So You Want to Be a Theatre Designer? by Michael Pavelka

Author:Michael Pavelka [Pavelka, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781780015613
Publisher: Nick Hern Books

The dialogue between choreographer and designer is usually longer than its theatre counterpart, unless you’re collectively devising a drama: witness the lengthy research, development and rehearsal process of writer-director Mike Leigh and designer Alison Chitty. The evolution of ballet and dance ideas can take months, but the timeline is summarily defined by the budget or by the availability of the dancers and/or the studio space.

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Other Designers

Theatre design in the United Kingdom is unique in that it’s the only country that celebrates the fact that its designers for the stage cope with both scenery and costume. In most other countries, those two areas of design are handled by a specialist set designer, prop designer and costume designer. However, on the continent of Europe a set designer may also incorporate lighting design into their range of disciplines and so may well be asked to design both.

Having said that, there is a growing tendency in the UK to divide the discipline of stage design between the two main specialist areas of costume and set, particularly on productions such as musicals and operas which, in terms of scale and logistics, cannot be easily undertaken by a single designer.

The emergence of an increase in audio-visual and other additions to scenography over recent years has seen the inclusion of a number of other designers in the creative team. Sound design was the first of these to take a prominent role, not only enhancing the sound for musicals but also providing a soundscape for drama. Digital sound, in advance of digital imagery, meant that sound designers became an integral part of the creative and production team in the mid-1990s. Lately, video design and its applications have become increasingly useful and, as in some productions, crucial to the storytelling and aesthetics of the show.

In the US, if you look at a billboard on Broadway, for example, you will see other designers alongside that of set and costume. These could include prop design, make-up design and hair design.

If you find yourself part of a larger design team it goes without saying that you will have to be super-sensitive to the work of the others. In these situations, being able and willing to produce drawings, references and other objects becomes more important than ever. Without these being shared regularly at design meetings, there is a very real danger that the cohesion of the production will rest solely with the director, and their ability (or not) to hold the show together will only become apparent when you’re actually on stage and, perhaps, too far down the line to salvage it. The design team must be generous with each other’s ideas, and, although there has to be a practical demarcation between the disciplines, the exchange of ideas has to be fluid for as long as possible, right up to press night, with any luck. The matrix of possibilities – once you multiply this extended group of designers with a large group of specialist directors, such as fight director, choreographer, stager, as well

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