Alison Chitty
"Is it glamorous?
No."
Alison Chitty is an award winning production, set and costume designer. Over the course of her career she has worked for the Royal Opera House, Staatsoper Berlin, and the National Theatre for eight years. While working at the NT she won an Olivier Award for her design work on The Voysey Inheritance. Her designs have often been described as 'more restrained' than other contemporary designers - 'So you want to be a Theatre Designer.'
She had originally wanted to be a gardener or florist until she went to art school and her tutor asked her if she had ever thought about working in theatre.
Parsifal - Royal Opera House
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftQijbdY-Rc
Parsifal tells the story of a king that is mortally wounded but can not die or be healed. The opera also contains a woman cursed to travel the earth for an eternity after she laughed at Christ on the cross. It contains themes of sin and redemption.
I like this particular set because I think it remains fairly minimalistic while still retaining the grandness that opera is famous for. I find that this gives the piece a more focused view and emphasizes the emotion of the scene. In an interview with the ROH she said that she found the piece quite spiritual and that she wanted to create something that everyone could relate to. This is possibly related to the idea that the audience is able to connect more with a less characterised face or space.I particularly like the contrast between the natural qualities of the wooden beams, which I think appear quite shamanistic and spritual, and the artificial cage. I think the cage symbolises the idea that the King/ Kundry have become severed from the natural order of Christianity and has become trapped by their own actions. An added mention should be given to the lighting, which gives the entire scene an added intensity.
Scenes From The Big Picture
This is another example of her work that consists of simplistic set dressing with a backdrop. Once again colour is a prevalent theme of the production. The heavy use of blue colouring reminded me of the work by Sandy Skoglund, in particular her piece titled, 'Revenge of the Goldfish. In both pieces the use of colour serves to emphasize the cast and fish respectively.Process
http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/news/backstage-pass/features/article/item109899/backstage-alison-chitty/
John Napier
“Theatre,” he says, “should be all kinds of shades and colours and textures and idiosyncratic things – mad things.”
I have decided to present John Napier as he is in stark contrast to Alison Chitty's more subdued work. He often creates spectacular sets at higher budgets.
Miss Saigon
I have included Miss Saigon because I find it a great example of design being mixed with mechanical elements. In this production a helicopter is made to land on the roof of a building. To achieve this effect the helicopter is attached to a mechanical arm that can be raised and lowered. To give the impression of spinning helicopter blades, John Napier used an elestic material that is then spun round at high speeds.Cats
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Dbs0uVRr1M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp8_zVdmgnU- Vibrant and spectacular colour.
Hats and wigs help frame a character's appearance. Wigs have the ability to enhance beauty or subvert it. In the musical 'Cats,' they are used to give the characters an animalistic and wild look. Some important questions to a designer will ask them self when deciding on the hat include:
Is it secure when dancing?
Does it upstage anyone else in the scene?
Nicholas Nickleby
