SET DESIGN FOR THE SHERMAN THEATRE MAIN SPACE, CARDIFF 2020 (CANCELLED).
DIRECTED BY MATTHEW EBERHARTD.
The Design
The opera of Little Women (by Mark Adamo) is a melancholic and uneasy bildungsroman. It focuses on Jo's nostalgia for her idyllic childhood. As she resists the patriarchal role of wife that her sisters have accepted she fears for her creative drive. Through the music we delve deep into Jo's psychological state; as a result we created a space that represents a blurry reality affected by memory. I took inspiration from the March’s house in Massachusetts and the family's involvement in transcendentalism. The house’s open structure mirrors the ephemeral thresholds between the past and present and the opera’s flighty movement between locations. The drapes, organic panels of changing light and colour, fly in and out around the singers.
Costume designer @Yiwen Lin.
Moodbaords and research
Iinspiration for the and inside/outside aesthetic
Inspiration for the drapes
The final drapes drew on lee krasner, carla almansa and idris khan. these are translucent painted cloths that have moss climbing up at the bottom. They raise in and out of the space.
initial ideas & Sketchbook work
these are my model-making experimentations to create the original structure
ELEVATION OF THE HOUSE (AUTOCAD)
FINAL MODEL
The Wedding Scene
Conversations at twilight
Four Barristers
