Set
In Orlando nothing is as it seems and we are taken on a journey through fantasy and mysticism. It is a beautiful, funny journey through humanity and self expression as we celebrate the wonders within ourselves. At its heart it is a love story, between people and also about loving and accepting ourselves. I wanted my set to be a romantic backdrop for this turbulent story.
The set design consists of a forest of colonnades, that the characters hide within and interact with. They can turn into a forest for Orlando's wanderings or a castle during Elizabethan times. I wanted the exterior and interior within my design to meet and combine for a dreamy exploration through memory and time.
Time is a powerful theme and through lighting and shadow I wanted to transform the stage and reveal the passage of the 500 years that Orlando experiences. The simplistic nature of the set is a backdrop for the elaborate and outrageous costumes that bring life and comedy to the play. As the play progresses the set adapts and can be stripped back to its most basic principles of this simple forest for the characters to lose themselves within.
Costume
With the costume design I first wanted to have a theme that would extend to all the characters. In Orlando most of the main cast have both masculine and feminine qualities and I wanted my costumes to reflect this. All of my costuming is going to have androgynous qualities about them- none of the costumes will be traditional but they will have elements that pull from a certain period of time or place. The outrageousness to the costumes is a reflection of the play, all the costumes have the ability to transform into something else. Layers are peeled off to reveal different sides to characters and tell the story of the period.
The costuming is integral, revealing to the audience where we are in time and place. I wanted to stray from the traditional as none of the characters are conventional and through my design I wanted to bring the playfulness and ridiculous nature of Orlando to the centre. The costumes will bring detail and colour to the play that complements the simplistic nature of the set and allows the actors to exaggerate the masculine or feminine depending on who is wearing the costume.
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Niki Hayton
Performance Design
Niki completed a Bachelor of Design, majoring in Performance Design and has a special interest in lighting and costume design. She has been heavily involved and surrounded by theatre from a young age and this passion developed into design for the stage.
During her last year at The University of Melbourne she was able to design for productions such as Black Medea by Wesley Enoch and Orlando by Sarah Ruhl, allowing Niki to explore areas of set, lighting, sound and costume design. Niki is looking forward to growing and expanding her skills within the theatre industry
Orlando