Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1995 - 52

THE GLASS .\IE,\AGENIE
Wandering into the Hungarian e\hibit. I lIas looking for something that
suggested St. Louis in the 19:\Os. a fire escape. a li\ing room \\'ith lillie
glass animals. What I found \\'as a full stage cityscape of ~lanhallan skYscrapers lit up at night and placed behind a domestic imerior. The architecture of the Chrysler Building \\'as quite distinct in the drop's foreground. and it certainh \\asn't any part of the St. Louis I knoll. To me.
this \\'as not just generic metropolis. but c1earh and familiar,," it \\'as
\e\\' York Cit\'. Blil perhaps to a designer \\'hose onll' images of .\merica
are formed from mo\'ies and tra\'el posters. an .\merican city is an
American city is an .\merican cit\'-and the quintessence of it is the
~Ianhallan sk,line. I looked closer and found that the \rall \\'hich defined the imerior space from the e\terior world was formed b\' a clear
"glass" \\'all of sk,scraper shapes \\'hose irregular lOpS and soaring \,e1
ticals \\-ere outlined in black. E\'en the door IO the Wingfield's apartment
\\'as entirely made of clear glass. In this design by Hungarian
scenographer. Gyorgy Szego for the 199.1 production of Tbe C'/ass .IleI/agerie directed by.J. Taub at the Szolnoki SZigligeti Szinldz. the
\\'ingfields' \\"Orld is a glass menagerie-dangerous,," fragile and oppressi\'e,," confining. I'd ne\'er thought IO e\pand that metaphor bel"Ond
Laura and her unicorn.
C

Jaroslav Valek's
model of Murry Schisga/'s Luv, directed by S. Korenci, 1991.

IT\'

The Slo\'akian e\hibit included \Iurray Schisgal's pia\'. LI//'. \\'hich lakes
place right in ~Ianhallan. This time I \\'as looking for an urban e\terior
\\'ith a bridge o\,er the Hudson or East Ri\'ers. and I \\'anted something
sprightlY to re\'eal the spirit of this antic come(I\'. The catalogue lOld me
Lit/' had been produced in 1991 b\' the Di\'adlo Slo\'enskcko \;lrodncho
Po\stania ,\Iartin \\'ith scenograph\' b\' Jarosla\' \';llek. This production of
Lit/' didn'tlook like an\1hing I had seen before. The theatre space appeared to be a rectangular black bo\ \\'ith audience seating running
down each of the t\\'O long sides. In the middle. be[\\'een the t\\'o ,ections of audience. \\'as a natural wooden plank footbridge \\'ith tan l\\'ine
suspension ropes angled out\\'ard lO form a blunt-bollomed ..\ .. as the\'
stretched from footbridge [() the black pipe ceiling grid. It looked less
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TO&T

like a bridge o\,er \e\\' York's troubled \\,aters than one o\,er the Ri\'er
K\\'ai. Horizontal [\\'ine ropes connected the \'erticaJ supports IO create a
handrail on each side of the footbridge. 'I\\'o round black cylinders
\\'hich stood on the Door at each end of the footbridge seemed to mark
the bridge's termination points. Equally spaced abo\'e the footbridge
\\'ere suspended three sil\'er lamps. ,\bo\'e the bridge. at one end. \\'ere
1'1"0 hanging objects-an armless plain \\'hite \l"Ooden chair and a
gilded \\'ing \\'ith cuyed feathers. Okaaaaa\'....what is this all about i The
footbridge didn't look like an urban arter\, carning aggressi\'el\'
honking t;L,is and trucks. \Ia\'be this is the rickety bridge of human
relations i .-\ndthat \\'ing hanging abo\'e the set must be Cupid 'Sl I realized that the small scale of the scenic elements \\'ouldmake the characters appear big. more important than the\' \\'ould in front of the
cit\' cape I remember from the Broad\\'ay production. \';llek's scenograpl1\' suggested to me that this is the SIOI~' of t\\'o people \\'ho bridge human loneliness, in spite of their precarious relationship. IO findlo\'e.

THE CRL'CfBLE
The Hungarian e\hibit also included a scenic model of another .-\merican pia\'. .-\rthur \Iiller's Tbe Crtlcib/e. In m\' mind I S;l\\, images of the
~Iassachusells Ba\' Colon\' in the I-th centuI~'. and I remember fonell\'
my last \'isit to the historicall\' accurate Plymouth Plantation. I look
around for a model that pro\'ides for the multiple locations of ~Iiller's
script-the child's bedroom. PrOClOr's house. the clearing in the
woods. the meeting hall \\'here the trial takes place. the jail cell. \ot
finding it. I resort IO reading labels again and disco\'er that Hungarian
scenographer Zsolt Khell's design for the 1995 produclion at the Csih
Gergel\' Szinhaz in Kaposrar looks like the interior of a factol~' or some
go\'ernmental institution, Aprison. maybe'! Dominating the space is a
large Oight of stairs center-stage. Each side of this has \'arious le\'els and
phl\'ing spaces \\'here I suppose small scenes could be staged. :\ \\'indow
stage-right. and 1'1"0 doors (one up-center and one stage-left) appear IO
be the only means of egress and e\it. The entire set has a high sheen
surface. like smooth SlOne or concrete-there's not a hand-he\\'Il
\\'ooden beam in sight. The metallic turquoise color co\'ering the \\'alls.
ceiling. and most of the Door had the acid quality which I associate \\'ith
aniline d\,es or the chemiGti residue left b\' "cyclon 13" in the gas chambers al the concentration camp at ~Iajdanek. Poland. The concrete slab
interior \\'as relie\'ed on,," \\'ilh industrial detailing-some pipes with
\'al\'es upstage left. a pipe railing on the stairs dO\\'Ilstage left. and a
large hook suspended from a pulle\' dO\\'Ilstage right. It looks like a side
of beef should be hung on it. Will that be \\'here I'roclOr dies i Atop a
naITO\\' Oight of stairs stage-left is a stainless steel door \\'ith a small
"'indo\\' in the upper section, It·s the sort \'ou see in hospitals. The upcenter door is raised off the Door and is Dush \\'ith the \\'all. It reminds
me of the doors on a ship or submarine. This is not a place \\'here the
cruelt\' people inDict upon one another in the name of religion can be
masked behind lots of Earl\' American copper pots and hand Guyed
bedsteads \\'ith hand-wo\'en co\'erlets. All of those sentimental and di\'erting historical details are stripped aI\'a\' 10 focus on the ral\' human
emotion of this sa\age pia\'. I \\'ish the e\hibition sho\\'edme hOI\' the
inhabitants of this space were costumed.
PL~rHor

OF TlfE \\'ESTER.\' 1\'OlnJ)

I felt m\' skills as a sceno-detecti\'e \\'ere gelling sharper and thai I
lIas learning IO anah-I.e a scenographer's metaphor. so I \\'elcomed the

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1995