DESIGN FOR LIVING

NOEL COWARD

BERKSHIRE THEATER FESTIVAL 2014

Coward's play about a unorthodox polyamorous relationship between three artists is written to be performed on a proscenium stage with 3 lavish box sets, one for each act. The settings of the play are the homes of members of the threesome in three different cities across five years of the 1930's. The character of the different  apartments reflect the change in economic and social status and the changing relationship between the three main characters. For this production in the Berkshire Theater Festival's intimate thrust space, the Unicorn Theater, we knew that we would have to take a different approach. The design we landed on was a semi-circular room with 3 entrances. We decided to paint the room a bold 1930's peacock blue. The semi-circular shape of the room and the bold color of the walls were meant to let the room be more of an abstract gesture towards the world of the play rather than a real representation of a room. This allowed us to change locations with furniture and props and not worry about shifting walls. Director Tom Story wanted to chart the movement of the play by the change in the art that was featured in the three homes. The play progresses from the warmth and happy chaos of the Paris studio, with its profusion of drawings and painting studies, to the order and tradition of the London flat, with gallery-hung portraits and hunting scenes, to an enormous abstract painting in a mirrored frame for the chilly modernity of the New York penthouse. Our production kept the original two intermissions, which facilitated set changes, but we managed to keep them under 15 minutes each.

Directed by Tom Story

Set Design: Reid Thompson

Costume Design: Hunter Kaczorowski

Lighting Design: Dan Kotlowitz

Sound Design: Steve Brush

Photographs: Reid Thompson