Arcadia (2018)
Director, Set Designer and Lighting Designer University of Bristol Spotlight's Society Arcadia by Tom Stoppard November 2018
This was the largest show of the year that I was commissioned to do alongside my undergraduate degree in History and recieved a number of 4* reviews. This was a deliberatley ambitious project as Stoppard isn't often touched by student theatre, however many people questioned this having seen our production.
"The perfect harmony of a comedy and a tragedy that reduced me to tears"
Due to the split narrative of Arcaida alternating between present day and 1809, the set had to offend neither period. For me, the set should always be an extension of the themes of the play, and I wanted to look at the temporal transience of Stoppard's narrative. Henceforth, the gauze used that the back allowed for actors to walk in front and behind it to create an almost ghostly effect.
I was keen to use the cyc to create the impression of different times of day, whilst also evoking the distance of the past. This was amplified by the white floor and furntaure that served to act almost as a blank canvas upon which the narrative could be transposed. I was keen to keep the acting very naturalistic whist allowing for the set to have an element of stylistation.
This was a once in a lifetime oppertunity to do a show like this without having decades of professional work to enable me to have the access to resources that I was able to here. Hopefully these photograhs can give you a flavour of the scale and quality of the show that is so special to me and everyone involved in it.