Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1991 - 47

Condee: Like those Scamoui vistas, there
is an architecturaL piazza in Rome where
you can view three streets with the buildings
receding in perspective. It's a wonderful
example, too, of scenery that is imitating
architecture and then architecture that is
imitating scenery imitating scenery
Miller: Yes, rhar's why I say rhar public
spaces are jusr as rhearrical. Ir's very hard
ro say which comes firsr. Because of
course wirh early rhearre, one knows rhar
before rhere were buildings designed for
rhearre, rhe mearre specracles were using
rhe city as a sire of rhe specracle. I rhink
rhere's a complicared reciprocal relarionship bet\veen rhem.
Condee: In another example ofpainting
influencing your staging, you mentionedfOr
one production you had been reading the
art historian RosenbLum about foreshortening.
Miller: Thar was rhe end of rhe 18rh
cenrury, abour neoclassicism. This was
abour rhe norion of fore and afr
squashing which you ger in lare 18rh
century neoclassical art, conspicuously in
David and Greuze and so forrh Whar

happens of course is rhar you ger foreand-afr flarrening, so rhar rhe acrion is
more and more confined ro a shallow
plarform which runs parallel ro rhe
picrure plane and, wherever possible,
eirher currains are draped, or rows of
columns, or indeed jusr simply a wall is
placed ro arresr me gaze and keep ir from
going roo far back. Insread of having rhe
deep space of rhe Baroque, you have
exrremely shallow, frieze-like space, in
which characrers are confined ro rhis
ledge or plarform Ir's somerhing I've
always been inreresred in.
For example, if I were going ro do
some Gluck, say Iphigenie or Drfeo, I
would be rempred ro rry and do a ledge
srage, a shelf srage and have ir absolurely
like a frieze, even ro rhe exrenr perhaps of
having a jasper-blue backdropfearureless-and painr rhe characrers
whire so rhar rhey looked acrually as if
rhey were like on a Wedgewood vase. Bur
in any case, I would make every efforr ro
squash rhem flar, because I rhink ir is
comparible wirh rhar arr of rhe lare 18rh
cenrury. Ir's a formar I find rarher
pleasing.
Condee: Some peopLe have said that any

pLay can be done in any space, whereas
other people maintain that fOr certain kinds
ofplays you've got to have the right kind of
space in which to do them.
Miller: I don'r feel rhar rhere are
complicared, really insisrenr generic
requiremenrs. You will ofren surprise
yourself by finding rhar while you
rhoughr rhar rhe period or rhe genre
demanded one space (you can) discover
rhar anorher space liberares and releases
cerrain qualiries which are inherenr in ir
which you had previously nor seen.
In many cases, whar you're doing is
consranrly rrying ro arresr rhe audience's
arrenrion by making sharp conrrasr wirh
whar rhey expecr. They've gorren used ro
seeing ir in a deep space and you say,
"Have a look and see whar happens when
ir's all squashed flar." You're consranrly
pulling me lens, zooming ir and as wirh a
long lens, you ger rremendous squashing.
Thar's why when you look ar a horse race
rhrough a long lens, rhe horses never
advance. They're endlessly moving,
because rhey're squashed inro a very
narrow plane.
There are grear inreresrs in changing
me oprics. If you have ir on a very long

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1991 WINTER

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