Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1992 - 17

armosphere in which words mean somerhing differenr from whar rhe signify
anywhere else? How ro creare a clausrrophobic space in which people are far
aparr? Or rhe sense of disrance in which
characrers nonerheless feel close ro each
orher?
The Sea Gull, my firsr Chekhov [in
1960], was nor given birrh wirhour pain.
I reduced all scenographic devices ro a
space covered in black, wirh one fundamenral currain of lighr in rhe proscenium
opening (rilred roward rhe audience and
raking rhe place of a scrim cunain), and
ren orher, smaller cunains of lighr disrribured in rhe deprh of rhe srage wirh
specially consrrucred low-volrage lamps
wirh parabolic reflecrors. They were
masked by rwigs, rhrough which srreams
of "sun" Iighr penerrared. The resulring
impression of an orchard, wirh irs sulrry
hear and roral armosphere, affecred rhe
specraror in a palpably physiological way.
The panicular lighring hardware,
rhe ceiling of branches wirh leaves of
nylon nening (which did a good job of
borh carching rhe lighr and lerring ir
rhrough)-all rhis we conceived and
worked our for rhe firsr rime.
ow
everyrhing depended on wherher our
gamble would payoff. We scoured rhe
ciry for necessary pans and assembled
rhem. Our all-nighr experimenrs were
confined ro rhe workshops; we had ro
wair for rwo days of scheduled lighring
rehearsals on srage. We had no orher
solurions in reserve. I was in agony ar
rhe endless wairing. Indeed, from rhar
rime on I've always kepr some son of
backsrop solurion in my pocker as an
"anxiery-easer." The ulrimare success of
our work was a resulr of our ream's fairh
in rhe projecr; rhey delivered professional work and, insofar as possible, lefr
norhing ro chance. The desire ro ger ro
rhe very essence of Chekhov's rexr was
clearly evidenr in rhe acrors' work as
well. They demonsrrared whar ir means
ro rake off crearively from a rhoughr-our
conceprion of a performance inro rhe
realm of a fully realized producrion.

When I look back on my meering wirh
Alfred Radok 8 during rhe war, I realize
rhar no orher meering in my life resembled if. We did rhings rogerher rhar
would have been unerly impossible wirhour rhe absolure accord of perceprion and
vision rhar we enjoyed. Our occasional
long separarions never inrerrupred rhe
collegial and spirirual undersranding we
shared. In each insrance, we were able ro
pick up our work rogerher as if we had

64 foot diameter, Gerriets STUDIO'" grey RP for "The Wall", Berlin, 1990

What do Josef Svoboda and "The Wall"
have in common?
Both use special proiection screens developed by
GERRIETS: "The Wall" in 1990, Svoboda for the
past 30 years...
"Film and slide projections are almost a Svoboda trademark ... The
basic problem with all projections on stage is how to project a clear and
bright image while at the same time providing enough light for the odor
or scenery in front of the screen; rear projection is only a portial answer...
For a long time Svoboda assumed that the real answer lay in increasing
the intensity of the projected image ... Only after many years and a
variety of experiments ... he realized that THE ANSWER lAY IN THE
PROJECTION SCREEN, its color and reflectability ... (Along with the
development of low reRective floors), SPECIALLY DEVELOPED PROJECTION
SCREENS enabled Svoboda to achieve the effective interplay of screen
and living actor that was essential to several of his major artistic successes,
especially Laterna Magika and Their Day". -pp. 24-25, "The 5f:enogrophyof
Josef Svoboda" by Jarka Burian

For more information on

proiection cycloramas and screens,

please call 1.800.369.3695
RD #1, 950 Hutchinson Rd., Allentown, NJ 08501 USA Tel: 609.758.9121 Fax 609.758.9569
never paned. Unfonunarely, rhese gaps
meanr rhar we did much less rogerher
rhan we mighr have. And rhar is somerhing I regrer.
In 1948 ... rhe arional Thearre
enrrusred us wirh Lillian Hellman's The
Little Foxes. We rried ro place rhis excellenr rexr inro rhe mosr appropriare and
leasr disrracring serring. The ser consisred of a room wirh a ceiling, a floor, and
rwo walls; since one [wall] was missing,
rhe carper ran on ro where ir was no
longer visible. Similarly, a sraircase wirh
a landing acrually didn'r end. Norhing
here had an end, yer rhe end of everyrhing was here.

In 1957 Radok and I rerurned once again
ro Lillian Hellman, in her Autumn
Garden. I builr a commonplace room of
an American house wim a rerrace, naruralisric down ro me very lasr prop. Bur men I
painred everyrhing on rhe srage mouse
gray. Wirh one srroke I had an absrracr
space, which in facr funcrioned like a
cyclorama. The colorful cosrumes of rhe
acrors and a bouquer rhar was broughr on
srage were unerly unable ro overcome rhis
pervasive grayness. Of course rhe grayness
of life inexorably won our.
TD&T

1992 FALL

15
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1992
