Summerhall to host V&A Theatre Design exhibition
Transformation and Revelation: Gormley to Gaga comes to Edinburgh
Chris Oram’s set and costume design for Glyndebourne’s Billy Budd May 2010 Photo: © Alastair Muir
By Thom Dibdin
An exhibition of theatre design curated by the V&A is touring to Edinburgh’s Summerhall in December.
Transformation and Revelation: Gormley to Gaga includes designs for productions as diverse as War Horse and Lady Gaga’s Monster Ball world tour. It explores the theme of transformation, using contemporary designs for performance from over 30 leading British theatre designers.
According to Summerhall: “The selected works on show will range from costumes for live opera and drama to video projections for stadium music concerts – and will illustrate how each designer looks for new ways to transform space, light, sound and body for the stage.”
The exhibition features drawings, photographs, scale models and costumes, as well as sound, lighting and multimedia installations. These are used to present the distinct personal vision and inspiration of each of the designers.
Each display case will give a behind- the-scenes insight into the creative processes of each designer – from initial idea, early sketches and models to the final creation for live performance.
Highlights featured in the display will include:
- models of Es Devlin’s creations for Lady Gaga’s original Monster Ball World Tour (2009-2010);
- Rae Smith’s original drawings for the digital projections in the National Theatre’s West End production of War Horse (2007);
- Antony Gormley’s preparatory sketches for the dance work Sutra produced by Sadler’s Wells (2008);
- a scale model of Ralph Koltai’s theatre designs for An English Tragedy (2008);
- photographs and work by internationally recognised designers Marie-Jeanne Lecca, Bob Crowley, Richard Hudson and Paul Brown;
- work by emerging British talents such as Hyemi Shin, overall winner of the Linbury Biennial Prize for Stage Design (2011).
Transformation and Revelation: Gormley to Gaga is at Summerhall, the former Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies from December 15 2012 till February 22 2013, 11am – 6pm daily, entry free.
Es Devlin’s design for Lady Gaga’s original Monsterball Tour which ran 2009- 2010. Gaga later updated the concept of her tour and brought in designer Roy Bennett. Image © Es Devlin
ENDS
