In my approach to the design, the aspect of the play which intrigued me the most was the nature of truth in biography. While facts and labels are important, they merely portray how others view a person's external self, blinding us to their inner truths. The merging between fact and fantasy in this fictional biography inspired me to place the world of the play within a library.
The set begins with a conventional library setting where the biographer struggles to write about Orlando's life. She frames the world of Orlando, which means that the characters within the biography are inspired by people in her life. Modern and androgynous clothing are layered underneath exaggerated period elements, which depicts this idea of imagination blending with reality.
As she gains the inspiration to write, the world of Orlando comes to life around her and the space of the library is broken apart as the book stacks magically move across the stage. The moving book stacks have the potential to create a variety of different spaces, eventually opening up completely to an empty space. The empty space represents the bliss of sharing your inner truth with others and finally feeling free within your external self.
Ishan
Vivekanantham
Performance Design
Ishan is a graduate from the University of Melbourne, focusing on set design for theatre and writing for film. Ishan has a wide range of interests that he has actively pursued throughout his time in the Bachelor of Design, including performance design, mechanical systems engineering, architecture, and screenwriting.
Across all the disciplines he has encountered, Ishan's main goal is to create worlds. He either creates worlds through screenwriting, designing sets for a director's vision, or even through creating a better world with engineering practices.
In his performance design major, Ishan specialised in set, costume, and lighting design for his capstone design project on Orlando (2021). He also has experience with on-stage roles, including Props Manager on Holes (2014, CGTC), Deputy Stage Manager on City of Angels (2016, CGTC) and fly operator on City of Angels (2016, CGTC).
Orlando