Designing sets with pieces to be engineered to move and store is a particular challenge, namely: How to make the changes part of the story-telling. Noises Off! is as known for its turntable as its humor, so PJ Paparelli (Artistic Director at the time) asked me to figure out how to stage it in the thrust space at Perseverance. In the same thrust space, the full a vista set changes in Seminar and The Importance of Being Earnest were surprising fun. The full change between Riders to the Sea and The Dinner Engagement, done behind curtain over intermission, was a desert sweet after a hearty Irish stew. Michael Stevenson’s staging thescene changes in Of Mice and Men on that end-stage space gave us moments to see the physical labor that consumed Stienbeck’s characters lives. The sliding panels in The Man From Nebraska felt like shutter clicks opening up for the protagonist’s journey of self-discovery. Those moments are most effective when we stay in the narrative completely.
Noises Off! directed by Keith Baxter at Perseverance Theatre