Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
The cast of Communicating Doors , Altrincham Garrick, 2001.
talking more about the past, the present and the future, or about three potential states of a life.
I didn't have the time to design the hotel apartment suggested in the text, with all its detail.
That seemed a dull way to go, and not theatrical for what was a theatrical piece. I came up
with a space suggested by Magritte's painting of a curved wall painted blue with white clouds,
and framed by painted red theatrical curtains. One piece of furniture doubled for every piece
of furniture, and in the curved wall were hidden eight invisible doors. The past, present and
future were dif erentiated by the primary colours worn by the characters, and this became a
stronger visual clue as to who was where and when. Seeing a character in primary red sitting
next to a character in primary blue was a more exciting way to show characters separated by
twenty years than by relying on literal costumes and big hair. This concept liberated the actors,
who made the most of the theatricality of the play. As with everything, I i nd the constraint of
a simple visual conceit more creative. Next would not have been ef ective had I had the many
characters I'd wanted, nor would Gilbert and Sullivan or Achilles . Less can be so much more.
Birds
Birds feature heavily in everything I do, right back to The Pied Piper , where some simple cut-
out birds l y overhead as the Piper leads the children away. My school art teacher showed me
how Breughel used birds in the midground to give depth to a painting. That's stuck with me,
and they are in every sky. On Pied Piper we used large gauzes to soften the painted skies and
distant hills, and onto these were stuck a few simple replacement black paper shapes in a cycle,
with perhaps a white line separating the body from the upstage wing or one wing painted a
lighter grey to give depth. In The Wind in the Willows there was a whole l ock, from swallows
darting about to a rather grand and stately heron l ying away from Toad Hall. I showed of by
having these cut-outs in ef ect, turning corners. In one episode these birds appear
to travel towards the camera through a series of larger replacements. Birds have
a great resonance for me, but in their most basic function, they give life and a
spatial dimension to an otherwise dead space of l at sky. Today we add them with
computer graphics, but huge satisfaction comes from something so simple and
so ef ective. Of course, Willis O'Brien was doing this ef ectively with his cut-out sea
birds stuck to glass seventy-i ve years ago in King Kong .
 
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