Chang
Tong

Performance Design / Landscape Architecture

Chang is a Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), Bachelor of Design (Performance Design) 2021 Graduate. Chang has a specific interest in stage performance design, specifically the musical.

During the three years in the VCA, Chang has further studied the details, including space, figure, sound, and light. For the final Orlando Design Project, she designed the overall set and used her design abilities to create the costume for four main characters. She has been honing her skills in performance design.




Orlando

The overall design is based on the text of Virginia Woolf's Orlando, then edited by Sarah Ruhl. It illustrates the adventures of a poet who changes sex from male to female and lives for centuries. During these centuries, Orlando gradually figures out what she was searching for her whole life.

My set intended to present this journey during the centuries using the contrasting elements of nature and the geometric structure. The used oak tree represents the beginning of all and the companionship of nature with Orlando among her transformation. The platforms and centralised staircases using marble texture create spaces to show the journey feeling and present various experiences the play is on stage to the auditorium.

The costume design tries to use contemporary clothes to help to illustrate the story in the designed set. However, some of the characters' features and evidence of the time will be remained and show on the costumes. The chorus has a single design of the costumes as the outsider of the story. They work to promote the story at the back. However, some characters own various costumes in different acts to better illustrate the play. Especially for Orlando and The Archduchess/Archduke Harriet, the gender transformation will be presented by costume and showing the process on stage.