Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1976 - 29

PQ'75: A CRITICAL REPORT
EDITOWS NOTE: These comments have been gathered and edited from the reports of ten members of the USITT delegation and cover Scenography, Costume and Architecture. The variety in approach and point of view illustrate clearly the
range and scope of the largest exhibition of its kind ever assembled: PO 75. Several of the designs referred to in the text
will be found in the color photos; pages 26 and 35. No reproductions of the U.S. Exhibit have been included. They may be
found in Contemporary Stage Design, U.S.A. published by the U.S. Center of IT/.

BELGIUM
Don Stowell

Harold J. Hunter

Germana Casado's Costume designs for Iris are very
arch, sensual and decadent. It is valuable to have the drawing and the realization. Her designs for Pirandello's To
Find Oneself may be a little more arch, but not so specific
for our purposes. These designs really look like "fun."
The designs are very handsome, with good reds and a nice
sense of movement about the whole thing.
Manfred Hurrig's designs for Joan at the Stake, The
Honneger opera, Brussels, are nice renderings. They could
be easily built because of his little touches and details.
There are some swatches; the sketches are very impressive.

While the Cuban exhibit as a whole was not impressive, the work of Eduardo Arocha was extremely fine.
Of special note were the designs for The Payment of
Promises, which were very colorful and expressed a
feeling of the play and the character. They did have one
problem. Because of Arocha's technique, the renderings
might be difficult to use as construction drawings. By
comparison to the other Cuban designers, Arocha is very,
very good and creative.

Serge Creuz's designs for A Month in the Country a~e
not finished renderings, but that need not detract. The
photographs were well realized. These are lovely. His
Hamlet is interesting. These designs are compelling.
BULGARIA
Don Stowell
The designs of Violetta Rodcova are interesting. More
information about some of them would be helpful but
Rodcova has given an impression of the director, and the
actor, and the kind of characters.
Ljubomir Cakev's designs for The Dwarfs of Santa
Claus and The Dragon, The Fisherman and the Goldfish
are really charming. They capture a folk quality seldom
used in America because of a lack of the same kind of
traditional motifs in American decorative art.
CANADA
Don Stowell
Francois Barbeau's work from Montreal represents
Canada's costumers. His Mourning Becomes Electra
costumes are rather nice, but the lacing reads better
"close up" than at a distance. The costumes are not in
the period in which the play was written. The ecclesiastical costume is probably the most theatrically effective of
the actual items on exhibit. He renders very well.
BRIGITTE SITTE: (RE: Mourning Becomes Electra) It
is really being precious, as much as I would like to say
that if I have the time and the people and the money,
I would do it.
CUBA
Don Stoweil
Eduardo Arocha's What the Storm Left illustrations
are stunning, colorful things. His sketches for Payment
for Promises look like scratch work and achieve some
wonderfully frightening effects. He is an impressive
designer.

USITT

Hamlet. Model of design by Serge Creuz, Belgium. Photo
courtesy of Czech Theatre Institute.

CZECHOSLOVAKIA
John Rothgeb
The collection of designs shown by Czechoslovakia
in their national exhibit and their student exhibit appears
to be dominated by the Laureates Svoboda and Vychodil.
There is hard Iy a design which cannot be picked out as
under the obvious influence of one or the other. The West
is quite familiar with the architectural character of Svoboda's work and this approach is evident in such works
as V. Habr's design for The White Bell, though mitigated
somewhat by its smaller scale. However, Svoboda's former
students, like their master, approach theatrical design
from the rather inhuman point of view of modern archi·
tecture. Though less well known in the West, Ladislav
Vychodil's impact upon his students is even more apparent. His dramatic use of light as a means to create the
mystery of the unseen and his devotion to human-scaled
architectural units keep his work from reaching the level
of pure design of Svoboda. Nonetheless they are more
appealing for their "human" qualities. It is Vychodil's

THEATRE DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

FALL,1976

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