

Q2. What kind of action does traverse staging suit? [2 marks]

• Cue. Confrontations or journeys, with two banks of audience facing each other across the action running between them.

Q3. As a director, explain how you would use a staging configuration to shape the audience's experience of one section of the set text. [6 marks]

• What the marker wants. A configuration suited to the section, with its effect on sightlines, intimacy and the audience's relationship to the action explained, not a configuration named without consequence.