Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2008 - 30

was the interesting challenge. The answers are found in the dialogue between jurors. By casually commenting to each other
with small talk in the beginning, we get initial hints of socioeconomic status, belligerent attitudes, time of year and weather.
That helped me begin to separate them out from each other,"
she explains. (See fig. 2.) "Ambition, greed, prejudice, anger,
frustration, hurt, and sorrow are revealed as they debate the
details of the lawyers' presentation of the case." The costume
design reflects subtle distinctions such as how a garment could
be worn, as well as subtle sartorial details such as the number
of buttons or pockets on a suit, the kind of collar or fabrics.
That storytellers can see the same script differently is a
crucial aspect of entertainment, and is the reason we repeat
the same stories to discover new insights. While this production
chose to cloak its design manipulations in the guise of mostly
realistic detail, another may add video feeds to enhance facial
expressions or augment the eventual social consequences of
human behavior. No one approach is more correct than the
other; and locating a project successfully on the scale of realism to stylization is a key aspect of design.

visUal theater or spectacles:
Stories that communicate largely through non-verbal means,
such as dance, movement based theater, musical pieces or
themed entertainment require the opposite of a receding visual environment. The design elements are an essential part
of the experience as the audience uses deduction and free-
association to participate in the story telling. No theatre group
has done more for the current resurgence of visual theater than
Cirque du Soleil. It has created a market large enough to support eighteen shows around the world, has given birth to similar troupes, and Cirque-like effects are even adopted into many
other types of shows.
Cirque du Soleil's heritage of European circus tradition
makes it natural for them to prefer performing spaces that echo
the traditional traveling circus tent, spaces which are friendly
to special effects rigging that add a vertical dimension to the
poetic space. The air over the stage is as much a performing
area as is the floor, and much of the wonder and excitement
of Circque du Soleil performances derives from an exuberant
use of space, color and large-scale shapes. Watching performers soaring through the air, daring certain doom, or floating
weightlessly above the earth are visceral events for the audience. The rules of this story world mean there are few rules
compared to our gravity bound lives.

Figure 3. Jellyfish. The Beatles Love. Copyright The Cirque Apple
Creation Partnership 2006. Costume Design, Philipe Guillottel.
photography, richard termine

One example of the transformative effects Cirque du Soleil
creates is the giant jellyfish costumes in The Beatles Love currently playing in Las Vegas. (See fig. 3.) The audience is immediately transported underwater through the use of light, sound
and costume. The costumes extend well beyond the silhouette
of the human form, allowing light to pass through for a

That storytellers can see the same

script

differently is a crucial aspect of entertainment, and is the reason
we repeat the same stories to discover new insights.
S P R I N G

2008

theatre

design

technology

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2008