Early 20th century

During the 1920’s there was a German theatre director, Bertolt Brecht, he believed in a very bare stage so that the truth of the acting was clear and could not be cluttered by elaborate scenery.

Edward Gordon Craig-

Edward Gordon Craig was a pioneer of modern stagecraft; he broke away from the traditional realistic set design throughout the 20^th century. His experimental ideas can be seen to influence all theatre design.

The New Stagecraft-

Towards the end of the 19^th century, two designers revolted against the flat scenery with realistic pictures painted on it. They thought it seemed wrong to surround 3d actors with 2d sets. These two designers were Adolph Appia (1862-1928) and Edward Gordon Craig (1872-1966)

Their controversial ideas would become the main basis of the New Stagecraft; this was mainly involved scenery that suggested a mood or setting without showing it in a realistic way. 

19th Century-

In the 29^th century scenery still looked very architectural and realistic, there were three major scene trends during the 19^th century. Especially in Europe, they were

Historical Accurate Scenery and The Development of the realistic box set,

A revolt against the two-dimensional world of painted canvas.

The English renaissance-

The English renaissance was a cultural and artistic movement in England. This was from the 16^th century to the early 17^th century. It was associated with the pan-European Renaissance that many cultural historians believed originated in the 14^th Century, in Tuscany.

Indigo Jones was an architect and England’s first major scene designer in the 127^th century. He had visited Italy and was inspired by the set design there, so he introduced the Italian concept to the English court theatre of king James, this was called perspective scenery.

He designed this using side wings and many backdrops, in which he framed with a proscenium arch. All of the features are still associated with tradition al theatres today.

Scenery-

Scenery is a product of The Italian Renaissance; it is based on the discovery of rules of perspective and designers, as they used these rules to paint 2D scenery to give the illusion of 3D architecture. The early development of theatrical scenery was the work of a number of artists over a period of approximately two hundred and twenty five year, from 1508 to 1638.

The Shakespearian Theatre-

The Shakespearian Theatre was an open air theatre associated with Shakespeare, built in 1599, and was originally called the Globe Theatre. It was the typical public theatre space of the 15/16^th century. There were mainly no seats and the audience normally stood up.

The theatre was mainly owned by the actors, who were shareholders in Lord Chamberlains Men too. The theatre had been built using timber from an old theatre, called ‘The Theatre’. 

Early stage sets of the 16th and 17th Century-

Most early formal stage performances were performed to entertain kings, queens and courtiers in royal courts and palaces. Only the best artist and architects were asked to design the sets at the time. They were mainly built in the palaces or grounds and were usually semi permanent. 

Professional Practice- Case Study Of A Theatre Designer

Maria Bjornson- Theatre Designer

Maria is the famous designer for her elegant and ingenious design for Phantom of the Opera; this is one of the most famous music theatre productions in contemporary theatre entertainment.

In 1950 Bjornson moved to the UK with her mother and started to get educated at a French school. She later attended the Central School of Art and Design where she studied under her professor Ralph Koltai Her early theatre career was spent at the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow which is a theatre company dedicated to being accessible and affordable for the Glasgow community.

I feel that her work is very good in the sense of its uniqueness, the way in which Maria plans out the stage design and carefully plans out her work with no rush. This gives it a sense of not rushing something so brilliant and wonderful on a theatre set. I am also proud in a sense that she was a normal schooled person, who gained the chance to become someone very important by accomplishing her studies and gaining the best experiences she could, yet still using her own ideas. She also completes all the requirements of the perfect set designer, as they should all be good at communicating with their client and generating their visual ideas. 

Introduction To The Task

My name is Mazia Laddour. I am studying the Creative and Media Diploma, with A-Level Textiles; they are both two-year courses. My course is challenging in some ways yet I am eager to face these challenges by trying my hardest in all units.

This Creative and Media Diploma consists of many Units and one of them is Set Design with Ms Wyglindacz, the main tasks for this Unit are publicizing a production of “The Little Shop Of Horrors” taking place in the school, in order to be accurate I have to carry out an amount of research and interview my client Miss Jones. I will try my best to meet all of the requirements when making props and designing the set, always remembering to meet my clients ideas.

Researching different images of 1950’s New York has helped me gain an insight on what I should be doing when making the set, I have created a mood board using all the images I feel will fit into my brief for designing the set. I hope that my ideas I contribute will be successful and help my client especially as I am working with her for professional guidance and ideas.