WSJ.com: Scenic design is not unlike fashion design, said Mr. Patel. "It's very much of its time."
Take "The Great God Pan," Amy Herzog's new play about a 32-year-old man (Jeremy Strong) who learns that he may have been molested by a neighbor when he was 4 years old.
The set is a massive box-like structure with a digital image of a forest printed onto it. Cut-out shapes jut out and disappear like safety deposit boxes, providing tables, seats and walls for various domestic, professional and social scenes. Designed by Mark Wendland, the forest image suggested to Mr. Patel "nature as a kind of irrational force."
5 comments:
What immediately comes to mind as I read this article is our Basic Design class from this morning, when we were told that this semester is all about exploration and playing around to make discoveries. Especially powerful i the comment about minutiae, and how too much detail can draw away from the story and the surreality of the setting. There has to be a delicate balance between transporting the audience to where you want them and letting their imaginations do some of the work, to make the theatre experience as unique an powerful for each individual as possible. It is also interesting that painting has very recently begun to drop out of fashion in the scenic world, and is instead replaced by media and projections to save money and time.
Like Emma, my first thought was about our current box projects. Starting from a white box, or just a plain box set, ones imagination is left to run wild, which i think is pretty exciting. Media is a great way to paint on such a blank canvas. I am sure not sure how I feel about interactive theater just yet, but creating art using cut outs, basically simple set pieces and a good amount of media is a very innovative idea. Because Media is so flexible in design, it is a great way to make each theater experience unique to the show and designer.
I agree with both of these prior comments. I think about the current box projects when I read this. Letting the imagination run wild in a white box is by far one of the most interesting things I have done here so far. I love the idea of interactive theatre and I love the idea that we are going towards that in the world of theatre. It is such an interesting way of seeing the world.
Unlike my classmates I do not agree with them about the current box project and the playing around we have been going with it. We have all seen this as an example to create a space to tell a story that I agree with them on however, to me I have seen this project as a chance to create an environment or space first and the story second. It is because we do this the space can be so abstract, However just because this set is abstract does not mean detail is a terrible thing, sometimes detail can take away a persons interesting in a story and refocus it on a set. But, when was the last time you read a book that read the surrounding area was a set of idea's or themes the author wished to write in his book? Never? I hope so, good writers are able to show that withing the solid concrete confines of words and details. The ability for scene designers to turn a world into ideas or themes is a truly wonderful experience but a detailed set can often transform a space into a world where the physics and laws are in no doubt. Detail can individualism a characters space or create a communal space where people interact. To me scenic design is about creating that space, and as much as I am interested in media, media does not create space. Media is an illusion to make people think there is space and dimension. It is a great and easy way to make sets look wonderfully polished, but it is not the same as the art of scene design and until media can create space or becomes completely separated as an art form (much like painting or writing, but not like movies, which use writing, set design, and even media) media is just a added look to scenery and is not close to revolutionizing theatre and scene design as we know it.
When I read this article and saw the section about how its more common for set designers to have the mindset of having multiple scenes instead of the classic standing set, made me feel guilty. It never crossed my mind that, but I understand know why, wanting to have multiple set changes is a result of our cinematic culture. Just reading this article is making me think more about the pros and cons of a standing set versus a moving set. I do know have a greater appreciation for both, but understand as technology grow the expectation of a set designer follows. With the rise in projection, I will agree that definitely adds to the "razzle dazzle" of a show and plan to push for using it back at my high school theater.
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