I am designing the set and costume for a play called Dream play, originally by John Steinbeck but adapted by Carol Churchill, it will be on at Lakeside in July.
The play is quite surreal and disjointed, it has many locations and a lot of theatrical challenges, for example flying children, two lovers sailing on a boat, a tower that grows throughout the play and then burns down at the end!
Here are two possible solutions for the flying children and boat scene.
I think the play would work well being told in a storyteller style, with characters obviously creating small scale locations and manipulating props. Some of the locations include a cave, a seaside cholera quarantine station, stage door, solicitors room, class room, ballroom etc etc
The play is set in a dream and I would like the set to reflect the fragmented and blurred quality of dreams. Elements of each scene/location will be incorporated into many suspended square windows, stretching back into the distance. some will be practical, for example in the class room, one of these windows with have a chalk board within the frame that can be written on.
I really like the style of writing on the play, it has many great lines, here a a few of my favorites!
"Time flies while we speak. so time is something that flies while I'm speaking"
"I once asked a child whose Father was at sea why the sea was salty, and he said because sailors cry. Why do they cry? Because they are so far away. And they put there handkerchiefs on the masts to dry. So then I asked him why do people cry when they're sad? And he said because they have to wash their eyes so they can see better."
"What's poetry? It's not real but maybe it's more than real. It's dreaming while you're awake."
The play is quite surreal and disjointed, it has many locations and a lot of theatrical challenges, for example flying children, two lovers sailing on a boat, a tower that grows throughout the play and then burns down at the end!
Here are two possible solutions for the flying children and boat scene.
I think the play would work well being told in a storyteller style, with characters obviously creating small scale locations and manipulating props. Some of the locations include a cave, a seaside cholera quarantine station, stage door, solicitors room, class room, ballroom etc etcThe play is set in a dream and I would like the set to reflect the fragmented and blurred quality of dreams. Elements of each scene/location will be incorporated into many suspended square windows, stretching back into the distance. some will be practical, for example in the class room, one of these windows with have a chalk board within the frame that can be written on.
I really like the style of writing on the play, it has many great lines, here a a few of my favorites!
"Time flies while we speak. so time is something that flies while I'm speaking"
"I once asked a child whose Father was at sea why the sea was salty, and he said because sailors cry. Why do they cry? Because they are so far away. And they put there handkerchiefs on the masts to dry. So then I asked him why do people cry when they're sad? And he said because they have to wash their eyes so they can see better."
"What's poetry? It's not real but maybe it's more than real. It's dreaming while you're awake."
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