Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1996 - 45

bentlrood chairs, because rou necd places for people to sit. \X-c Ircnt
Irith props, cups and tea sen ices, but no tables, no tables IIhatsocrcr, So
Bernard Shall' brought the trar in and announced himself as the maid, br
saying, 'On this afternoon. ,\Irs, HenrI' Iliggins lias siuing on her sofa
ha\'ing a cup of tea.' and as he Iras doing it. he Iras presenting the tea,
and he Irouldlcarc,"
:\gainst his austere sct. Portcous placcd a lush arrar of costumcs.
color-kel'ed to the mood of each scene, "\\'c Irent from the moocl\'. grer.
black. dark. rainr colors of the opening scene to thc snuffl', tobacco colors of the Higgins stucl\'. into the summer off-Irhites of the teas and into
the Irhole Cecil Beaton-fccl of thc grand ball, and then out to thc end
back to a normality of color,
Thc lighting lias kept as simple as the set. "It Iras all110st pure lI'hite
light. The filters lI'erc used to generate a clean. crisp light. 1\loods II-ere
generated through warmth and through cold. but there Iras no great paleue of color. II Iras more like crl'stal."
"There's a lillie anecdOle , hal'e to tell I'OU about." :\t the end of
the pial', a lacll- came up and said. 'illr, Porteous, it Iras the 1110st beautiful production '\e erer seen, The ball. the grand ball. Irith all those
chandeliers, was glorious,' There Irere no chandeliers, She'd scen it aU
in her mind, There's somcthing that happened in that scene: thc renections on the noor of the costumes. the renections of the light in the
amoul1l of jel\'elr\' the\' Irere Irearing. set a tone of luxurl' that Iras the
equivalel1lto illansion House in London. England, That to me is Irhat I'm
exploring, That Iras one of the nicest things that's happened in mr career,"
Asked II hat he lIouldlike his Icgac\' to Canadian design to be.
Porteous modestil' demurs, "I don't knOll if I'l'e ever giren that al1l
thought. I don't knOll if there is a legaCl to be left, I just do ml lIork,
and if it's appreciated that's l\"OnderftIi,"
But he does go on to frame a credo of ralues that he l\"Ould like see
the designers he has brought into the Festiral take alral' as ther more out
into the Irorld, "Excellence is one. of course, But the other lI'ould be to
create living theatre, To more aI\,a\, frol11 museum theatre as l11uch as
possible, It sounds like a Peter Brook truism, but it's a fact that what I
Irant \"Oung designers. and specificall\' Canadian designers, to be looking
for is to putthemselres personally into the productions. Your heart and
soul. \"OU stand outtherc naked in front of the audicnce Irith the actors,
That it's rou that are sal'ing something. that it's \'our rision, Simplicity,
straightfonrardness of design, You knOll that a lot of people can't do
that. Ther have to decorate it to cover up their soul. That's the one thing
I love to see. it's the designer Irho's Irilling to bare his soul." .:.
ARNOLD WEVGROW leacbes alld direcls allbe Cllirersily oj'
.rorlb Caro/illa al ~sbel'i//e, His profiles oj'Nicbard Hudsoll. Tall,J'a
.lloiseill'ilscb, P{/Ille/a HOl/'ard. audjoce/J'II Herberl bare ajJfJeared
ill prel'iolls issues oj'TD&T.

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1996