Design and Direction, Two Heads in One
I have been a director/designer my entire adult life. A director/designer? Please explain. It is one who incorporates design
into direction, and direction into design. On the conventional stage, there is a director and a designer in collaboration with one another.
it is common for the director to impact his influence on the designer with his vision. Not too often does the designer impact his influence on the director. Impacting in your head becomes a fusion.
My most well known fusion was my production of “No Exit” I hate that show, because it is literally “hell” to direct. Anyway, back to bragging, My “No Exit” design was a platform that balanced on a center point. A 17′ square that floated in space. When one actor stepped off center the entire stage floor tipped. The entire world tipped. A plane adrift in a black void. It was a beautiful metaphor for the play. The set and the play were one. My director-self and my designer-self were in partnership with the existentialism of Sartre’s text. I don’t think
I could have achieved that by working with a designer outside my head (unless they were my twin.) I have never accomplished that kind of fusion since.
In “Vladimir Vladimir” there are two worlds. In this case I collaborated with the writer within me. In “Vladimir Vladimir” the scenic design has an ego and and also an alter ego (like the play.) Thus it has a two personalities. Like the title, it has two faces - “Vladimir Vladimir”
The show opens Oct 2nd.
More Later.