Art

So the semester is over, and I will never again step foot in that strange warehouse/studio looking classroom at the back of Klapper with the same students.  I must say, I really enjoyed these past 16 weeks of Introduction to Theatre Design with Meghan Healey (see previous post).

For our final project, we were asked to listen to and read Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw – a fairly modern and hard to listen to opera.  I originally wanted to design costumes, but after seeing The Mystery of Edwin Drood on Broadway, I was inspired to design the set.  I created drops to illustrate all of the scenes instead of three-dimensional settings.  I used props sparingly, to bring more focus to the grandiosity of the drops, stage, and story.  I wanted the opera to feel slightly old fashioned – where the singers come on stage and sing their lines then leave (unlike modern operas when they almost act as if they are in a musical or drama).

To understand my sets, it’s necessary to have a slight background of the story.  Originally a novella written by Henry James (which I happened to purchase online for $0.01), the story follows a young governess who is assigned to Bly House in the middle of nowhere.  There are only three people that live in the house – Miles, Flora, and Mrs. Grose (the housekeeper).  It is the job of a governess to take care of the children and to teach them before they are of the age to go to school.  The Governess has a bit of a difficult task now that Miles has been expelled.  Throughout the story and opera, the governess spots figures in the distance (in scenes such as The Tower and The Lake).  When describing them to Mrs. Grose, she soon realizes that these are ghosts of the past governess and valet.  One of the main things a designer must take into consideration is whether or not the Governess is sane – are they really ghosts haunting Bly House, or are they all in her imagination?  I designed the set as a true ghost story.  I’ll leave it up to your imagination what happens at the end – what happens to Miles?  There are many undertones to the story, such as the contrast of innocence and corruption, and premature sexuality.

For reference:

Turn your volume up so you can hear Britten’s theme.

Large red figure – The Governess
Green figure – Mrs. Grose
Small red figure – Flora
Small yellow figure – Miles
Skinny blue figure – Ghost of Quint (valet)
Wide blue figure – Ghost of Miss Jessel (old governess)

1.2 The Welcome
1.4 The Tower
1.6 The Lesson
1.7 The Lake
2.2 The Bells
2.4 The Bedroom
2.8 Miles

The above video is my first attempt at a stop motion film.  I thought it would be easier to get across how the stage would actually work if the actions were fluid (instead of me jaggedly pulling the drops up and down).  Overall, I think the video is pretty successful in depicting what watching the opera would be like.  The proscenium at the Metropolitan Opera House is 54 by 54 feet, and my little model is about 9 by 9 inches.

I must say that my classmates were extremely impressed with my work.  One girl even said “great job making the rest of us look bad!”  In showing the video, there were definitely chuckles when I had the ghosts fly off the stage.  This project was definitely the biggest one of the semester.  Not only was this my first deviation from costume design, it was also a deviation from two dimensional drawing.  I had to be practical as well as creative.

Who knows, maybe I’ll change my course of action and become a set designer!

Marina B. Nebro