Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1985 - 28

BOOK REVIEWS

Editor: T. Mikotowicz

The SUllllller issue was Lois Garrell's las[ as Book Rel'iell' EdilOr. She sen'ed
adlllirably ill [his delllallding role sillce 1981. Her work was grea[ly apprecia[ed and her
con[riblllion 10 TD&T lI'il/ be lIIissed.
Assulllillg her respollsibili[ies is TOIII .\1ikolOlI"ic::.. He \\'orks jor l\liegl Bros. alld
recelll(I' cOlllpleled his Ph. D. a[ Se\\' Vork Ullil'ersi(l'. His disserllilion lI'as on [he \\'ork
oj desigller Olh'er SlIIi[h. rlll.l"OlIe illleres[ed ill IITi[ing rel'iell'sjor TD&T should COII{(lC[
hillla[345 JI'ebs[errll'e. #4D, Brookl.l'lI, SY II./JO.
-,-l.rI.

Svoboda: Wagner-Josef Svoboda's
Scenography for Richard Wagner's
Operas by Jarka Burian. l\liddletown,
Connecticut: We leyan Unil'ersity Press.
1983. ISB, 0-8195-5088-~, 118 pp .. ill ..
. r .00 clOlh.
J arka Burian, author of the The Scenography oj Josej Svoboda (Wesleyan University Press, 1971), has wrillen a fitting sequel
that brings the reader up to date on the
visionary Czechoslovakian designer's recelll
work and perspectives on scene design. By
focusing on Svoboda's designs for Richard
Wagner's operas, Burian has documellled
some of the scenographer's most intricate
and highly technological work. In this
sLUdy, the author nOl only provides an examination of the Svoboda - Wagner production , but does so within the cOlllext of the
staging of Wagner throughout history.
The book is structured into three parts.
Part One traces Svoboda's work as an extension of the legacy left by the non-realist
designer I theorists, such as Edward Gordon
Craig and Adolph Appia. The author discusses the previous major productions
of Wagner's operas from the original
nineteenth-celllury stagings through Appia's efforts, to the work of Wagner's
grandsons in the 1950s and 1960s, and beyond into contemporary productions.
Through this background, Burian exposes
the theoretical links between the past and
the present.
The second part of the book focuses on
the Svoboda productions: Der Fliegende
HoI/ander, Tan II hauser, Tris{(lll Ulld Isolde,
Wagner's tetralogy Der Rillg des Nibelungen (consisting of Das Rheillgold, Die Walkiire, Siegfried, and GOllerdtillllllerullg) ,
and finally, Die Meis[ersillger. Byexamining each opera a it was produced in a differelll geographical location, Burian create
a comparative analysis that is both logical
and revealing of various production problems: What may work in one theatre facility
might have to be abandoned in another.
Thus, by showing Svoboda's solutions to
these problems, Burian not only documellls
the final product but gets to the heart of the
process of design.
There is much visual documentation
that the author has included to support his
text. There are eighty-four illustrations,
26

consisting of mechanical drawings (such as
floor plans and side elevations executed by
Svoboda), as well as black and white photographs of the set models and the actual productions, not to mention a sLUnning celller
ection of sel'ellleen color plates 0 f all of the
productions. In Chapter Three, for example, which concerns the 1958 Prague and
the 1969 Bayreuth production of Der Fliegende Holltinder (The Flying Dlllc!1l11an) ,
the author meticulously details the use of
kinetics as an integral part of Svoboda's design theory. There is abundalll description
with plellly of photographs of the Dutchman's wheeled boat that slid onstage through
the use of a roller coaster-like track, and
with a fulcrum and lever action raised its
haullling bow to loom over the prow of
another ship.
The alllhor's thorough descriptions reveal the full measure of Svoboda's creative
use of technology. In the two productions
of Tallnhauser (Hamburg, 1969, and London, 1972), the designer used mirrors,
shaped to suggest female anatomy, to not
only reflect painted surfaces, but as screen
for projections. For Tris[an ulld Isolde,
produced at Wiesbaden in 1967, Svoboda
created his three-dimensional "pillar of
light" with an aerosol mixture through
which shone loll' voltage luminaires. Burian
also details Svoboda's use of laser light and
a motorized platform for the London production of the "Ring" cycle, and he also includes an appendix of specifications for the
celllral unit.
Although Burian's descriptions are, for
the most part, impartial, the author occasionally becomes somewhat subjective and
interpretive. When he states, for example,
that the selling for GOllerdtilll lll erullg ' 'conI'eyed a sense of artificial healing" in that
the ellipse halves had smooth edges, it is nOl
always easy to follow, or agree with, the line
of thought. But this does not occur often
and is a minor poilll in com pari on to the
excellence of this work.
COlllrasting with the extensive use of
technology is Svoboda's spare production
of Die .\1eisle/·sillgel; which is included in
Burian's I'ery short final chapter. This
opera was designed using a simple wooden
unit set, del'oid of all complicated machinery and lighting. This production leads illlo
Part Three's surprising postscript, which
was written four years after the text of the

Theatre Design & Technology USITT Fall 1985

book. Here the author reveals the reasons
why Svoboda noll' seems to be leaning toward a more austere sense of design.
Burian's book is well wrillen, thoroughly researched, and can be highly recommended for tho e who are truly serious
about the history and future of scenography. 'ot only does the author provide an
accurate portrait of the work of one of the
world's leading designers, but he also gives
a lucid account of the evolution of Wagnerian opera production and, by inference,
twelllieth-celllury scene design.
Tom Mikotowicz
Brooklyn, N.Y.

American Set Design

by Arnold Aronson.
ell' York: Theatre Communications
Group, 1985, ISBN 0-930452-38-0, 187 pp.,
ill., 525.95 cloth, 516.95 paper.

Arnold Aronson has wrillen, and Theatre Communications Group has produced,
an in formative, readable, and handsome
book that belongs in the library of everyone
interested in stage design or cOlllemporary
American theatre. Alllericall Se[ Desigll
provides not only a perceptive illlroduction
to eleven of America's leading cOlllemporary scenographers but also a lively glance
-through the experiences of these artistsat late twelllieth celllury theatre practice in
the United States,
Alllerican Se[ Design addresses itself to
the currelll state of scenographic art in the
nited States by examining the work and
creative personalities of eleven artists chosen according to clearly defined criteria: a
still active professional career of at least ten
years duration not only on Broadway and in
regional theatre but also in TV, opera, or
film. The result is a series of revealing portrait of distinctive designers (twelve to
eighteen pages devoted to each) and a gallery of nearly one hundred and fifty illustrations (sixteen in color) of their work as seen
in production photos, renderings, technical
drawings, sketches, and models: truly a
most welcome addition to the random
monographs of individual American designer of previous generation that have
appeared illlermittelll1y ol'er the years.
Aronson's subjects are alphabetically
arranged but one may get a clear sense of the
range of talellls he presents by thinking of

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1985