Stage Directions: Here is a backstage time-lapse video of the Curran Theatre in San Francisco as it is transformed for the West Coast premiere of a new play, The Jungle. The play covers the hopeful, resilient residents of the Jungle – the short-lived, self-governing society that emerged within a sprawling refugee camp in Calais, France. After productions in London and New York, The Jungle takes over the Curran, transforming its traditional proscenium space into Miriam Buether’s award-winning set design.
5 comments:
It’s so crazy to watch videos of the process sped up like that. Because of crew, I’m aware enough of the effort and labor that goes into creating a set from the ground up and recreating a space entirely. The video is pretty cool too watch just because you know that you have been there for hours doing one task that, in the video, looks like it took you a second. Whenever I watch these kinds of videos I always wondered what everyone who was working had thought about the video. It’s a random thought, but I also wish I could sit in on an hour of the process, just to observe how other people function. I think it’s good to experience as many different possibilities or points of view as you can because it’ll only open your mind up to newer and more solutions. This video was particularly interesting to watch because of that.
I written previous comments about The Jungle before and every time the show seem more and more amazing. First the story and from this article the technical side as well. I have never seen a professionally proscenium space transformed in that way. I wonder, Is that common? Similarly, I wonder how long this run is for given the scope of the design. Given the video I was also curious about the how the audience was set up, were the people in the picture surrounding the runway like stage audience or actors? And are they using the balcony seating, given the ceiling. If so, I wonder if it was super difficult to design the sightlines within the ceiling. While I haven't seen this show, I feel that if I did see it the set would almost feel like another character. It quite literally reaches into the audience, inviting them to journey through the story together.
I’ve read many articles on “The Jungle” now and I am endlessly fascinated by the creative team and process behind this production. I love me a good load-in time lapse, and I’ve never seen one on this scale before. I think that as theatre-makers ourselves here at CMU, we get a special kind of satisfaction out of watching this time lapse. We might not know every nook and cranny of the labor and steps that went into putting this production up, but the process and the magic of seeing it all in the space is intimately familiar. On another note, I am so glad that this show is still receiving steady and interesting press. While I haven’t seen it myself, I am so convinced of its integrity, originality, and passion because of the story behind the making of this work. It is beautiful that a story from the most utterly humble beginnings is getting a star treatment production value.
I’ve read many articles on “The Jungle” now and I am endlessly fascinated by the creative team and process behind this production. I love me a good load-in time lapse, and I’ve never seen one on this scale before. I think that as theatre-makers ourselves here at CMU, we get a special kind of satisfaction out of watching this time lapse. We might not know every nook and cranny of the labor and steps that went into putting this production up, but the process and the magic of seeing it all in the space is intimately familiar. On another note, I am so glad that this show is still receiving steady and interesting press. While I haven’t seen it myself, I am so convinced of its integrity, originality, and passion because of the story behind the making of this work. It is beautiful that a story from the most utterly humble beginnings is getting a star treatment production value.
I really love watching change overs because I think they are super interesting how sets are put together so they can change quickly and this is sort of similar to that. I think that this video is super cool because I remember in the last article that they had to actually cut into some of the actual theater, or something like that. Watching this set come to life was really cool because you can see all the minor details that you may have missed but they are there and they are intentional. For me, I love scenic design, I would never do it but I think that it is really cool and it ties in with costume design a lot. It is astonishing how different the theater space is at the end of this load in because it changes from a more traditional theater space to a completely unconventional one for the show.
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