Working with little to no budget has been a challenge, but it has also enabled me, as a designer, to explore and push the boundaries of what a set can be made out of. Seeing old bits of rubbish and my initial drawings and designs be transformed into our set on the day of our performance, 22^nd May 2017, was just unbelievable. What is most gratifying is seeing a through line from my first designs to the finished product, my vision was complete.

(IMAGE OF SET ON SHOW DAY)

(Image taken by Pearson, J. on Monday 22^nd May 2017.

Rubbish Theatre, 2017)

The hour long installation process before the show began was a beautiful moment; it enabled the audience, the ensemble and set to all become immersed in the world of, If an Orchid Was All You Had. It gave the audience the opportunity to engage with the set and see the finer details (the filling of the memory boxes, the sewing of flowers in the garden and the makings of the world). Tina Bicat states that, ‘The setting in which the performers play their pars is the first thing that the audience sees, and helps their understanding of, and involvement in, the show. It gives people confidence that their interpretation is on the right lines’ (Bicat, 2012, 10). Giving the audience a chance to see the setting before the show starts then gave room for greater understanding and involvement with our show. The space in which we were performing became a whole new space, where performer, audience and set can co-exist and be immersed.

The set came together better than expected and helped produce the well-received show on Monday night. I do feel, however, there could have been some improvements or changes to the set – improvements that can easily be implemented if the show was to be performed again. This is the beauty of working with rubbish, the set can constantly change and develop, without any knock to the budget.

The first would be to create an easier, efficient system for the tree branches to bleed blood, as the effect was lost on the night. The second would be the positioning of the bike, and seeing how the audience’s connection with The Man could change based on the direction he is facing or the placement on stage – a more centralised, outwards facing setup could be more effective. The final change would be to make the contents of the memory boxes more visible, as I feel any audience member who missed the installation may not have noticed what was inside.

References:

Bicat, T. (2012) Costume and Design for Devised and Physical Theatre. Marlborough: The Crowood Press Ltd.

Rubbish Theatre. (2017) If an Orchid Was All You Had. [Performance] Jacob Kay (dir.) Lincoln: Lincoln Performing Arts Centre, 22^nd May.

One of my other roles within the company is sound designer, and having an insight into the visual aesthetics of the piece has given me the ability to produce music and sounds to match it.

The scene transitions back into The Man’s interludes were overlaid with very similar, Jazz-esq, short tracks which were used to bring the audience back into the world of The Man and his orchid. The tracks progressed with the piece, the first introduced the sound of water (bringing in nature and hinting towards The Man’s dream of cycling round a lake with his wife), a child is heard crying after the memory scene and the final one is more erratic (due to the sadistic gameshow that preceded) but then comes back to the sound of water to suggest the cycle is making full circle.

The interludes had the only track with lyrics in it, which was to further the design choice of separating The Man’s world and the mad world. Numb by Portishead has lyrics that reflect the character of The Man:

I can’t understand myself anymore

‘Cause I’m still feeling lonely

Feeling so unholy

‘Cause the child roses like

Try to reveal what I could feel

But this loneliness

It just won’t leave me alone, oh no

(Written by Adrian Francis Utley, Beth Gibbons, Geoffrey Paul Barrow • Copyright © BMG Rights Management US, LLC)

The biggest challenge for sound design was creating the introduction to madness track, which had to be timed to an almost twelve minute long physical scene, with three atmosphere and pace changes. I worked for hours on end with our director, Jacob Kay and our choreographer, Kerrie Crockford to get the track timed perfectly and with smooth, mixed in transitions between the changes. After piecing together multiple different sounds, effects and snippets of music I had the final product:-

The effect with the actions on stage, was an energetic and powerful introduction to the madness.

(TRACK INTRO TO MADNESS) (Crawford, 2017)

For me, working with fellow artist and Musician, Joseph Wright, was a great experience. It enabled an outside ear and eye to produce our finale track, which represents a new beginning – a new beginning which is separate to the previous man’s life.

All the shows tracks can be found in the technical documents section of this blog.

References:

Crawford, J (2017) Intro to madness. 12 mins. 38 secs. If an Orchid Was All You Had. Lincoln, UK: Rubbish Theatre.

As the design process develops changes to initial designs are being made, originally for the memory scene I was going to use a large stained glassed window made out of glass bottles, unfortunately it just proved impractical due to size and weight.  This called for quick design change to six, individual memory boxes, which in turn has helped to further the audience’s insight into The Man’s past. Writing the memory scene also enabled me to have greater insight into what each box should consist of:

Old drinks bottles and tops (life of drinking)

Parts of an old bike (a continues cycle, life just goes round in a circle)

An old, dead orchid (even though orchids can come back to life, they also die but can be replaced)

A dog’s collar (A childhood trauma, which seems to have dictated The Man’s life)

One empty and one full wine glass with a candle (hope of romance)

(Image taken by Pearson, J. on Monday 22nd May 2017.

Rubbish Theatre, 2017)

These memories are relatable but also specific to The Man, they torment him. This continual torment has to come through in our performance so I implemented the use of lights within the boxes to signify key moments of torment and memory. One key moment is the heartbeat in the track played during the orchid scenes, suggesting that The Man, even when he is content with his orchid, still has a past that continues to torment him.

The original window frame has helped to create the final bit of set; it has now been split in half and reformed into the two pedestals for the tv monitors. This I felt was key as we want to keep the mistakes and process evident throughout the set design and show.

It now all seems like it has come together.

Here is a CAD aerial view of the full set:

(PICTURE OF SET, CAD)

(Front left hand corner CAD design for If an Orchid Was All You Had. Crawford, 2017)

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.

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.

As the rehearsals have progressed, so too has the understanding and themes of our performance:

A man who rides a bike, who lives in a mad world and tends to a charming flower.

The introduction of the flower has helped me to make clear scenographic ideas, ideas which will be transformed into a dazzling, mad set that holds the meaning to our show, If an Orchid Was All You Had. Here is my initial set design, where all mistakes have been gone over with a pen (Further designs of each piece can be found in the technical documents section of this blog):

(Initial set design from 19^th February. Crawford, 2017)

Nature has become a key theme within my set design, which reflects the central character of The Man and his obsession with an orchid. Nature also has the clearest cycle of life, therefore creating a large central tree as part of the set seemed only natural. A tree where The Man’s madness comes to life and his life, as he knows it, comes to an end. A tree formed out of our everyday, cycles of life.

Components of the tree:

Garden/Base – Half a wallpapering table, some extra bits of scrap wood, floral carpet (for the grass)

Flowers in garden – Bottle tops, ring pulls off drinks cans and unwanted sticks of glue

Trunk – 10 columns of food and drinks cans

Canopy/Top – Other half of the wallpapering table, some extra bits of scrap wood

Branches – Drinks bottles, cupboard tubing and the bought materials of tape and string

Fruits – Tops of food cans (they look just like apples)

(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 tree is central as it is the physical connection to The Man’s inner psyche and madness. The trees roots are damaged, industrial wire that provide the explicit connection to The Man when he’s on the bike. This results in the creatures also having an explicit connection to The Man, as they only enter and exit the stage from the tree. This also aids in sight lines in the audience as we are performing in a thrust format. Robert Klingelhoefer points out that, ‘Designing for the thrust stage, the designer must be very aware of the range of sightlines and create a variety of positions that will allow the director to place the actor at different angles to the audience’ (Klingelhoefer, 2009, 122).

The interconnection between the set and the creatures on stage means there has to be a connection with the materials and aesthetics used in the costumes. Working closely with Aiden Clark, our costume designer, it became clear that this crossover of set and costume is a very important part of creating a coherent atmosphere and world for the audience to be absorbed in.

A design choice of using the same materials for the tree’s canopy and the creature’s costumes was finalised, creating the desired meaning and effect that the creatures are a product of the tree and the tree is an extension of The Man, therefore giving the creatures a material entrapment to The Man on the bike.

References:

Klingelhowfer, R. (2017) The Craft and Art of Scenic Design: Strategies, Concepts, and Resources. Oxon: Routledge.

Rubbish Theatre. (2017) If an Orchid Was All You Had. [Performance] Jacob Kay (dir.) Lincoln: Lincoln Performing Arts Centre, 22nd May.