Two Weddings: An Examination of the Design Process as applied to Blood Wedding and Vernasz. Lindsay C. Walker A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts Graduate Programme in Theatre York University, Toronto, Ontario April, 2013 © Lindsay Walker, 2013 ii Abstract The objective of this study was to examine the design process, and how it was affected when applied to the different forms of opera and theatre, using two specific examples as test subjects. To ensure homogeny between these subjects I chose Federico Garcia Lorca 's play, Blood Wedding, and an operatic adaptation, Sandor Szokolay's Vernasz. Using my personal design process as a basis for study, I developed preliminary and final scenography, including scenery and costumes, for both pieces concurrently. These theoretical productions were designed for the Shaw Festival Court House Theatre and the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, respectively. The results revealed that, although scenographic decisions were influenced by factors exclusive to opera, theatre, and the selected theatres; the design process itself was unaffected. iii DEDICATION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Dedicated to my Grandmother, Marian Weight, a stalwart believer in the virtue of education who has always supported me. I could not have done this without you. I would like to give special thanks to my family, for all of their support. Also to my friends Andrew Freund, Claudia Staines, Kelly Barnum, and Jennifer Burton for being my ad hoc editors and cheering section. To my co-MFA candidates Renee Brode and Scott Spidell, thank you for your humour and your candour, this journey would not have been the same without you. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................................... 11 DEDICATION AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT. ................................................................................... 111 LIST OF FIGURES ...............................................................................................V INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................. 1 BACKGROUND INFORMATION ..................................................................................................... 4 BEGINNING STAGES OF DESIGN ................................................................................................ 8 MY DESIGN PROCESS AND PROJECT METHODOLOGY ...................................................................... 8 PRELIMINARY RESEARCH FOR BLOOD WEDDING AND VERNASZ ...................................................... 10 VISUAL RESEARCH ....................................................................................................................... 13 PRE-CONCEIVED DESIGN .............................................................................................................. 16 PRELIMINARY DESIGN ................................................................................................................ 18 BLOOD WEDDING ......................................................................................................................... 18 VERNASZ ..................................................................................................................................... 20 RE-DESIGNING BLOOD WEDDING ............................................................................................. 24 SCENIC BLOOD ............................................................................................................................ 25 ANOTHER WALL ........................................................................................................................... 26 DESIGNING COSTUMES FOR VERNASZ AND BLOOD WEDDING .......................................... 28 CHARACTER ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................. 29 CHARACTERS IN CONTEXT ............................................................................................................ 30 DRESSING THE BRIDE, AND OTHER SUPERNATURAL EVENTS .......................................................... 32 ENTER THE SUPERNATURAL ......................................................................................................... 34 CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................................. 38 FIGURES ....................................................................................................................................... 41 INDEX ............................................................................................................................................ 61 WORKS CITED .............................................................................................................................. 63 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Pablo Picasso, Femmes aux mains jointes (woman with clasped hands) ......... 40 Figure 2: Antonio Murado, Untitled, 1998 ................................................................41 Figure 3: Antonio Murado, Sin Titulo, 1997 ...............................................................41 Figure 4: Blood Wedding, preliminary set design. Act one, Scene one .........................42 Figure 5: Blood Wedding, preliminary set design. Act three, Scene one .......................42 Figure 6: Blood Wedding, preliminary set design. Act three, Scene one .......................43 Figure 7: Vernasz, preliminary set design ..............................................................43 Figure 8: Vernasz, preliminary set design. Act one, Picture two, Scene one ................ .44 Figure 9: Vernasz, preliminary set design ...............................................................44 Figure 10: Vernasz, preliminary set design ...............................................................45 Figure 11: Vernasz, final set design. Finale ..............................................................45 Figure 12: Blood Wedding, preliminary set design .....................................................46 Figure 13: Blood Wedding, final set design. Act three scene one ................................. 46 Figure 14: Blood Wedding, preliminary set design ......................................................47 Figure 15: Blood Wedding, eight preliminary set designs ........................................... .48 Figure 16: Blood Wedding, preliminary set design ........................................................49 Figure 17: Blood Wedding, final set design ..............................................................49 Figure 18: Costume Design. The Mother .....................................................................50 Figure 19: Costume Design. The Bridegroom ...........................................................50 Figure 20: Costume Design. The Bridegroom ..............................................................51 Figure 21: Costume Design. Leonardo .......................................................................51 Figure 23: Costume Designs. Blood Wedding ...........................................................52 Figure 23: Costume Designs. Blood Wedding ..........................................................52 Figure 24: Costume Designs. Vernasz ....................................................................53 Figure 25: Costume Designs. Vernasz ....................................................................53 Figure 26: Costume Design. Black wedding dress ....................................................54 Figure 27: Costume Design. White wedding dress ....................................................54 Figure 28: Costume Design. Blood Wedding. Beggar Woman/Death ...........................55 Figure 29: Costume Design. Vernasz Beggar Woman/Death .................................... 55 Figure 30: Costume Design. Blood Wedding. The Moon ...................................................56 Figure 31: Costume Design. Vernasz. The Moon ..............................................................56 "Once upon a time, stage scenery was architecture. A little later it became imitation architecture; still later it became imitation artificial architecture. Then it lost it's head, went quite mad, and has been in a lunatic asylum ever since." Edward Gordon Craig (Craig 6) "Scenography-what the actor has never seen and the director has never envisioned." Ralph Koltai (qtd. in Howard xvi) INTRODUCTION The world is filled with people who debate whether it is better to colour inside or outside of the lines, I have always preferred to be the one who decides where the lines go. This creative impulse led me to the study and practice of set and costume design. For the past two years I have applied this passion to the pursuit of a Master of Fine Arts degree. The purpose of my MFA project was to examine how the process of designing for theatre might compare to opera, using two specific examples. I achieved this by designing an opera and a play in tandem and observing the results. In both cases I employed identical methodologies. This included extensive contextual and background research relating to the authors and story lines, as well as the evolution of twentieth century scenography; followed by the gathering of creative stimuli, and development of preliminary and final designs. The results of this