Theatre Royal Margate - Dimensions and virtual model

Andy has told us that the sets we design should be compatible with the proscenium arch stage at the Theatre Royal in Margate. This stage is also a lot less wide in its proportions than my initial design sketch so I am going to work out the exact dimensions then attempt to produce both a virtual and card model to help me with the proportions of my design.

 

The dimensions below were worked out by finding a real measurement written on the diagram, eg. the width of the proscenium arch is 27ft , converting feet into mm then dividing that measurement by the same width as measured by a ruler on the diagram which gives us the scale of the diagram in this case it was 1:52 so I could then find the actual dimensions by neasuring the diagram and multplying by 52.

The same process as before was applied to this diagram this time the scale of the drawing was 1:115.9 meaning to find the actual dimensions I needed to multiply my measurements by 115.9 each time.

Now that I had the measurements I was able to use the 3d program Google Sketch Up to produce a virtual model of the stage, below is an image of my progress so far, I plan to use this model to give me a better idea of the proportions my designs should be.

Research mood boards and initial design

I collected all the research I have done on the Holocaust and surrealism and created seperate mood boards containing the images I found to be the most important and influential for my design ideas.

 

I then combined these ideas on a separate mood board...

With the research I have done I was then ready to create an initial design...

I am happy with some aspects of the design but after a tutorial with Andy have decided to reconsider the middle tree to give the actors more room to move. Also the drawing is much too wide for the stage as we have now been told the design should fit onto the stage at the Theatre Royal in Margate which is much less wide in proportion than my drawing. 

My next step is to figure out the dimensions of the stage and produce a sketch model so I can more accurately decide on the proportions of the props and scenery in the set.

Surrealism in film

From my childhood I always remember being intruiged by the 'Judderman' Metz advert which was directed by Enda Mc Callion

I feel the imagery in it is relevant to this project because of the surrealism and nightmarish quality to it. The setting of a forest is of course also relevant and I am becoming more and more interested in making the forest a snowscape.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TUOPeNJCK8

The way the advert is film interests me because it is  as though you are looking through a snow globe and makes everything seem less real.

There is one scene in particular where tree roots follow the lost character which is something I would like to think about as trees will obviously play a very important role in the forest scenes and if they are designed correctly could give the eerie nightmarish quality I desire to the scene.

I also Looked at Guillermo de Toro's 'Pan's Labyrinth' which tells the story of a young girl who completes tasks given to her by a mythical creature in order to escape her unfortunate reality and live in a fantasy world forever. It is relevant as it is set in 1944 close to the end of WW2 and focuses on a group of Fascists warring with guerillas who are taking refuge in the forest surrounding their camp so it has elements of the war and is of the correct period for my chosen genre.

 This scene in particular relates to the Holocaust, the creature in the background kills children and eats them leaving their shoes in a pile in his home. The pile of shoes is reminiscent to the famous piles of shoes left at Auschwitz by those who died in the gas chambers

.

The shoes are are something I really want to include in my design

Because of the fantasy element in the film it also ties in with the nightmare qualities I want to incorporate into my design. The colours used usually indicate the mood of the film and mostly blues tones are used to give the reality scenes a much more sinister feel than the fantasy scenes.

Reality

 Fantasy

 There are dfinite links between fantasy and reality for example the banquet scene to me relates directly to the feast laid in front of the child eating monster. And the monster relates to the character of the Captain.

The monster's feast

 The Captain's Dinner

Monster

 Captain

The feast is something I want to consider for my designs because Hansel and Gretel is essentially about starvation which is also a theme in Pan's Labyrinth because of it's war time context (rationing) I want the depict the witch as having plenty while everyone else starves. I also think this is a good reason to set the scene in a snowy landscape as this could be the reason in part for the starvation.

The similarities between the antagonists in both the fantasy and reality worlds is another aspect I'd like to consider. Perhaps the witch could resemble a nazi officer costume wise? Or maybe just the silhouette could be similar. It is something I will have to research further.

Nightmares and Surrealism

Because Hansel and Gretel has the structure of a nightmare, I want to look at Romantic, gothic art as well as surrealism for inspiration in my designs for the play.

The following images have been taken from the book 'Gothic Nightmares'

 Henry Fuseli 'Drawing of a figure seated before gigantic antique fragments' - Gothic Nightmares.

The proportions of this drawing interest me in particular I think it would be interestng to create everything very out of proportion much like a surreal dream.

 Henry Fuseli - 'The Changeling' - Gothic Nightmares

This piece is based around the tale of a baby swapped with a monster. The theme of kidnapping is very relevant to Hansel and Gretel so the fear and sense of unease evoked by this piece is a very important emotion I will have to interpret into my design for the play.

 Henry Fuseli 'The Thieves Punishment' - Gothic Nightmares

I found the pile of bodies in this piece reminiscent of the piles of shoes in the Auschwitz exhibition at the Imperial War Museum.

 James Gillray 'un petit souper a la Parisienne' - Gothic Nightmares

I find this piece particularly interesting because it is quite how I imagine the Witch's kitchen to be in the play at least in the way the chairs are made from bodies and there are loose bodyparts however I would like my design to hint at this rather than be just so obvious.

Further Images of War & A Child's Perspective

Ukraine

Sunflowers 'For Most of it I Have No Words' - Simon Norfolk

Scene of Mass Shootings 'For Most of it I Have No Words' - Simon Norfolk

Armenia

Untitled 'For Most of it I Have No Words' - Simon Norfolk

Cambodia

Former Prison 'For Most of it I Have No Words' - Simon Norfolk

 This final image leads me onto my next topic of reseach. Though the artist behind this drawing is unknown its child-like style made me think about a childs perspective on war and death, especially because the lead characters in Hansel and Gretel are children. Children's views are best shown through their art  so I have researched into artwork post 9/11.

9/11 & Children

Talal Jaradat age 10 Doomsday 'The Day Our World Changed- Children's Art of 9/11'

 Andrew Emil 11 years old Memorial 'The Day Our World Changed- Children's Art of 9/11'

Charles Ill IV 14 years old They Saw, They Conquered, We Cried 'The Day Our World Changed- Children's Art of 9/11'

Jie Zheng 18 Years old Untitled 'The Day Our World Changed- Children's Art of 9/11'


 

Joel Cruz 8 years old Untitled 'The Day Our World Changed- Children's Art of 9/11'


 

Julian Cortez 7 years old & Paul Keim 8 years old Untitled 'The Day Our World Changed- Children's Art of 9/11'

 Melanie Cohn 8 years old Untitled 'The Day Our World Changed- Children's Art of 9/11'

Pop- Up Books

This work has lead me into wanting to look at further children's art, this time I want to look at art aimed at children rather than by them. For this I have looked at a pop up book entitled;

 'Alice in (pop up) wonderland' by J. Otto Seibold.

  Below are some images from the book;

 

Because of the links of the play to childhood, I may decide to design the set as though it were a pop up book with a lot of the set and props looking very flat and 2 dimensional particularly inside the witches house as I feel it is necessary for it to look quite staged anyway.

Hansel and gretel and the Holocaust

Although Hansel and Gretel is on the surface a children's fairytale, the imagery evoked by the story is dark and macabre, the play having the structure of a nightmare.  

 Hansel and Gretel at the ROH

Themes central to the tale are;

starvation

lonliness/ isolation

fear

death

Upon readig through the play I immediately envisioned the story converted from its usual medieval context into a play about the Jewish children of the second world war.

Starvation

Image from 'The Children We Remember'

Lonliness / Isolation

Image from 'The Children We Remember'

Fear

Image from 'The Children We Remember'

Death

 Chana - 'The Children We Remember'

Researching further into the atrocities of war I discovered countless moving images which will no doubt strongly influence my designs for the play.

Auschwitz

Gas Canisters 'For Most of it I Have No Words' - Simon Norfolk

 7000Kgs of Women's Hair 'For Most of it I Have No Words' - Simon Norfolk

 

Crematoria 'For Most of it I Have No Words' - Simon Norfolk

Rwanda

Halo 'For Most of it I Have No Words' - Simon Norfolk

A Boy's Legs Pushed Into A Vase 'For Most of it I Have No Words' - Simon Norfolk

 

 Infirmary 'For Most of it I Have No Words' - Simon Norfolk

Vietnam

 Agent Orange Foetuses 'For Most of it I Have No Words' - Simon Norfolk

 Destroyed Watch Tower 'For Most of it I Have No Words' - Simon Norfolk

  

Sons Of A Man Poisoned by Agent Orange 'For Most of it I Have No Words' - Simon Norfolk

Tourist Trinkets 'For Most of it I have no words' - Simon Norfolk