Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1982 - 8

design in a production. "If you make
something too perfect," he explains, "it
can intimidate the performance, it can
intimidate the audience. It's hard to
play against and it's boring to look at."
He does not expect the audience to notice all of the details-he imply wants
to keep it interesting-"so your eye
doesn't get too complacent."

Background and Training
Beatty's fascination with theatricality began at the age of seven when
he saw his first play, Peler Pall, "1 was
just fascinated by the wire-I thought it
was just as wonderful to fly on the wire
as it would be to fly without a wire.
I've loved the phoniness of theatre ever
since," Whereas most people are initially attracted to theatre via acting,
Beatty always wanted to be a designer.
He remembers reconstructing the Peter
Pall set out of construction paper and
cardboard several times at home after
seeing it, He and his sister staged productions on the sleeping porch of their
clapboard, Victorian home in Claremont, California. Beatty notes that this
house provided some of the inspiration
for his de ign of the house in The 5th
of July.
When he was eight or nine Beatty's
family spent a year in Europe and he
saw productions at the Old Vic, La
Scala, The Paris Opera, and Tivoli
Gardens. But the most long-lasting impression was "a cheap extravaganza
based on The Loves of Don Juan" in
Barcelona.
It lI'as so deliciously phollY. The raked
stage was so obvious, alld obviously
covered with a groulld cloth. Doves
flew do 11'11 from the balcollY 01110 all
umbrella durillg a harem scelle. The
blue lights came up alld el'elyolle
lI'elll "oooh!" The scellery shook,
It was like a primer ill crude thearre
rechllique,

From the fourth grade through high
school Beatt)' built minialUre stage sets
and e\'en had hi o\\'n puppet theatre.
While he feels that puppets allowed him
to work in theatre de pite his shynes ,
there seems to be more significance in an
offhand remark he made about liking a
puppet theatre because of "the control
I had over it." Indeed he currently only uses assistants occasionally because
he does not like to relinquish control.
"I've avoided some larger shows partly
because of that," he says. "I'd rather
6

Theatre Design &

Technolog~

do it myself. 1 like to think there's
something unique to what 1 do that
nobody else does. Where the molding
goes on the wall, for instance-maybe
1 would have made it 6 Yl" lower and
a draftsman would have made it 7".
t\laybe that's no big difference, but
it is to me. 1 feel that the instincts
in my hands must be important for
something."

He is designing Eva Le Gallienne's
revival of A lice In Wonderland and
toyed with the idea of doing the puppets
himself but finally felt that he could not
do them justice. "To do puppets well
you must be a great artist," he says. "I
wasn't a great artist as a puppeteer."
He went to Brown University where
he majored in English ("1 don't belie\'e
in an undergraduate education in thea-

Johnny On a Spot, early versioll. 'VOle straigJulilles alld symmetry.

Johnny On a Spot, fillalversioll. A'ore brokell lilies alld challdelier ro break symmeli)'.

.
t·

j ,

Crimes of the Hellrl

USITT \\'inter 1982

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1982