Tuesday, September 13, 2011
ZARKANA: Scenic Design
Live Design: In taming the huge stage at Radio City Music Hall, French-Canadian scenic designer Stéphane Roy (whose previous designs for Cirque du Soleil include Dralion, Varekai, and Zumanity) reduced the size of the stage to something more manageable yet still majestic. “It’s like a temple when you first go into Radio City,” Roy says. “The best approach in dealing with this large space was to blend and continue the perspective in the theatre to make it smaller.” To do so, Roy used a series of three portals, noting: “Within the third portal, the stage is almost the same size as a Broadway theatre.”
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3 comments:
I first decided to read this article because I have heard of the new show Zarkana, and have always been intrigued by Cirque du Soleil's work. I am so happy that I chose to read this, because I not only find the basis of the show's design fascinating and similar to the beautiful aesthetics of hand painting that I love, but the fact that part of the gold arching designs framing the stage was inspired by Gustav Klimt's pieces got me more than ecstatic, I am absolutely OBSESSED with his artwork! Though I appreciate the grand stage and large vast sets, I find that Zarkana did not loose its grandior by downsizing to a smaller stage: the arching frames achieve just enough drama and hopefully by using a smaller area for the performance aspect, the audience might perceive a more intimate story/ setting. I also feel that the use of LED screens and technology could open up the space even more so, therefor complimenting the smaller stage and playing off of the hand painted sets for even more vibrancy. I have never seen Cirque du Soleil live, but after reading this article, i know that this needs to be the first of their performances I have to go see!
So there are a few things that come into my mind about Zarkana. One is how interesting it is, after seeing the design plan for Setzuan, how differently two productions go about representing a theater that has been abandoned for decades (?). Zarkana is all gold, kitschy, old circus, rich colors, and the drawings for Setzuan are so completely the opposite: monochrome, relatively sparse. I saw Zarkana this summer, and did not really get the message that the theater was supposed to be abandoned for 75 years, as it says in the article. Also, I was really unimpressed with the way that media was used. It was really cliche. At one point, while the main character is singing a love ballad, the huge screen encompassing the whole back wall of the stage was just enormous cascading roses..... at another point, it was a big spiderweb with poorly greenscreened multiples of one actor placed all over. Although the director was apparently "comfortable" with media, I don't think he did a very good job.
i find myself conflicted over this article. I am usually not a fan of LED screens when it comes to theatrical productions (in most cases). However, I do strongly believe in the "use the tools if you have them method". By this I mean that if you have the opportunity to do above and beyond what is required of you, why not do so and amaze those involved. In the case of this production (as seen from the pictures available) I actually do like the combination of traditional and LED. It seems to enhance the atmosphere rather than distract from it, which is usually the case for me personally. I agree with Natalie in the fact that the reduced stage space adds a distinct character to the show, especially as LED screens are most commonly found in vast sets. I'd love to see this show!
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