Qian Jiaxin

The fluidity of gender and identity and the surreal flow of time gave me the first impression of this play.

The Oak tree as an object that has always been mentioned in the play inspired me. In a sense, Orlando and the oak tree has the same blurring of the gender and perceptions of time. I use seasons to show Orlando's inner environment in every scene. The strong representative colour of each season can infect the audience to immerse themselves in the same world of Orlando. For example, bright green makes spring look vibrant; dark blue makes winter look cold and bleak.

My set design is an abstract response to the play. To realize the change of seasons, I placed a huge picture flip book on the stage, the branches form the frame of the book. The book can be seen as Orlando's memoir of his life. Due to the surreal time setting, I present the book as a fairy tale book. As a book made from Oak Tree, it is sentient, this magical memoir that changes with the mood of the recalled owner. The main body of the book is an Oak tree, which can represent Orlando standing in the centre of his world and recalling his life. The other characters will be seen as people in the book. For the floor design, I covered the floor with envelopes and letter paper, echoing the theme of memories.

For the integrity of the play, I chose to use the 2D paper and linework hand-drawing costume. In the depth of Orlando's memory, these recollections took on the appearance of reality. Fairy tale-style paintings were printed directly on the clothes to give the audience the impression that actors were walking out of the book illustration. Their clothes look like they have been ripped from the book illustration. The style of the clothes is probably from the style of the period. Except for the Chorus, because they are going to turn the pages, to integrate them into the book, I chose to cut some Oak tree branches and paste them on their tights.