Staging Shakespeare: Set design, or “Thank God for talented artists!”
Friday, July 4th by Jen
My two set designers/artists extraordinaire got our stage design planned out a few weeks ago, measured our stage space, and decided that because we have such a large area to cover, it would be easiest for them (and probably better for the group, financially) to paint our backdrops on muslin material and hang them from the roof of the stage. So I looked on the Internet, found a theater supply place where I could order huge quantities of muslin material (10 yards x 140″ wide - Rose Brand is the name of the company), and we got the material last week. The boys know they need to have it finished by July 20th, at the very latest, because Opening Night is July 29th (but to avoid my blood pressure shooting through the top of my head, I suggested that, perhaps, they could try for July 15th - they thought that was a good idea!).
Last year, I panicked a bit…the painting of the backdrops wasn’t progressing as quickly as I might have liked it to, so I actually ordered the large, canvas backdrop that you can see in the picture above (to the left of Hero, in her wedding dress). But it wasn’t long enough to cover our entire backstage area, so our artists continued the painting from the backdrop on to side panels made out of foam board - they even gave me the little chapel you can see above, behind evil Don John, all in black! In the picture below, you can see the extension to the left of the backdrop, behind our Sexton, sitting at her table, taking Dogberry’s testimony.
This year, I know that my artists will get the job done. One of them is actually acting in the play this year, and so I know he definitely does not want to be performing in front of a half-finished backdrop! However, even if he weren’t in the play, I’ve come to trust these two young men, much as I’m learning to trust my actors - I know they will get the job done.
I’m really excited to see what they do with the design, though. This year, rather than just a straight, flat backdrop behind the actors, they are having to be more creative because of the need for windows (the Pedant looks out of a window in Act IV, and Petruchio and Grumio also show up at Hortensio’s house in Act II - I’d like it to look somewhat like a real house, with a door for him to enter through). There is also the issue of the frame story - a troupe of traveling actors show up in front of a tavern, ready to put on a play for the Noble Lord (in our case, Lady) and the tricked tinker, Christopher Sly. So I believe the plan is to have one set of drapes, painted with the outside of a tavern, but then have those drapes pull back to reveal the set for Shrew.
Once they have it painted and hanging from the stage roof, I will take tons of pictures and post them on our website…in the meantime, you’re going to have to trust me that it is going to be AMAZING!
