Lecture Review

‘We need a set that satisfies the demands of
the text.’ - Christopher Oram

Review my notes after the set designer Christopher Oram’s Lecture, what I found in his speech is Functionalism and Minimalism. From the design perspective, Christopher discussed about the theatre developed in the age of media, and the way of theatrical performance interact with the audience. As the boundary between cinema and theatre are blurred, they both more present multi-layered narrative than a literary text, and provide more possible interpretations of the language. Based on the text, all the elements on stage have to get a response to the initial story line. Christopher attempted to reduce performance’s culture background in his work.

Related to his practice work, I watched one of his product Red which took place in Donmar Westend on January. In this play, Mark Rothko experienced his painful art career who suffered from the art critic with low expectations. It reflected most of the artists whose experiences about creation and perception. “The play’s about the commission of the seagram’s murals, and they’ve been in the Tate since I was a kid” Christopher Oram said. The whole performance followed a sort of traditional conflict of dramaturgy, with certain intense and certain end, which is not surprised to me too much.

In this tiny size theatre, Christopher made it definitely like a art studio, and dramatic atmosphere. There are some simple settings such as a Bauhaus’s style chair, work tables and Rothko’s big size abstract drawing, it turs out to be a gloomy and lonely space where the artist requires. That have linked with all my memories about artists and their workshops together. I agree with the ideas that emphasized simplification of forms, by use of symbolic colors and objects.

More over, one of Christopher’s another work I watched last year in Donmar Warehouse is Hamlet. Jude Law played the main role, who represent a modern version of Hamlet . “The set is a big castle with big sliding doors upstage, and great height,” explains Halliday. Christopher chose some cold color like blue, black and grey to set up the whole atmosphere whatever costumes or settings. Although it was a new creative approach to the interpretation of Hamlet, the debate still revolve around the simplicity style of design.

The lecture did open up to me a multitude of new view points from a set designer’s perspective. It has encouraged me to think about the balance of the visualized object.

5 July 2010