Happy days / set design

Role: project lead / design - documentation - coordination

Studio: Liminal Studio

Client: Jane Longhurst / Blue Cow Theatre

Year: 2019 - unbuilt

Samuel Beckett's play 'Happy Days' has been revived many times. Usually represented by a visual thread consisting of middle-aged women (Winnie) swallowed by the earth or some form of a scorched mound (some examples below). Dianne Wiest recently portrayed a modern interpretation of Happy Days, performing as a pop-up theatre installation in Madison Square Park (as shown below).

Jane Longhurst and Blue Cow Theatre to recreate the street performance done by Dianne Wiest here in Hobart. They asked us to make some magic and design a movable/low budget/interesting set to be able to perform in different locations around Hobart.

The concept was to create an abstract portable landscape that will swallow Winnie throughout the performance. For that, we proposed to use timber panelling as if it was fabric. Since the play talks about decay and it happens in a scorched landscape, we decided to use charred thin timber panels glued to fabric and even use some extra charcoal powder to put emphasis on this apocalyptic environment. We took inspiration from the beautiful Elisa Strozyk ‘s wooden textiles and Woof by Melanie Lane.