Anna is in Denmark so Liz is posting.
We had a wonderful design presentation this week.
Talya Masel, director, and Adam Gardnir, designer, flew up from Melbourne and Andrew Johnston, our production
manager picked them up at the airport and brought them to our place at Neutral
Bay to meet Alison, artistic administrator, John Pitman, board member, and Liz and Ken.
Adam came carrying a large cardboard box marked “Top” and “Fragile” which
remained closed until he revealed the model of the set inside.
We are all busting to know what it will look like and
especially Andrew as he has to know what he has to have built .We know our
musicians and that the music will be great but a new director is always a
mystery until we see what they have in mind.
Talya explained firstly how they got to the design. Great to
hear that they had kept in mind our original brief that they saw their job as
assisting the story telling and the music and not getting in the way. They are
aware that this is a complicated story and the audience needs to be assisted by
a simple form that allows the music to unfold.
Secondly they have created a world of colour and a timeless
space of endless possibilities.
Thirdly they wanted to use the height and grandeur of the
Recital Hall.
Now I am not going to spoil the surprise of walking in on
opening night, but Talya did spend a month in Israel and a lot of time
photographing the desert and Arab markets. So expect gorgeous colour.
The contents of the box revealed and we knew that we need
not have worried. This is truly a stunning design the set will give the singers
many different levels on which to sing.
A lot of stage art will be needed.
(Hint, if you want to book for a second performance get in the
boxes right over the stage as the singers at some stage will be right at that
level and you will be able to almost reach out and touch them! ---But please don't.)
At the presentation was a young jewellery designer, Claire
Aristides just back from the UK where she has a shop in Carnaby Street. She
will design and make the jewellery for L’Ormindo and she was wanting to see the
costume designs. Adam is a fine artist and the cotume drawings were beautifully
presented. He has also given Andrew all the to-scale drawings of the set ready
for the maker. Adam used AutoCad, a program mostly used for architectural
design so we can how the set will look from any seat in the house. Amazing!
Some photos will be in another post