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“Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” design process
State Theatre of South Australia 2003

This was the first show I designed for the State Theatre of South Australia.  It played in the Space Theatre then toured the major South Australian regional centres.  The Space Theatre is a general purpose space. We chose an intimate staging with audience seated around two sides.
sketch
Part of the challenge of designing such a well known play is the preconceived expectations the audience bring to it. Even though this was ultimately a traditional production, Director, David Field and I wanted to initially dispel some of these expectations. This was done by having the audience enter a theatre that contained no scenery at all.  As people took their seats they sat staring at a black, completely empty stage.
model
As the show started the large loading door was opened and the scenery bought in and constructed before their eyes. This took less than 4 minutes. Aside from adding a little surprise to a well known piece this also helped to set up the theme of George and Martha’s artificially constructed world.

model

“Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” by Edward Albee
Director    David Field
Set and Costume Designer   Victoria Lamb
Lighting Designer      Mark Shelton