My Land's Shore
Musical theatre show 'My Land's Shore' performed 16-18 February at Bloomsbury Theatre. As set designer I communicated with the production team and designed a set apt for visual storytelling, as well as led a team to successfully fabricate it. This production was awarded end of year best design for set and costume.
'My Land's Shore' is about social injustice, moral dilemma and love, happening in the mining town of Merthyr Tydfil in Wales in the 1800s.
The central task in designing the set was to figure out how to create a space that can be transformed into many different spaces, such as the mine, the pub, cottages, etc. Hence the fixed set on its own had to be simple and strong, to convey the mood of the show throughout.
One main element would be the angled fabric backdrop with a mine wheel and ladders, not only showing the natural (hilly) and cultural (industrial) landscape of Merthyr Tydfil but also creating a sense of verticality which is a key metaphor in workers' revolts.
The deck structure functions to create various levels, symbolically showing level of authority and literally the mine being deep down. An interesting point to think about is how the higher platforms are isolated from each other while the ground, where people unite, is open and connected.
