Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1982 - 12

Composition extends to color as
well. "In Knock Knock I tried to keep
everything ort of a nut brown color so
that the actors would stand out from the
scenery at least in color value if not in
complication of detail."

Gimmicks
Beatty tries to find some touch or
gimmick for every show. But he does
not necessarily mean a mechanical contraption or sight gag. Beatty seems to
define gimmick as a point of view, or the
visual concept that holds the design together. The more obvious examples are
the aforementioned perspective tricks
in Talley's Folly and The Tot Family or
the elaborate clutter of Knock Knock
that included Joan of Arc rising to
heaven amidst collapsing walls or the
enormous sliding doors of A Tale Told
or the sliding curtains of Ashes. More
often it is a surprise that thwarts the audience's expectations. "The more simple a gimmick is, the more I like it," he
says. "Like A liJe in the Theatre-the
simplicity of the gimmick of an upstage
curtain rising and there being the theatre
in reverse. Also, the dressing tables were
on wheels with long sticks to a pivot that
was just bolted onto the Ooor-the actors simply pushed the tables to different
positions. I thought that was great!"
For eil Simon's Fools the "gimmick"
was simply creating the atmosphere of
"old-fashioned, phony theatre." Beatty decided the set for the farce should
convey the feeling of a Russian regional
theatre-there was an inner proscenium,
footlights, painted backdrops, and trees
made of chenille bedspreads, pipe cleaners and raffia trivets. The Curse oj an
Aching Hearl used two revolving stages
and included a trolley that circled the entire set on an oval track. Almost every
Beatty show has some such device.
But here again the paradox emerges.
Despite his love of crudity he will use
real objects rather than "props that look
like Styrofoam covered with Celastic."
At the same time he prefers the more
simple gimmicks to technically sophisticated ones. The collapsing walls of
Knock Knock were achieved through
simple spring hinges. "[ like the gimmick that the audience can understand," he explains, "the cleaner and
more obvious, the better. I don't like
complicated junk and I'm not fond of
scrims-I don't like that sort of wishy-

10

The 5th oj Jllly, Act I

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October 22,
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December 8,
January,
February 9,
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August 28,
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AprilS,
April II,
April 16,
April 18,
May 9,
May 15,
lay 20,
June 20,
July,
ovember 3,
ovember 19,
August 29,
January I,
January 27,
February 14,
February 23,
March 24,
AprilS,
April 25,
May 3,
May 4,
May 9,
May 18,
June 19,

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The Innocents / Sets / Morosco Theatre
The Bed Before Yesterday / Sets / Wilmington Playhouse
A Tribute to Lily Lamont / Sets / Circle Repertory
Ashes / Sets / Manhattan Theatre Club
A Month in the Country / Sets / Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park
Ashes / Sets / ew York Shakespeare Festival
Heartbreak House / Sets / Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park
Irma La Douce / Sets / Los Angeles Civic Light Opera
Hit the Deck / Sets / Goodspeed Opera House
Sherlock Holmes / Sets / Williamstown Theatre
Tobacco Road / Sets / Academy Festival Theatre, Lake Forest, Ill.
Red-Bluegrass Western Flyer Show / Sets / Goodspeed Opera House
Old Times / Sets / Academy Festival Theatre, Lake Forest, Ill.
A Life in the Theatre / Sets / Theatre De Lys
Out of Our Father's House / Sets / Theatre of Riverside Church
Ulysses in Traction / Sets / Circle Repertory
The Water Engine / Sets / ew York Shakespeare Festival Cabaret
The Middle Ages / Sets / Hartman Theatre Company
A Streetcar amed Desire / Sets / Arena Stage
Lulu / Sets / Circle Repertory
The Water Engine / Sets / Plymouth Theatre
The House of Bernarda Alba / Sets / Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park
Catsplay / Sets / Manhattan Theatre Club
Tip Toes / Sets / Goodspeed Opera House
Duck Variations / Sets / The Acting Company
The 5th of July / Sets / Circle Repertory
Ain't Misbehavin' / Sets / Longacre Theatre
Out of Our Father's House / Sets / The White House
Catsplay / Sets / Promenade Theatre
Whoopee! / Sets / Goodspeed Opera House
After the Season / Sets / Academy Festival Theatre, Lake Forest, Ill.
Out of Our Father's House (TV) / Sets / W ET "Great Performanc(
0 Time For Comedy / S & C / McCarter Theatre Co., Princeton,
The Rear Column / Sets / Manhattan Theatre Club
She Loves Me / Sets / Goodspeed Opera House
Serenading Louie / Sets / Academy Festival Theatre, Lake Forest, Ill.
Broadway / Sets / The Acting Company
Storeyville / Sets / Ford's Theatre
Whoopee! / Sets / A TA Theatre
Merton of the Movies / Sets / Milwaukee Repertory
Tip Toes / Sets / Brooklyn Academy of Music
The Faith Healer / Sets / Longacre Theatre
The Woods / Sets / ew York Shakespeare Festival
Talley's Folly / Sets / Circle Repertory
Poet and the Rent / Sets / Circle Repertory
Curse of an Aching Heart / Sets / St. icholas Theatre, Chicago
Lone Canoe / Sets / Goodman Theatre, Chicago
The Five O'Clock Girl/Sets / Goodspeed Opera House
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1982
