Design Ideas #3

Sticking with the same layout, I have played around with using tudor panelling, stained glass and twigs in varying areas.

Panel flooring, multicoloured stained glass window, twig frame.

Leaf backdrop, tudor panel and rose window, plain stone floor.

Rose and leaf backdrop, tudor panel semicircle.

Mood Boards

Environmental Art, Architecture, Nature

Fantasy MakeUp and Illusion

Tudor

Organic Architecture and Environmental Art

I've always been interested in these subjects and these images are quite inspirational. The flower dress takes the classical silhouette and, like other examples shown, fills it with something unexpected. Although real flowers wouldn't be suitable for theatre, it is food for thought.

Practice Makes Perfect!

I decided to make a very simple model to give me a better idea of what I'm working with, although still difficult as I don't have any stage measurements yet! This exercise really helped me visualise and see things coming together, as well as pointing out simple issues. For example, its now clear that the step down into the 'adaptable area' may not work as it doesn't leave a lot of room around the ring, although would the actors need room there? This is something I would normally discuss with actors and the director but in this case I have to decide for myself.

I have included photo's above of the process of making the model tree which went okay for a first attempt. I have since found an image sheet of tree silhouettes so I can choose a shape appropriate for the period, location and that will fit in the set.

Tudor Exterior Design #1

After hitting a dead end with my designs I thought that maybe I was placing too much emphasis on the scenes being the court. I decided to look at exteriors and use a balcony for the King and Princess to be stood on when they greeted Dummling and his followers. I plan to have a forest to the side of the building and to leave the rest of the stage empty so that different props can be brought in to represent different scenes. For example, the inn scene can be represented by wooden tables and beds being brought in and the scene in the forest where Dummling shares his food can be represented by a couple of stumps(for them to sit on) and a tree being brought in.

With this area being so versatile, this design should be usable for the entire production.

Initial Idea's

I finally have the internet! So I can get everything on here now, only trouble is that the pictures don't want to move so i'm going to have to post lots of little posts to get it on here until I find a way to sort it.

It all starts with Carol Ann Duffy's dramatisations of the Grimm Tales, which I read through and, with my background being in film, really struggled to visualise as any kind of theatre production. In my head I was switching camera angles and locations like a film would which obviously would not work on a stage.

The only story I seemed to have any ideas for was The Golden Goose, which I had never heard of before so I decided to take this story as a basis for my work and see what I could build up.

TUDOR

As I have been interested in this period of history for as long as I can remember I have decided to look into this further to use as a genre for this project. Over the years I have collected quite a few books on this period, some focusing on the architecture, some on the clothing and others on social issues around the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I.

From breaking down the script, I decided to focus on the last 3 scenes. In these scenes, Dummling and his followers arrive the Great City and make the Princess laugh. Which results in Dummling and the Princess getting married in the final scene.

When applying this scene to the Tudor period, I figured that the visitors would have been greeted in the Great Hall by appointment and then the marriage could have taken place in either the Great Hall, the chapel or a nearby church. I began researching Tudor architecture and sketching designs for the Great Hall set.

Panelling is a key element in Tudor architecture, interior and exterior.