Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 1991 - 13

wirh designer David Mirchell, rhe masrer
of rhe cinemarically fluid moving ser.
Tsypin's ease wirh rhe mechanical rransformarion of rhe srage is clearly influenced by Mirchell. The sense of deprh
and rhe mulripliciry of locales was furrher
suggesred by projecrions rhar played over
rhe brick back wall, rhe wooden panels of
rhe ravern, and a scrim on a rraveler
rrack.
The projecred images, borh absrracr
and specific, had a fascinaring effecr.
When broken up on rhe ruined carhedral
consrrucrion or on rhe ravern wall rhey
funcrioned almosr subliminally, crearing
a sense of somerhing solid rhar was merely lighr, or, ar orher rimes, fragmenring
solid scenery inro vague parrerns.
Projecrions were used in a similar manner
for y'mbeline and he has also employed
projecrions for rhe Chicago Lyric Opera
producrion of Tannhiiuser.
The sense of scale is, of course,
enhanced by Tsypin's use of rhe verrical
space of rhe srage, somerhing he uses as
few orher American designers do. The
verrical, he has explained, is his way of
capruring rhe spirirual dimension of a
work in visual rerms, moving rhe serring
beyond earrh-bound consrrainrs. Even in
rhe ravern scenes of Hem)' IV rhere was a
surprising heighr ro rhe walls so rhar
characrers perched high above rhe main
acrion provided addirional focal poinrs
for rhe specrarars.
The use of verrical space seems mosr
prevalenr in his work wirh Akalairis. Ir

was a key elemenr of Leon and Lena (and
Lenz) and Jean Gener's The Screens, borh
ar rhe Gurhrie, and was even noriceable
in Gener's The Balcony ar A.R.T. in
Bosran.
For Leon and Lena (and Lenz), direcror JoAnne Akalairis combined a play
and novel by rhe visionary 19rh-cenrury
wrirer Georg Buchner and rransposed ir
ro rhe American Sourhwesr; rhe kingdom
of rhe original play became an inrernarional corporare world. Through discussions and rhrough srudying images of rhe
region and pop-culrure icons (norably
rhe "Cadillac Ranch" sculprure ourside
Amarillo, TX), Tsypin came up wirh rhe
idea of a highway going nowhere suspended above rhe rhrusr srage of rhe
Gurhrie. Ir appears ro emerge our of a
blazing sunser.
Mark Bly, rhe Gurhrie's dramarurg,
described ir in Theater: "Suspended over
rhe Gurhrie rhrusr srage is a GO-foor
highway, crearing anorher whole level in
rhe space, a road upon which people can
rrave!. The highway is askew, reflecring
rhe Gurhrie audirorium irself, which is
non-symmerrical, filled with odd angles.
The road has an asronishing power as ir
floars inrrusively, jurring our ominously
ar rhe audience."
Akalairis' producrion of Gener's The
ScreeJlS rook rhe use of suspended scenic
space even furrher. The srage floor was
covered ro resemble a deserr, bur above
rhe enrire srage was a ner rhar represenred
rhe "land of rhe dead." (Tsypin wanred

rhe ner suspended over rhe enrire audirarium.) The hanging ner seemed ro rrap
and oppress rhose below ir, bur when
characrers died rhey bursr rhrough paper
screens upsrage and re-emerged onra rhe
suspended ner where rhey moved wi rh
slow deliberarion "like a nighrmarish
vision of rhe Algerian deserr," in Tsypin's
words. The mechanics of hanging a rensile srrucrure from rhe ceiling rhar would
supporr rhe weighr of up ro 40 moving
bodies required rhe consulrarion of a
German engineering firm.
is use of sreel was perhaps
nowhere berrer demonsrrared rhan in his serring
for The Electrification ofthe
Soviet Union, an opera ar
rhe Glyndebourne Opera Fesrival in
England direcred by Perer Sellars. Ir also
demonsrrares rhe fluid relarionship he
has wirh his collaborarors and rhe process
of designing a ser. The primary serring
suggesred rhe inside of rrain car, bur
Tsypin wanred ir ro be flexible like paper
and soft, "like a pillow," so rhar rhe acrars
could rhrow rhemselves againsr ir.
A working model was made of paper
and given ro Sellars ro play wirh on rhe
all-nighr flighr from New York to
London jusr before rehearsals began.
Obviously, paper can rwisr and rurn
more rhan normal walls, bur by rhe rime
he arrived, Sellars was so enamored of rhe
f1exibiliry rhar he insisred on a ser rhar
could funcrion like rhe mode!.

--------~------,~

8
.g"

r,"

Left: George Tsypin's sculpture/model for Genet's The Screens,
scene 3 (Guthrie Theatre, Minneapolis, MN, 1989), directed by
JoAnne Akalaitis.
Above: Tsypin's sculpture for Death in Venice, an unproduced
project.

TD&T

1991 SUMMER

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 1991