I need advice for our class presentation (dr. faustus)

Question

Our class is going to present an excerpt of dr. faustus in our language(filipino). The requirements of this presentation is that we all 42 of us has to speak most of the lines. So what happens is that there are angels and devils. But the problem with dividing the class is that the audience can't hear us from afar(this is very vital in the criteria). We wanted to find a way wherein all of us can be devils and at the same time angels. We know that we can differentiate this through facial expression, but i fear facial expression won't be enough for people to understand.

basically, i'm looking for a way where we can differentiate that at one time we're angels, then the next, we're devils. This has to be a quick transformation because we have to do all of these on stage. No one must get off the stage during the performance.

Answer 1

The easiest way would be to use a mask. Make an angel mask and a devil mask for each performer. The mask can be made attached to a stick or handle The performers can hide both masks behind their backs one in each hand (or one mask could be worn on front the other on back and the actors could turn).. When speaking as an angel hold up the angel's mask, when speaking as the devil hold up the devil's mask. If you all did this at once, in unison, with a quick snap and flourish it could be quite dramatic. Good luck with the performance. I hope this idea helps.

Note: If you don't want to make 84 masks, make just two larger masks and have one speaker hold it up, not as dramatic but would still get your point across.

Edit: What about lighting? I don't know how sophisticated you're production is but you could use white spotlighting while the angel(s) speak and red spotlighting while the devil(s) speak.  As far as the masks, you would not have to hide your face you could just hold them up, or like I said maybe use just two masks as props.