Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2012 - 80

book
tive reader could search through the pages and
find multiple interpretations of important plays,
operas, and musicals. A number images that
are difficult to find were reproduced in useful
ways here, such as the designs for Sunday in
the Park with George by Tony Straiges, Patricia
Zippodt, and Ann Hould-Ward (1984).
While the volume did not include a contextualizing essay suggesting trends, the placement
of images allows readers to make their own connections between the productions and designs.
It reminded me of the first time that I attended
the Prague Quadrennial, when I ran from room
to room at the industrial palace, giddy with excitement from seeing all these designs in one
place, comparing the look of designs from
Egypt to those of China. In World Scenography,
1975-1990, I took the most pleasure from the
copious full-color drawings, models, and production photos that made an attractive representation
of strange visions from far corners of the world.
There are designs that I know well, even though I
never got to see the companies or the productions,

theatre design

& technology

reviews
and there are unfamiliar designs from New Zealand
and Tahiti showing tactics that are radically different from conventional Italianate traditions. The editors resist making explicit connections between the
countries or periods and enable each of us to look
at the material from our own perspective, whether
as a designer, a historian, or an interested audience
member who once saw these events in person. I
have already started to use it to dig for designers
working in a particular manner. It is a reservoir that
can be used in a dozen ways.
As we know, there is more to publishing a
book with over one thousand images than the
selection of content. Permissions fees, quality of
documentary images, and the availability of the
best examples from a particular time and place
limit editors. Multiply this problem by the sheer
number of designers represented, and errors
and omissions surreptitiously creep in. At times
the inclusion of commentary from dozens of contributors was jarring. One could question the criteria for particular designs as exemplars. Several
designers were featured annually, while others

summer 2012

only once. Since most of the works were new to
me, this editorial versatility sometimes overshadowed the volume's goal of broad representation.
As they continue on, I hope Fielding and McKinnon might be able to incorporate contextualizing introductory material that would draw more
explicit connections between the events of each
year and the designs. I hope they explain where
the chosen designers fit in within the context of
work from the countries they represent. And
I hope they find a means to insure the content
and tone of the explanatory statements are unified editorially. However, if one never tries to
tackle the problem of preserving representative
examples, huge gaps open and material is lost
to the ages. This book may be just a sampling of
the smorgasbord of world designs, but it plugs
a hole that has been growing for years. Valiantly
it carries on a tradition that can inspire others
to provide more focused studies or to make nuanced arguments. Since little else in print about
these traditions reaches an international audience, it is a shame that it is difficult to get one's

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2012