Designing a set for a play involves a lot of hard work, taking on board a variety of factors, including the action of the story and the venues that the play is touring to.
Below is a sneak look into our designers notebook. Evelyn Barbour has allowed us to reproduce some of her notes and sketches so you can follow her thoughts and ideas for the creation of the "Into the Dark" set.
| Initially we knew that we wanted to create the appearance of a forest in a stylised sort of way but also bearing in mind there were an awful lot of practical problems - small van size, budget restrictions and we needed to be able to fill what are really big spaces in the venues we are touring to and make a good visual impact. |  |
||
| I made notes and sketches while attending the first week of workshops and during discussions with Douglas Irvine. It was during this time that the Company was experimenting with planks of wood - the idea being, to use the planks to create a lot of the set so that we could create an environment that was changeable. Using planks gave us the idea for the creation of a forest appearance. If we created tall vertical structures the planks would link in and make the columns take on the appearance of trunks. As the script is set in various locations the columns would have to be moveable and therefore allow us to change the stage area. |
|||
 |
I make notes on the setting, different possibilities - how we could create the appearance of a forest. One of the first ideas was to possibly suspend panels that may give an idea of a forest canopy. I did a breakdown of different locations and that action that takes place in each of them and how that could impact on design for instance having to build in hatches if there are buried items that are removed during the play. |
||
| This set needed to be flexible so it was decided it would be best to use the black box available in the theatres and place our elements within that. we decided that a good way to tie in the floor to the rest of the set would be to use dead leaves, which you would find on a forest floor. This breaks up the floor, covers it and allows us to blow the leaves around and create a live sound effect. |
|||
We discussed the idea of using a perspex canopy with leave scattered on it and shine light through which would add a lovely filter effect. Because it's a modern piece it's not such a formal design it's more about getting an idea of the look. I will have a costume supervisor working alongside me on this project and I think because this production is modern and young we can buy most props and costumes. The only one that may be a "make" is the old woman as her costume needs to be quite broken down. I know this is something we will talk through after the first week of rehearsals. This is the period of time that the production begin to get a real feel of the production and the direction that it is taking so more definite decisions can be made at this stage. It isn't unusual for the writer to be quite descriptive in his script about the look of certain characters and locations and for the Director to have a different idea of the overall look. |
 |
||
After the initial read through I go through the script again in minute detail. At this point I make a detailed breakdown of actions that may need design solutions. I also underline specific props that will be needed.The design challenge for this production is to create all the different locations from what has to be a simple set. |
|||
| Not only does the designer have to incorporate the director's vision and the movement and action of the script but also has to work within a budget, create a set that can being dismantled quickly, transported in a small van between venues and fit into seven different venues. |
|||
| After the third development week it became apparent that a radical rethink of the se was required. We thought about other ways that we might be able to create the some flexibility. This sort of discussion involves the entire production team. After lots of chat and playing with the model box we agreed to create a series of ramps and platforms with a large screen at the back onto which we could project and also possibly light in different colours. I then came up with a revised design. It was decided that partly for aesthetic reasons and partly for practical reasons we should cut the canopy in place of the projection screen |
 |
||
| Here are some of Visible Fictions' previous set designs. | |||
|
|||
| Now you have read Evelyn's notes and seen how she does it, why not give it a go yourself. Click on to take part. |
|||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |