ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. My first and sincere appreciation goes to Diana Cupşa, my academic

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3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My first and sincere appreciation goes to Diana Cupşa, my academic advisor, for all I have learned from her and for her continuous help and support in all stages of this thesis. I had been amazingly fortunate to have an advisor who gave me the freedom to explore on my own and taught me how to question thoughts and express ideas. My deepest gratitude to her and Martin Sachs for accepting me into the Program and offering me the chance to have a truly unforgettable American experience. I would also like to thank Jessica Podewell, the director of the play for being an open person to ideas, and for encouraging and helping me to shape my design concepts. I would like to thank and show my respect to Kirche Zeile who s advice and insight was invaluable to me, has been always there to listen and give advice. I am deeply grateful to Vlad Ghinea, Derek Blanco, the light designer of the show and David Raphel for the long discussions that helped me sort out the technical details of my work. Though only my name appears on the cover of this thesis, many people have contributed to this production. I owe my gratitude to all those people who have made this performance possible. I would like to acknowledge: Mihai Plaiasu, Rick Reeves, Bianca, Duncan, Cassandra Paine, Jacki Armit, Marty Aikens, Tricia Anderson, Georj Jonson and many others. Finally, I appreciate the support of everybody from the staff of Tulane Schools of Liberal Arts and my colleagues. I greatly value their friendship and I deeply appreciate their belief in me. i

4 TABLE OF CONTENTS: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS....i TABLE OF CONTENTS.... ii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS...iii A. Visual research... iv B. Concept images....v INTRODUCTION... 1 CHAPTERS 1. BACKGROUND RESEARCH Samuel Beckett, the author Waiting for Godot- the play WAITING FOR GODOT- SET DESIGN The creative process- visual inspiration and concept The creative process- the set WAITING FOR GODOT - COSTUME DESIGN Research and inspiration The characters..39 CLOSING REMARKS 48 APPENDIX.. 50 BIBLIOGRAPHY..58 ii

5 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS A. Visual Research Picture 1 Ralph Steadman collage Picture 2 Ralph Steadman Picture 3 Egon Schiele: Four Trees and Houses on the Moldau Krumau Picture 4 Chiharu Shiota Memory of skin Picture 5 Images from the abandoned coal mine, Julia from Walbrzych, Polandchains, cages Picture 6 Doris Salcedo s installation for Instanbul Bienniale, 2003 and Tadashi Kawamata s chair installation Human Nests Picture 7 Chiharu Shiota : Einsame Zelle, Picture 8 Laurel and Hardy and scene from the movie, La Strada Picture 9 John Galliano men fashion, Picture 10 Alexander McQueen men fashion, Picture 11 Images from the film, Grey Gardens- Little Edie iii

6 B. Concept images Img 1 Set design sketch with the moon Img 2 Act II - the scene when Pozzo and Lucky fall Img 3 The tree in the set design model and on stage during the show Img 4 Sketch for the tree and image with the building of the tree s structure Img 5 The model for the set Img 6 Building the mound of objects (steps) and painting the floor and the tree Img 7 Building the structure for the objects Img 8 Vladimir and Estragon, wearing the costumes on set Img 9 Costume sketch for Vladimir and costume sketch for Estragon Img 10 Costume sketches for Pozzo Img 11 Pozzo wearing his costume on stage Img 12 Sketch for Lucky s costume and Lucky wearing the costume on stage iv

7 INTRODUCTION The purpose of this thesis is to provide written documentation of the procedural and artistic approaches a designer takes during the development and realization of scenic and costume design. This introduction provides information concerning Tulane University s production of Waiting for Godot written by Samuel Beckett and directed by Jessica Podewell. For this performance, as both scenic and costume designer I followed established principles of the design process. The steps of this process include literary analysis, historical, visual and conceptual research. The members of the production team of Waiting for Godot are: Vlad Ghinea as the technical director, Derek Blanco as light designer, George Johnson props master and Marty Aikens, who was in charge with the sound and with the help of Rick Reeves and Martin Sachs for projections. The show opened on 12th of November 2013 and was presented in the Lupin Theatre. The first chapter of this thesis examines the historical and conceptual research involved in the development of the scenic design. The first section deals with selected biographical details of Samuel Beckett s life, while the second and the third sections offer important insight into the play s literary concepts and deals with aspects concerning the script. All of these elements provided the foundation for the scenic and costume design. 1

8 For the final chapter, I kept the details regarding the development and implementation of the actual design. All the important concepts, personal choices, sketches, solutions and general thoughts are documented and explained. The chapter will expose many of my revised choices, as a result of collaborative meetings, discussions and a few production limitations that I ve made throughout the production process. 2

9 1. BACKGROUND RESEARCH Before building a final concept for a design, it is imperative to have an understanding of the historical background and the social and political environment of both the author and the play. Conceptual research includes specific decision-making after careful consideration of an analysis of the script, a good understanding of the director s ideas and his personal views on the future production. Samuel Beckett, the author Samuel Beckett was an Irish born avant-garde dramatist, theatre director and one of the most influential novelists of the 20 th century. He wrote in both French and English and was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in He is considered one of the last Modernists. The dramatist was born in 1906 into a fairly flourishing protestant family from Dublin. As a child, he attended Portora Royal School in Enniskillen and later studied French and Italian at Trinity College in his home town. He had a very good relationship with his father, who was a quantity surveyor, and suffered badly at the time of his death in Unfortunately, his relationship with his mother was much different and somewhat abusive which obviously made a significant mark on his development as an adult. 3

10 He lived in France and London. During his long stay in London, from 1930 to 1937, in order to seek an explanation for his depression and other psychosomatic problems he undertook a course of psychotherapy. Through the classes, he discovered a lecture of Jung's which directly influenced his ulterior work. Jung s ideas about the collective unconscious and human psychology inspired him, especially, in works like Watt, Waiting for Godot and All that fall, where Jung s archetypal figures are present. After this period and during the Second World War, Beckett moved to France. During the war, he worked as a courier for the French Resistance. After almost being caught by the Gestapo, in August 1942 he decided to move to south of France and fled on foot to the small village of Roussillon, in the Vaucluse department, in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'azur. There he continued to assist the Resistance by storing armaments in the back yard of his home. Besides the undeniable influences arising from many life experiences and the relationship with his family, Becket was also affected by the economic and social transformations caused by the Second World War. The psychosocial effects of the war, like the loss of faith in humanity and the near future, the poverty, the fear and disorientation of the people clearly determined his tendency towards pessimism and a new perception of life. The effects lingered on for years afterwards as people around the world struggled to recover from the deadliest time in human history. His work cannot be understood without considering the impact of such a traumatic event which made him question the idea of life and death, the purpose of the man in society and his own existence. 4

11 The overnight success of the first production of the Waiting for Godot brought Beckett international recognition. With this new life as a famous dramatist, he spent a considerable amount of time in theatre, radio and television and decided to focus his attention to writing short prose and dramatic works. During this time, Beckett wrote innovative shorter plays like Krapp's Last Tape, All That Fall and Happy days where, for the first time, he gave the main part to a female character - a suburban wife. Before his success, he wrote poetry and occasionally was involved in journalism. His first main literary achievements were: Murphy in 1938, Watt in 1945 and the trilogy Molloy, Malone dies and The Unnamable written between His later works embody a complex mix of self-reflection, self-parody and self-quotation, but kept exploring the same problems which had preoccupied his early and middle life. The majority of his writings is a manifest against the prescriptive and the limiting nature of realist conventions in art and human behavior. Inspired by Jung's analyses on psychology and willing to be set apart from the realist writers, Beckett tried to seek a new location for the human psyche and present the idea of self- esteem from the point of view of someone who s adapting to capitalism. The main purpose for his life and work was to build a personal critique of a culture of dictatorship and the overwhelming capture of false values. For this reason, his work appears to overcome all the attempts to be categorized or assimilated it into traditions and breaks the boundaries of one singular genre. He brilliantly combines concepts taken from Existentialism, Modernism or the Absurdist movement into versatile works. Despite many believes that his plays 5

12 are unsuitable for this new century, Beckett is still worldwide studied. His plays are still performed on stage, film and TV and continue to be acclaimed with equal fascination and dedication as in the past. Waiting for Godot- the play Waiting for Godot, is one of the four plays that placed Beckett in the center of the Theatre of Absurd: Waiting for Godot ( ), Endgame ( ), Krapp's Last Tape (1958) and Happy Days (1961). The play, probably his most famous and made him very popular among theatre personalities of his time. Theatre of Absurd is a dramatic movement emerged between 1950 and The dramatic movement connects Beckett with very different writers like Edward Albee, Eugene Ionescu, Harold Pinter, Jean Genet and Vaclav Havel. Their work expressed the belief that human existence has no meaning or purpose and, therefore, all communication breaks down. 1 Some characteristics of the literary works are: horrific or tragic images, the characters caught in hopeless situations forced to do repetitive or meaningless actions, the dialogue is full of clichés, wordplay, and nonsense, plots that are cyclical or absurdly expansive, either a parody or dismissal of realism. The Absurd takes the form of man s reaction to a world apparently without meaning, and/or man as a puppet controlled or menaced by invisible outside forces. 1 The Hutchinson Encyclopedia, Millennium Edition, Helicon

13 Waiting for Godot first opened as En attendant Godot at a small theatre venue in Paris, the Théâtre de Babylone, on January 5, This first performance of the play, built on a small budget, received good reviews at the time. The director was Roger Blin who also played the part of Pozzo. The performance had a significant contribution on the future of the theatre and Becket s wish to break through the boundaries of realist theatre came true. This first show challenged and defeated a century of literal naturalism where a room was only considered a room presented in full detail with the fourth wall removed. Beckett provided an empty stage, a tree and two figures who waited and left the rest to people s imagination. The stage was more than a physical space was turned into an image of life passing in hope, despair, companionship and loneliness. Since Waiting for Godot, the stage became the place of fantasy and theatre returned to its metaphorical roots. 2 Ever since that day of the premiere, the play became one of the most important and best known dramatic works of the 20th century and had been performed countless times the world over. 1. Motifs, themes and dramatic concepts The play has a very simple plot: two men waiting for something or someone named Godot somewhere in an unspecified place. Beckett does not tell us who Godot is or if he will ever arrive. The writer leaves everything open to interpretation by not giving too many details about the space, the time of the 2 7

14 action, or about his characters. It has five characters: Estragon and Vladimir, the two men involved in the crazy game of waiting, their eventual friends, Pozzo and Lucky, and the boy, who is the only connection with Godot. Probably, one can say that, even Godot is a character through his absence. As a paradox, he is present all the time by coordinating and dictating the life of others through his absence and possible occurrence. Vladimir and Estragon, the two tramps, are usually described, are reminiscent of Chaplin and the American vaudeville comedy team. A very confusing element in this play is time, which is directly related with the act of waiting. Here, time illustrates immobility and the impossibility of change and moving forward. During the action a few minor changes happen: the tree grows leaves, one of the characters, Pozzo, goes blind and the abrupt fall of the night. Time draws a circle because the waiting never ends but mysteriously starts up again each day. Every day is the return to the beginning like in a blacked-out universe. Nobody knows anything about time; it might not even exist. We are not dealing with human natural time - it is a psychological time in a bizarre universe, almost surreal. Time in Waiting for Godot is not a dimension is more a subjective perception of each character. Didi and Gogo are caught up in a time that passes so slow that Estragon cannot remember anything from the previous days. All the recent moments are turning into a dead past, and he loses any sense of change. His memory is completely disintegrated, as if he is getting closer to timelessness where the past fuses with the future into an infinite present. Vladimir is still somewhat orientated in time, still remembering the past as the past. In contrast 8

15 to Estragon, there is Pozzo, his existence is controlled by "natural" time. However, as soon as he comes into contact with Vladimir and Estragon, his linearity disintegrates. In Act II, Pozzo goes blind losing his orientation in time and space. The tragedy of Beckett's man is that he is trapped in one single moment in time, the waiting and the recurrence of events constructs the disillusion and disorientation. Time takes hold of them and becomes their "worst enemy" as Camus would say. The idea of time is only present by pieces of memories and opens up the static, eternal world of absurdity. Estragon and Vladimir, at the end of second act, have made no progression because time is an illusion; a disease, as Becket would call it, that feeds the individual the lie of progress while destroying them. A process of dying seems to take place within all four characters, mentally and physically. Many would identify certain political implications and for others the subject of religion seems to be the main theme of the play. The political perspective arises from that strange master and slave relationship between Pozzo and Lucky. Their relationship becomes a metaphor for political conflicts. Another theme emerges around the biblical references and religious symbols. The theme appears to take shape starting with the title, where the word Godot is, as some would argue, a name for god or a supreme power, and continuing with the inclusion of the story of the two thieves. Another element is the solitary tree seen as a version for the biblical tree of life or as a symbol for the cross. All the biblical references are Beckett s way of satirize, ignore and dismiss 9

16 the idea of a divine power due to his obsessive absence but at the same time for his surveillant presence. Anthony Cronin, one of Beckett biographers, points out that Beckett introduced biblical references in his writings mainly in an ironic or sarcastic manner. The dramatist considered Christianity only as a form of mythology. 2. Existentialism in Waiting for Godot The Theatre of the Absurd is commonly associated with Existentialism. Existentialism is a philosophical term introduced by Fritz Heineman in 1929, used to describe the sum of all movements in philosophy dealing with the problem of human existence. Jean-Paul Sartre was the spokesman for Existentialism in Paris, but few absurdists committed to Sartre's philosophy, as expressed in Being and Nothingness. He mentions that the primary difference between the Theatre of the Absurd and Existentialism is that the absurdists show the failure of man without recommending a solution. 3 Existentialism invites the man to build a life through effort, to transcendence every moment of his present condition. The freedom of individual choice is an idea which concentrates the whole essence of the philosophy, as opposed to the belief that humans are controlled by divine forces and determined to act due to pre-existing omnipotent being. 3 Lamont. Ionesco's imperatives: the politics of culture, pg

17 Good is only an illusion. Evil is a Nothingness which arises upon the ruins of Good. 4 Existentialist advocate for a more active humanity not wasting precious time by depending on a salvation from outside or from someone who may or may not exists. All humans must break this habit and take matters into their own hands in order to bring meaning to life. The philosophers react against our tendency of hiding the fundamental truth that our existence is finite and is heading towards death. For instance, everyone is aware in a vague way that one eventually dies. But it is one thing to be aware that one dies, and it is another thing to realize that I personally am advancing towards my death from the first moment of my existence, to see this as a sign of my finitude and to realize vividly the problems concerning the significance and value of human hopes and ideals which arise out of finitude and its consequences 5 It talks about the fragility of the human being and the alienation of modern man: as humans we are constantly exposed to our own end, to our destruction as human beings because one does not exist as such but only by his own actions. Hence the feeling of anguish that accompanies our existence. In general, existentialism represents the reassertion of the free man against the collectivity or any tendency to depersonalization. Man can create himself depending on his freedom and on the chances he takes. As long as he lives, he cannot be identified with his past because he is capable of freely 4 Sartre. "Introduction to The Maids; and Deathwatch" The Maids; and Deathwatch, pg Coppleston, Contemporary philosophy, pg

18 transcending the weight of the past. In order for him to build a life, he must choose to engage in a relationship with his own destiny and the others around him. Man, therefore, is not alone. He exists in a society where he needs to make conscious choices every day always considering his relationship with society and how his acts might affect the people among him. A man s life is permanently exposed and for this reason he must act, he has to dare to put his life in the game of the present under the perpetual and inevitable judgment of others. He must, however, always preserve his individuality. In Waiting for Godot, Estragon and Vladimir have made the decision of waiting without someone s guidance, they made a choice despite the lack of certainty about Godot s arrival. Vladimir is not sure Godot would ever come, but every day he chooses to wait. The tragicomedy of this play illustrates how two men are waiting for someone they know almost nothing about. Samuel Beckett's primary focus was on the failure of man to overcome "absurdity"; as James Knowlson says in Damned to Fame, Beckett's work focuses "on poverty, failure, exile and loss as he put it, on man as a 'non-knower' and as a 'non-can-er'." 6 6 Knowlson. Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett, pg

19 3. Absurd in Waiting for Godot The theatre of the absurd is not about absurdity, but about making life meaningful given our absurd situation 7 Absurd is a concept that emphasizing the purposelessness and senselessness of life. The word absurd was originally used in a musical context and meant out of harmony but in everyday life is used in the sense of ridiculous. 8 In the case of the theatre, the word had a very different sense - more philosophical content. Martin Esslin 9, trying to formulate a definition, used a quote by Eugen Ionescu, one of the most emblematic writers of the absurdist movement, from his essay written on Kafka in 1957: Absurd is that which is devoid of purpose cut off from his religious, metaphysical and transcendental roots, man is lost; all his actions become senseless, absurd, useless. 10 The actual definition of absurd does not even matter for understanding the theatre of the absurd. What is important to mention, as Martin Esslin argues, is that : The absurd playwrights portray a purposeless absurd world. This absurd idea is conveyed in both the philosophy and the aesthetic of the plays. By not matching what happens on stage with what is being said, 7 Bennet, Reassessing the theatre of absurd, pg.4 8 Bennet, Reassessing the theatre of absurd, pg.5 9 Martin Julius Esslin - producer and playwright dramatist, journalist, adaptor and translator, critic, academic scholar and professor of drama best known for coining the term "Theatre of the Absurd" in his work of that name (1961). This book has been called "the most influential theatrical text of the 1960s. 10 Bennet, Reassessing the theatre of absurd, pg.5 13

20 the concept of incongruity forms the convention of the theatre of the absurd 11 Theatre of Absurd is a branch of the traditional assertions of existentialism. It states that human beings are incapable of finding purpose or meaning for their life due to some form of mental or philosophical limitation. For this reason, followers of this school of thought believe that humanity is sentenced to absolute absurdity of existence in lack of intrinsic purpose. In Waiting for Godot traces of the absurd can be identified in Estragon and Vladimir s attempt to put order into their lives by waiting for someone who never arrives. They continually sink into the same pointless situation reiterating one obsessive phrase "Nothing to be done." The relationships between Pozzo and Lucky go even deeper into the absurd dimension because they are tied to each other by a cord. Estragon and Vladimir are linked by an invisible bond while sometimes they hate each other, they cannot live without one another or otherwise they both would die of boredom and loneliness. Absurdity is a permanent conflict; it is a contradiction and a struggle. It can be faced only through struggling with it and disagreeing with it. Estragon and Vladimir contemplated the thought of committing suicide. However, none of Beckett's characters commit suicide or die in any way. They always find an excuse and fight the absurdity of the situation. By remaining on the same road it means to face it, committing suicide means to consent and accept the absurd condition; 11 Bennet, Reassessing the theatre of absurd, pg.6 14

21 it means to give in and search for a sense of life in another world. The absurd man misses any hopes, plans, and troubles about his future. The only way to paralyze absurdity is never to seek for explanations. Their endless waiting determines their eternal fate, is the work that can never be finished. Just as Sisyphus 12, there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor. Hopelessness turns into the torment of which they will never know the end. The moments of consciousness open up the world of the absurdity - the world of never-ending effort to go on, the world from which it is impossible to escape, the world of estrangement, loneliness and consistent endurance Sisyphus is a figure of Greek mythology who was condemned to repeat forever the same meaningless task of pushing a boulder up a mountain, only to see it roll down again

22 2. WAITING FOR GODOT- SET DESIGN I will start this chapter with a phrase from an interview included in the book, The theatre of the absurd, where was mentioned the production from 1957 of Waiting for Godot directed by Herbert Blau and presented at the San Quentin penitentiary. It was my very first source of inspiration from which many of my ideas started to take shape. a reporter from San Francisco Chronicle who was present noted that the convicts did not find it difficult to understand the play. One prisoner told him, Godot is society. Said another: He s the outside. A teacher at the prison was quoted saying, they know what is meant by waiting and they knew if Godot finally came, he would only be a disappointment. 14 These words were an inspiration for my interpretation of the play. They are a clear expression of hopelessness and the grief of the convicts. They became a metaphor for me, a reminder of those moments when we felt trapped in our search for answers and the impossibility to escape our fears and doubts. In my opinion, Beckett s protagonists are in a similar deadlock; they are not physically imprisoned but mentally, spiritually and psychologically, and they are waiting for a resolution. Through his several works, Beckett exposes the dangerously double meaning of enclosure for the human spirit. Didi and Gogo are only trapped because they still cling on a solution coming from outside, they are not completely free. 14 Esslin, The theatre of the absurd,introduction, pg.7 16

23 1. The creative process- visual inspiration and concept The tragicomedy in two acts has only one setting without any major transformations during the action. The author gives very few indications about the place; we only know that two men of unspecified origin are waiting on a country road next to a tree. Estragon, sometimes, might sit on a low mound or a stone. In the first act the tree is bare but in the second, a few leaves have appeared despite the script specifying that it is the next day. The minimal description of the space calls to mind what Beckett imagined being the set of the action: "the idea of the lieu vague referring to an undefined real location. Harold Blooms in his book, Modern critical interpretations, remembers Beckett s words about how he decided to write Waiting for Godot : When I was working on Watt I felt the need to create for a smaller space, one in which I had some control of where people stood or moved, above all of a certain light. I wrote Waiting for Godot 15 Ulterior finishing the scenery for the play, I found this quote, which confirmed my choice and my feeling for a small space that does not possess the characteristics of a particular time or space. The idea of lieu vague opens the way for a rich symbolism because Beckett's universe has no physical boundaries or a distinguished territory. 15 Bloom, Modern critical intrepretations - Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, pg 37 17

24 The stage Lupin Theatre The small space of the Lupin Theatre was the venue picked for this project. Not being the typical proscenium, the space gave many possibilities for the set design and was very suitable for what I intended to image for this performance of Waiting for Godot. After several attempts, endless questioning and research with the director, we decided for a less conventional location for the acting area and we went for a setup on a corner of the theatre stage. I felt that will be an appropriate layout for the future set especially for creating the right connections with the audience. My aim was to build a direct relation between the actors and the people watching them; sometimes even awkward and uncomfortable just to catch people s attention. The second reason for this site selection was the number of actors present on stage. Waiting for Godot is a show with a small number of characters and I thought a small space it would better so that the public can easily see the gestures and expressions of the actors and, at the same time, this helped with the creation of a strange and claustrophobic sensation. All the meetings with the director were very constructive, and it felt good to discover that we had similar ideas about the set, and I like the fact that the director wanted a space that seemed vast and barren, yet intimate, but with variety and levels. The environment was not supposed to be forgiving or easy to live in, but painful- some bitch of an earth, as Pozzo described the place in the first act of the play. It s hard, cracked and there is nothing useful in this world. 18

25 The goal was to realize a complete scenic image that was split in two areas: the main acting area - contains the mound of objects and the second area, the hanging overalls acting as a background. The link between them is the tree. The initial thought, working on the show, was to find a metaphor for the country road, and I came up with a sketch for a twisted bridge and a suspended tree, but deeper research I made the transition to a very simple and abstract concept - repetition. Considering the time and the budget for this production I decided to devise a solution fast and easy to build. I found the amazing art works of the Japanese contemporary artist, Chiharu Shiota and images of abandoned spaces, as the old coal mines which directed my ideas towards a form of set-installation for the performance. From the beginning I did not want to make a realistic scenery but one more conceptualized and open to interpretation. As Beckett said the set for this particular play should not be an imitation of reality, because everything is just a game, the game of living: When all four of them are lying on the ground, that cannot be handled naturalistically. That has got to be done artificially, balletically. Otherwise, everything becomes an imitation, an imitation of reality [...]. It should become clear and transparent, not dry. It is a game in order to survive. 16 Repetitiveness proved to be very a tender theme both visually and conceptually for the set, offering various means for creating the right setting for the actors and at the same time preventing me from falling into a naturalist approach for the space. This general concept was linked with other motifs like

26 nothingness, the void and the lack of void, hopelessness and profound uncertainty. When one opens the book and starts reading the very first words of the play are Estragon s: Nothing to be done. This is repeated several times and makes nothing an obsessive and disturbing chorus: There s nothing we can do and Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes. Even the very act of waiting becomes repetitive and cyclical, we all can see that Estragon keeps asking Vladimir if they can leave, only to receive the response that they are waiting for Godot, every day and every hour. Repetition is something very often present in life, is how we learn to live and it turns into a mechanical way of living, as Camus stated in this following quote: Rising, streetcar, four hours of work, meal, sleep, and Monday, Tuesday Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday according to the same rhythm-this path is easily followed most of the time. But one day the "why" arises and everything begins in that weariness tinged with amazement....weariness comes at the end of the acts of a mechanical life, but at the same time it inaugurates the impulse of consciousness. 17 We talk every day about boredom, about doing the same thing over and again, so many times, it goes to a point when it lacks purpose and meaning, hence the absurdity of modern existence. For the general atmosphere and chromatics I ve turned my attention to the fascinating universe of fine arts; more exactly to Egon Schiele s paintings 17 Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays, pg. 4 20

27 and the drawings of the British cartoonist, Ralph Steadman. The last one was suggested by my professor considering his works suitable for my design sketches. The earthy dull shades of Schiele s landscapes (Picture 3) were the starting point for choosing the colors for the set and the textures. The hanging overalls were painted in shades of dark blue-gray in contrast with the floor and objects, all covered in warm hues of dark ocher and brown - earthy colors. The objects and floor, which was painted to look like a very dry and cracked soil, have the same color, so they all looked merged in together and covered in dust, as if the mound has been there for a very long time and got stuck to the ground. The design sketches were a combination between Schiele s expressive painting techniques and Ralph Steadman's drawings. Steadman s art is intelligent but humorous and eye catching due to his dynamic lines and use of different techniques (Picture 1 and 2). The association of graphics, collage, clippings, words and journalistic messages covered in violent splashes of ink proved to be perfect for sketches as an aesthetic approach. Steadman works were a real inspiration for what I wanted to say with my sketches for this project. The bold and sarcastic drawings with social and politic messages in combination with a slightly dark atmosphere was what I needed for the set and costume renderings. To better express my vision about the characters and costumes, I used Steadman s caricature figures and Schiele portraits and tried to find a creative balance and then come up with something original for my own drawings. (Img.1) 21

28 Picture 1 Ralph Steadman collage Picture 2 Ralph Steadman 22

29 Picture 3 Egon Schiele: Four Trees and Houses on the Moldau Krumau Img 1 Set design sketch with the moon 23

30 The creative process: the set The scenery for this performance has three large elements, both based on the same design concept: the hanging overalls, mound of objects and the tree. For the background, we hung from the grid of the stage more than 60 blue overalls and instead of the road I created a strange pile of random objects, of different heights that covered a large area of the stage. In connection with the objects was the tree. The overalls background Stylistically the use of hanging clothing had a double role: first it completes the scenic picture emphasizing the space verticality and transforming the scenery into a surrealistic ambiguous image. If the pile of random objects had utility for the dramatic action and the actors movement, the overalls are more of an aesthetic element which completes the whole atmosphere of the show. Everything is open to interpretation according to every person understanding and feelings. The overalls and the strings could have been anything: for some of the viewers looked like dead bodies, someone identified everything with a weird looking forest, clouds or a prison. For others, it may have had a deeper meaning than for the rest. For me, each discarded overall is alive in a strange way because contains someone s memories, they are shadows, each one is a piece of the subconscious full of hidden thoughts. In the end, it was a ferric image, perfect for the scene when Gogo and Didi were talking about the act of thinking. Beckett s 24

31 characters fear and ultimately hate thinking because thoughts become objects of sadistic violence and destruction. Even if thinking is something terrible and devastating, it always helps them to pass the time faster. The idea of attaching the overalls to the grid came from the image of the abandoned coal mine, Julia from Poland (Picture 5). In that immensely forgotten space, we can see the work clothes of former miners hanging from the ceiling. Is a spectacular imagine with a very strong impact on the viewer, it hides a distinct and grotesque beauty. The pictures are very expressive giving the impression of a dream-created industrial labyrinth. On the other hand, the old dirty clothes, the chains, the cages shape a net of nightmares. Picture 4 Chiharu Shiota Memory of skin 25

32 Picture 5 Images from the abandoned coal mine, Julia from Walbrzych, Poland- chains, cages and clothing items hanging from the ceiling, 26

33 2. The mound of objects Estragon treats place and, indeed, space, as indistinguishable from things-in-themselves such as the mud, the muckheap and the worms, from which his has never stirred, his life being one long evacuation of waste : I ve puked my puke of a life away here, I tell you! Here! In the Cackon country he discourse consists, then, of violently evacuating Vladimir s conceptions of place and this in order to annihilate all sense of space 18 The pile of useless objects was an idea born after seeing the works of contemporary artists like Chiharu Shiota (Picture 4 and 7), Tadashi Kawamata 19 and Doris Salcedo 20 (Picture 6) which got me thinking immediately of Estragon s words: I ve puked my puke of a life away here, I tell you! Here! In the Cackon country. Chiharu Shiota s impressive oeuvre contains various art performances and installations, in which she uses everyday objects such as beds, windows, dresses, shoes and suitcases and explores the relationships between past and present, living and dying, and memories of people implanted into objects. With a similar approach is Doris Salcedo, who employs objects from the past, imbued with an important sense of history and through these modern memory sculptures, illustrates the flow of time. She joins the past and the present. 18 Bloom, Modern Critical intrepretaions - Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, pg Tadashi Kawamata is a Japanese artist, born in Hokkaido 20 Doris Salcedo is a Colombian-born sculptor. She completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Universidad de Bogotá, Jorge Tadeo Lozano in 1980, before traveling to New York, where she completed a Master of Fine Arts degree at New York University. 27

34 Picture 6 Doris Salcedo s installation for Instanbul Bienniale, 2003 and Tadashi Kawamata s chair installation Human Nests Picture 7 Chiharu Shiota : Einsame Zelle,

35 The objects are the final touch for painting this atmosphere of precariousness and uncertainty. The pile is placed apparently without any logic or purpose in order to configure an absurd space, the expression of an inner disoriented and untidy universe. The absurdity is revealed by the association of different elements not making any sense in a real environment. The paradox is the sensation of emptiness in a congested space- the lack of void. The acting area is not empty, it looks crowded, coated with objects of any type, but the void and feeling of loneliness are still very much present. I am talking about an internal void born from a fake exterior build only to give the illusion of life. The objects replaced the hypothetical country road and became a playground very useful for the characters while they were waiting. They are hiding, sleeping there, on and under the objects. The different levels create spaces in the scenic area where they can crawl, climb, run. The mount could represent all those material possessions that the man allows, from time to time, to take over his everyday life. All the unimportant things gathered during a lifetime that are becoming a hard burden and left behind to feel truly free. All these broken objects, pieces of furniture, scraps that looked glued together and turned into a static organism are increasing the sensation of imprisonment, physical and spiritual. The mound represents the impossibility of change, impossibility which is more of self-deceit of the fear of change and moving forward into the future- they do not move. The objects were totally common, were chosen after a functional criteria rather aesthetic. By choosing new, old or very old items I ve created a link 29

36 through time. I used from old suitcases and wooden crates, to window frames and tin cans. The wood boxes, drawers and a vintage TV set became steps for the actors to walk on. An old door has become a bridge connecting the mound with one of the exits from backstage. I did not use a large number of objects being afraid of overstocking the space. Small objects were used as set dressing and props and large objects like the table, bags, tires and pieces of furniture had a structural role. For example, the burlap bags were used for the scene, in Act II, when all the characters fell on the stage because of Pozzo, who is blind now. (Img.1) Img 2 Act II - the scene when Pozzo and Lucky fall. 30

37 2. The Tree The tree is described in the text as being almost dead, and Gogo and Didi find it absolutely useless. This weird looking tree is their point of reference: the tree is a sign and tells them where they are; if they moved or not and helps to track the time. It is the only element on the stage that is changing by miraculously growing leaves. Nobody understands how the leaves just grew overnight in the dead tree. For making the change on stage, I thought will good to use fake plastic leaves tied with strings from the branches. The fake leaves will make the change look like a joke, as if someone put the leaves there only to confuse those two men. The oddly shaped tree is broken and seems unstable, almost to the point of collapse that makes it worthless to the two tramps and impossible to hang themselves from its branches. For me, the tree is part of the same spectacular and surreal environment. I chose the color red (Img.3) to differentiate the tree from the rest of the set. The strong, thick texture of the torso reminiscent of burnt trees, hence the option for a dark red hue. It is an old tree with cracks and holes. It does not look real and is not supposed to, has mystery and the force to become alive when least expected. The branches give the impression of a hand, looks like an arm piercing through the stack of objects and the dry hard soil.(img 4 and 5) 31

38 Img 3 The tree in the set design model and on stage during the show 5. Building the set Since I wanted the set to look like an art installation 21 my presence in the scene shop during the building process was required. Almost everything in the set was improvised and very little construction was necessary. The biggest challenge was finding plenty suitable objects to create the most appropriate shape for the mound, aesthetically and technically. The group of objects was constantly modified during and after the rehearsals in order to have the right height and to be safe for the actors to step on and walk on easily. All the objects were found in storages, borrowed or reused from previous productions, and they were very little 21 Installation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often sitespecific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however, the boundaries between these terms overlap. In Art and Object hood, Michael Fried derisively labels art that acknowledges the viewer as theatrical. There is a strong parallel between installation and theater.( 32

39 changed. The mound was built on a sturdy structure so that all the objects would stay in the right place. (Img 6 and 7) In the end, the set was a good compromised between a form of installation art and theatre set. Even for the tree, which was built from scratch, we ve used real branches taken from a completely cut tree that we found on the street. The idea of relying on improvisation was another good exercise and a form of sustainable design, 22 due to the small budget and a short time for building both costumes and set. Sustainable design is a new movement embraced by technology, architecture and design, including theatre. It pleads for designing new kind of built environment, one that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. 23 Devising a performance that fits the concept of sustainability has both economic and aesthetic implications and contributes to the reduction of costs, energy consumption and resources, is an eco-friendly solution that encourages the reuse of objects through innovation. From the aesthetic point of view can be an artistic compromise but at the same time offers a creative freedom by discovering new possibilities working with old materials. The purpose is to arrive at new results by reinventing old items; to configure a totally new artistic vision. 22 Sustainable (green) design is a course component in most architectural or interior design schools. It is geared at reducing negative environmental impacts while maximizing on the social and economic benefits. This is done by using environmentally friendly materials. 23 World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987, pg

40 Img 4 Sketch for the tree and image with the building of the tree s structure. Img 5 The model for the set 34

41 Img 6 Building the mound of objects (steps) and painting the floor and the tree Img 7 Building the structure for the objects 35

42 3. WAITING FOR GODOT- COSTUME DESIGN Designing the costume for this show was not an easy task for me. It is always difficult because I need to understand each character s personality and psychology before designing a costume. I try to discover what makes each person unique, why is he/she different from all the others in the play and what do they have in common and then translate everything into an image, into a costume. For this production of Waiting for Godot, the costumes were not built allowing me to put together new and vintage garments from different historical periods. Since we do not have any information about when and where the action takes place, this association of different styles became an overall concept for the design. Each costume became a puzzle and with every fitting I discovered which clothing element worked better for the character. Modern and vintage items composed each costume, carefully picked so that the costume would not be placed in certain stylistic period. Every new or bought item was modified. For example, the costume shop helped me paint and distress Estragon s costume and apply details to Pozzo s overcoat. If the set was designed to send the idea of vague location, the costumes were meant to give the idea of timelessness. The colors picked for the costumes were in a contrast with the set. For the set, I went with cold darker colors, several hues and shades of grey and less vibrant and for the costumes, the colors were more powerful and saturated. The play is a comedy, and I thought will be appropriate to use more vivid and joyful colors and 36

43 patterns for the clothes. The range of colors spreads from shades of ochre yellow and orange to dark green with only one exception, and that is Pozzo s costumes. The chromatic was inspired by the autumn colored tree leaves. 1. Research and inspiration Samuel Beckett s characters are representative images of ordinary people, so the basic idea was to design clothes not costumes. As a research, I looked for pictures of common people, starting from homeless people, photographs of vintage street fashion to fashion designers (Picture 9 and 10) and cinema. I wanted the people from the audience to fully identify and easily relate with these characters and, therefore, the costumes were not supposed to look very stylized or eccentric. The cast included both men and women. At first seemed like an issue but it became a statement in itself: all the people in this particular play are not special, they are just like any other regular person we meet every day. Everybody watching the performance can find themselves within these characters regardless of gender or even historical epoch. Gender does not matter in this world ruled by absurdity, as the director argued. There is no real difference between men and women. Sexuality does not exist between any of these characters. Any person who watches the show shares the same existential problems, dilemmas, frustrations or moments of joy. 37

44 Very helpful were all the clear details given by the director regarding her view on the characters and what she wanted and needed for the actors. She gave me few directions to search for early film comedians as Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin and movies like Fellini s La Strada (Picture 8) or the documentary Grey Gardens, which was a great source of inspiration. All documentation was very useful with a rich visual content that help me understand much better the director s take on the performance. Picture 8 Laurel and Hardy and scene from the movie, La Strada Picture 9 John Galliano men fashion,

45 Picture 10 Alexander McQueen men fashion, The Characters The pairing is not unique to Waiting for Godot ; it is a favorite device of contemporary playwrights. The pupil and the professor in The lesson, Claire and Solange in The Maids, Peter and Jerry in the Zoo Story : these are all the same species as Waiting for Godot. What might these duets mean or be? Each of them suggest a precarious existence, of sense of self and self in-the world so dependent of the other as to be inextricably bound up in the other s physical presence. In these plays experience is not had by a single character, but shared between them. It is not a question of fulfillment of why Romeo wants Juliet but of existence 24 The characters of Waiting for Godot are defined in reference with their partners, probably because not one of them can exist by himself. It is vital for the characters to stay together in order to endure an absurd existence and move forward into the future. This is how the human nature could also be explained. 24 Bloom, Modern Critical intrepretaions - Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godo, pg 7 39

46 As a pair, their personalities and individuality are put in a new perspective, and we can better understand each psychology. Vladimir and Estragon/ Didi and Gogo Estragon and Vladimir are outcasts of society, all alone in the middle of nowhere. Beckett offers very little details about them: we only know that Vladimir has problems with the prostate, and Estragon has a problem with his boots and gets beaten every day. We do not know nothing about their past or how they met and when, and most important, the reason of their waiting but is clear that they need each other. Vladimir never expresses hope that Godot will ever arrive but does express his hope by referring to Estragon and Estragon has someone, in Vladimir, who waits for him every morning after he is beaten. Their friendship emerges out of nothingness and despair and they both know that on their own would never make it: Estragon would forget every joy that has transpired. Vladimir would dwell on every misfortune. 25 Estragon is the irrational one and Vladimir, the rational contemplative persona. Estragon is the mundane character of the two while Vladimir is the intellectual character. Estragon s name has a double connotation: first his name derives from the herb named tarragon and second estragon is a cognate of estrogen- the 25 Bennet, Reassessing the theatre of absurd, pg

47 female hormone 26. The second version explains his irrational moods, his sensitivity and makes him, somehow, the feminine side of Vladimir. Estragon is clumsy, careless, pessimistic and disappointed all the time. Nothing fits him right, boots or clothing. He looks as he puts on any type of clothing he finds or borrows from someone without caring how would look on him. He wears a very large pair of pants that looks like pajamas, tied with an old piece of rope. Has a long brown vest which is too large for him and always bothers him. He refuses to wear socks. Sometimes his misery and constantly complaining about everything makes him the funniest character of the play. His continuous struggle with the boot becomes a parable that raises an ethical dilemma: why hope if you have no idea what you are hoping for, will bring you any relief? 27 Many times it seems that the boot, too small or too big for him, that never fits him, is a symbol for his disappointment, his lack of trust in the near future because the removal of the boot solved nothing. This pointless victory makes the time of waiting almost worthless because the result may be as disappointed as the removal of the boot. Vladimir is the one who never gives up hope, and he still cares despite his obvious fate, always finding a reason to stay and wait. This attitude is reflected by his costume too and opposite to Gogo, he does not neglect his appearance. His costume is a combination of old and modern pieces of clothing from different styles. He wears a modern jacket with pockets where he keeps Estragon s carrots, 26 Bloom, Modern Critical intrepretaions - Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godo, pg Bennet, Reassessing the theatre of absurd,pg.23 41

48 and a 1700 inspired pair of pants over long thick dark green hose and gloves in two different colors. Using layers for their costumes was not to make them look like homeless people living in the gutter but to be constant with the motif of the set. The layers make them appear more comical, more disoriented. All the garments gathered, modern or vintage, have stories and a past. Gogo and Didi are wearing those stories. Their clothes must give the impression of souvenirs given by each person encountered on their way to this strange place. Img 8 Vladimir and Estragon, wearing the costumes on set 42

49 Img 9 Costume sketch for Vladimir and costume sketch for Estragon Lucky and Pozzo The next pair of characters is even more intriguing than Gogo and Didi because their relationship is absolutely out of the ordinary. It is still a mystery what Beckett intended to say with the presences of these tw0. If Gogo and Didi were symbols for the common people, Lucky and Pozzo are clearly born from abstract concepts. I do not believe that they should be viewed and understood as simple human beings because is something strange about their behavior and their relationship. Pozzo has this meaningless relationship with Lucky, which dehumanizes both of them. They take the dramatic action to another level of 43

50 absurdity. They give the impression they arrived from a parallel universe or maybe they are not real, maybe is just Vladimir or Gogo s imagination. Lucky is the shadow that serves as the polar opposite of the egocentric Pozzo, who is the prototype of prosperous mediocrity. Pozzo is Beckett s version of a controlling person who enjoys persecuting his subordinates, is his image for the oppression. The relationship between Pozzo and Lucky is very disturbing. It is an obnoxious and dependent relationship which had lead to the play being interpreted as a political allegory. Pozzo s costume is very different from all the others. He is all dress up and fancy, making him look hilarious. I chose an elegant suit in a powerful color being inspired by the dandy look because Pozzo treats everybody with superiority, is arrogant and in search of attention. Over the dark purple suit, he wears a heavy coat with a fur collar and stylish scarf which strengthen his presence on stage and fits his attitude. When he enters he wears sunglasses and a white hat, that doesn t go with the ensemble making him look ridiculous and exaggerated. His character will go through a drastic change in the second act because he goes blind, and the sunglasses will have a new role hiding his eyes. At this moment, the clothes are less important. He falls on the ground, crawls on stage and ruins his costume, his shoe. From the stylish dandy look, he becomes the image of the fallen man, less confident and without any control over his own person or others. 44

51 Img 10 Costume sketches for Pozzo Img 11 Pozzo wearing his costume on stage 45

52 Lucky is an amazing character, wrapped in mystery; I could say is a work of art and was very hard to find something appropriate. A real contribution had the director who suggested me to watch the film, Grey Gardens. In the documentary, the main character, Little Edie (Picture 11) is creating he own clothes from all sort of things: she uses towels as hats, bathing suits for scarves, jackets as skirts and safety pins her ensemble together in style. Little Edie was the starting point for Lucky s costume. Lucky wears the clothes of a former butler under the rain coat. Next to the beautiful and elegant pieces of clothing he builds his own accessories: leg and arm warmers, he improvised something to protect his knees and elbows from all the falling and crawling when has to entertain his master. He carries around his whole life, and he is, also, in charge with all Pozzo s belongings being forced to find solutions all the time to make his life easier. He is a very odd presence on stage and exhausting to watch, contradictory and fascinating. To enhance the contrast with Pozzo, I went for the bright yellow color of the raincoat. Lucky s character lies on the border of human and inhuman. He can transform himself into whatever Pozzo desires. For this reason, his outfit was a difficult challenge. Lucky alters his personality in a second: once he is Pozzo's pet, the next second becomes a silent and obedient butler, or a form of amusement for Pozzo. In his costume, I tried to include something that could express all these transformations. Therefore, his hat. to make him look like an intellectual, when the time came to think for Pozzo or the bright accents of color and sewn pieces of fabric on his clothes to make him look like a clown. 46

53 Picture 11 Images from the film, Grey Gardens - Little Edie Img 12 Sketch for Lucky s costume and Lucky wearing the costume on stage 47

54 CLOSING REMARKS Designing the set and the costume for this production of Waiting for Godot was a challenge for me since the play had a significant impact on me, at a personal and emotional level. It was hard for me to detach and have an objective perspective on the play, but I tried my best. As a designer, you have to discover all the meaning behind the words, all the abstract ideas and the symbols and then translate everything into a visual form. From the first moment, I felt that the play is an expression for the present situation of the western man dealing with this new confusing century. Many argue that the play is old and not suitable for the contemporary audience. In my personal opinion, for this overwhelmed society by new media technologies where human relations change extremely fast the subject of the play still, seems, to be appropriate for the modern theatre world. In the above lines, I ve presented my personal feelings and visual approach for the play. While reading Waiting for Godot I found myself identifying with the two main characters, and now, I feel that the set is more an expression of my own dilemmas about existence and the search for something better. Beckett, in a pure fashion as possible, brilliantly using the resources of theatre and language, forces us to face the fact of our precarious existence, in which we wait for night to fall, in which we wonder if anyone is watching, in which we resignedly keep an one-sided appointment, in which all the big questions cannot be answered. The feeling of precariousness stems from Beckett s persistent presentation of balances and antitheses, not only in his characterization and in his stage activity, where nothing happens leads to much happening, but in this 48

55 perplexing use of conventional dichotomies, like day and night, awake and sleeping, sight and blindness, saved and damned, speech and dumbness, birth and death, Cain and Abel, and more Beckett is pushing doubt and ambiguity; he is dramatizing the perhaps of our lives, the question mark of our existence, an existence that contains much mundane comedy-those comic routines of ordinary daily life - but that also taps deep sources of anguish and frustration. By showing us man at the boundary situation, confused about the place and time, unsure of his relationship with whatever the large force is that controls our lives, if any, and facing darkness with fear and with questions and with some sense of commitment, Beckett in Waiting for Godot is evoking the kind of pleasure we derive from Oedipus Rex and Hamlet, and King Lear and Phaedra and The Three Sisters and The iceman cometh. He forces us to take a closer step to Didi and Gogo because their condition is our condition Bloom, Modern Critical intrepretaions - Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, Pg

56 APPENDIX WAITING FOR GODOT- SKETCHES AND DRAFTING 50

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