So we have now reached the end of our seventh week in the creative process that is ‘Eat My Hat’, a quadruple bill of four shows, created entirely by the students, and produced by the Australian Academy of Dramatic Art. It has been a very busy time for everyone at the Pigrim Theatre, with plenty of costume and set sourcing, budget planing and exciting rehearsal schedules surfacing. The production will be made up of four shows, each focusing on a specific text or stimulus. The creative teams began by presenting an entire pitch for all four pieces, which where eventually narrowed down to our individual major productions. My creative team (affectionately referred to as ‘The bananas’ for group identification purposes) has been working on a 20th Century HSC text, Ian wilding’s ‘October’. Our group was immediately drawn to the themes of the play, and their striking relevance to the world in which we currently live in- particularly as the play was written as a response to september 11, exploring the fear, terror and consumerism that subsequently invaded the homes of typical domestic families. As the piece must be twenty minutes long, we decided it would be very difficult to create a reduction of the play and still do the themes and power of the writing justice; so we have begun developing a response to the play, re-interpreting the overall layout, investigating the qualities and subtexts of each character and whittling down the extremely dense, complex text to its most crucial and powerful elements. Through a lengthy dramaturgical process, a great deal of group discussion and research, the director, Tristan Carey, has created a powerful, rocket-in-pocket script which manages to maintain the intense dialogue, intelligent comedy and dark relevance of the play, and following several discussions amongst our creative team, we decided on the title ‘The Cost of Living’.

Following an exciting evening of presenting and watching our final pitches, everyone was eager to get stuck into the actual making of the shows. As costume designer, my job has involved a long and ever-changing journey through about twelve million different options in approaching the visual images which the audiences receives as they explore the story. I have thoroughly enjoyed putting my artistic skills to good use in the process of producing sketches, drawings and final, scale colour designs for both the set and costume. One of the most exciting visual elements for me to explore has been incorporating the image-obsession of the characters, specifically the married man ans woman, into the set design. With a extremely white, bright and modern interior, the real fun has been in contrasting these images with the truth of their reality, represented in a broken, charred and warped picket fence surrounding their small space. The occasional falling of ash around the space is a consistent reminder of the falsity of their image, and this becomes extremely pronounced with the entrance of the intruder. The introduction of our interpretation of the detective is equally as exciting, and for the sake of preserving the surprise, I will leave it at that. But I have thoroughly enjoyed the process of designing this show, and am finding just as much pleasure in sourcing and creating the physical world of ‘The Cost of Living’.

In addition, this past week has been about getting into rehearsal rooms with our directors and casts. As a cast member for director Joseph Kernahan’s ‘The Bear’, a show based on Forbidden Love, I have been lucky enough to have explored some seriously exciting and promising rehearsal room experiences. Receiving our casting was a big moment this week, and having been given the part of the Trapeze Artist, I am over the moon to be able to rediscover the world physical theatre that I am so passionate about. As yet, we have had two rehearsals- but I am sure the next few weeks are going to be  a whirlwind of exciting work and development on this quirky, gritty and beautiful story.

Well, that’s all from me for now, but stay in touch for much more on some other projects I am currently working on!

Eat My Hat

31 august – 3 september

AADA

Pilgrim Theatre, 262 Pitt Street, NSW, Sydney

Writer- Mark Ravenhill

Director- Andrew Davidson

Design- James Brown, Megan Vanhoek and Matt Cox

Pilgrim Theatre, Sydney

Australian Academy of Dramatic Art

Class of 2011

Writer- Mark Ravenhill

Director- Andrew Davidson

Design- James Brown, Megan Vanhoek and Matt Cox

Pilgrim Theatre, Sydney

Australian Academy of Dramatic Art

Class of 2011