The bike has gone through many different design aspects but has always had the central symbolic representation of a man’s every day, cyclic motions of life.
The focus the bike has within the show means it must have an impact and be more interesting than just a bike. This is where rubbish, creativity and a mad world to aid you, can produce the desired effect. Taking an abandoned trolley, attaching it to the bike and adding an old drawer on top with unwanted piping, guttering and tubing coming out the top, you can suddenly have The Man’s organ, a machine where he can playout the cycles of his life.
(Initial design for the Organ Bike in If an Orchid Was All You Had. Crawford, 2017)
(Finished Organ bike for If an Orchid Was All You Had. Image taken by Pearson, J. on Monday 22nd May 2017.
Rubbish Theatre, 2017)
The machine-like aesthetic was key in my design, to match the industrial wires going to the tree and to be suggestive of the highly mechanised world we live in; there is a continuous crossover of nature and machine. To further the mechanics of the organ-bike I have fitted a smoke machine inside, which can be controlled during the show by The Man when he is on the bike. The smoke will bellow out of the pipes and will help to represent the stress and strain The Man goes through, while also providing a more absorbing experience for the audience as the smoke flows between all worlds.
In terms of our show, If an Orchid Was All You Had, the bike represents The Man’s life away from his orchid. The separation from the orchid (or perhaps the exhausting repetition of his life) bleeds the madness (creatures) out of him. The bike therefore gives a practical and symbolic platform to separate The Man from his orchid, but also gives a semiotic platform to create a mad world where an audience has insight into The Man’s past, present and future.
References:
Rubbish Theatre. (2017) If an Orchid Was All You Had. [Performance] Jacob Kay (dir.) Lincoln: Lincoln Performing Arts Centre, 22nd May.
Crawford, J. (2017) If an Orchid Was All You Had.