Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1991 - 54

THE ENVIRONMENTAL VISION OF TIINA MAKKONEN
The designs featured in Finland's exhibit for
the National Section of the PQ'91 were those of
nina Makkonen, one of Finland's most prominent
scenographers. Trained in the industrial arts as
well as theatre, Makkonen's designs are tactile
and sculptural. She is a master at creating sensory
experiences that immediately engage the audience on an emotional level, but her complex
imogery demands conscious contemplation as
well. Her extensive use of natural materials,
authentic objects and found spaces transcends
realism. Mud, trees, rocks and the like become
archetypal substances, while the smallest of
detoils-(J broken window, acreaking door, a lost
hair ribbon-always appear to be more psychologically motivated than realistic. Her approach is
one of literal and metaphorical assemblY-(J constant layering and juxtaposition of objects, images
and meanings. She professes to seek the intrinsic
spirituality of every space she creates (or inhabits)
and prizes truth in theatre above all else. The
PQ'91 exhibit she created to house her designs
reflected both her ideals and her craft.
Spatially, the exhibit was like walking through
an old, old house-one in which there are no
right angles, the sizes and shapes of rooms are
unpredictable and the spaces are connected in surprising woys. Double doors, deeply encrusted with
objects such as body parts of dolls, mutilated
books of poetry, pieces of glass and a claw of a
door handle, ushered the viewer into the exhibit
and seemed to say that the experience to follow
might dredge up some deeply buried feelings.
The first production displayed was a dance
piece titled Inferno. Performed in an old factory
buildingl Inferno was a journey into the darker
side of humanity. Photographs documenting that
journey were displayed on the darkly collaged
walls of a narrow hallway. Pieces of differently
scaled body parts, bound by the layered surfacesl
appeared ond disappeared throughout the space.
One place in the wall offered the viewer the
opportunity to peer through a dirty shard of a
window pane into another part of the exhibit, as if
to acknowledge that a designer's ideas for one
play naturally, if subconsciouslYI bleed into the
design of another.
The Inferno hallway dead-ended into a separate vignette displaying a corner littered with the
aftermath of design preparationl including awork
table with spilled paint and broken pencils, crumpled sketches, snips of poetry taped up for inspiration and the obligatory half-filled coffee cup.
Some of these objects were only set dressing. Others, like the endless anatomy studies, the skeletoni the rough draftings and the numerous plastic
and plaster body parts, confirmed that this was
not a confabulation of what a design process is
like, but a collection of artifacts belonging to the
particular productions represented. While this was
a brief moment in the exhibitl its inclusion linked
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the pracess of design to the respective productions, as well as to the overall environment.
Around that corner was a corridor devoted to
the epicly staged Scenes from an Execution. In the
actual production, performed in the 300-meter
long hallway of Turku's old Rope Factoryl the audience moved through 10 isolated but connected
spaces amidst exposed bricks and beamsl broken
windows and a floor covered with sand. A
sequence of phatographs showing the various
scenes was displayed along the walls. Certain elements from the productionl such as sand on the
floor and naked light bulbs hanging from the ceiling, appeared in the exhibit and created an atmosphere similar to that of the stage environment.
Moving through the partitioned spaces of the
exhibit itself provided the viewer with a physical
experience reminiscent of the production. Rudimentary draftings did not add to the ambience,
but were very informative.
At the end of the corridor the viewer met with
a ceiling-to-f1oor enclosure fabricated of whitewashed window frames and clear plastic sheeting.
Inside the enclosurel behind a veil of bare branches and constantly trickling water, the set model for
Gamepath sat atop a decrepit gas stove. (Photographs indicated that it was the one used in the
actual setting.) Hanging behind the model was a
white cloth bathed in a stark white light. The
frontal relationship between the viewer and the
presentation of the model echoed the proscenium
configuration of the design. According to Taava
Koskinen/s critical commentary that accompanied
the exhibitl l1'he general expression is super-realistic-(J dirty, greasy home thrust almost into the
lap of the spectators, but behind it opens up a
white paradise in which lovers can meet." Some
viewers criticized this presentationl complaining
that they could not see the model well enough.
Others applauded the arrangement, observing
that the craft of the model was secondary to the
conceptual expression.
At this juncturel the exhibit branched left and
right into two other rooms. One room was devoted
to Little Reel Rieling Hooel-Images of Love anel
Deathl an environmentally staged production; the
other room displayed proscenium designs for A
Mielsummer Nightls Dream and The Love of a
Gooel Man.
Reel Rieling Hooel is a play about loss of innocence, inevitable betrayals and the power of the
individual (especially the artist) to gather shattered pieces together and emerge whole. The settings play back and forth between childhood
memory and adult reality. Staged in an abandoned apartment building (whose architectural
features were echoed in the exhibit spacet the
audience followed the actors from room to
room-from memory to memory and reality to
reality, without the possibility of escape. layers of
faded and peeling wallpaper, old fashioned chilI

dren's' valentines and pieces of animal fur crawling on the walls set the tone for the Reel Rieling
Hooel exhibit. Scattered about the tiny room, as
though abandoned l were objects of childhood: a
doll's carriage a model airplane, fairy tale booksl
a wooden cabinet for toys and stuffed animals. In
a small corner, behind a glass door, an unsuspecting baby doll was left stranded with a wolf.
Squares of reflected sunlight brightened one dark
wall containing photographs from the production.
Another wall was occupied by a line of very adultl
straight-backed chairs intended for viewers. Opposite the chairs a dark window pane reflected the
image of those seated. Beyond the reflection, a
videotape of the actual production introduced the
element of the performer without separating it
from the environment. The video itself was excellent and all the stronger for playing in those surroundings.
In the last room the extremely well done
models for Mielsummer and The Love of aGooel
Man were surrounded with the same sense of
eclectic decoy as the rest of the exhibit. Though
they were staged in a traditional proscenium configuration in rather large theatres, Makkonen's
conceptually dark approaches to both these plays
conjured sensory experiences more likely to be
found in her environmental pieces. Organic decay
and architectural debris, the smell of rotting flesh
suggested by corpses onstagel the unsteady presence of mud graves beneath one/s feet and the
persistent dripping of water and blood permeated
the designs for the two post-war worlds. Set pieces
and properties from the productions filled the
room and helped bring the exhibit viewer closer to
the onstage experience-closer, in some ways,
than the actual audience.
The Finnish exhibit clearly had one vision and
one voice. Much of Makkonen's work explores
remembering and forgelling-two very human
ways of coping with life events. She is concerned
with remembering life and anticipoting deothl but
sees death as a beginning rather than an enH
moment of clarity and transformation. Inher
designs and in this exhibit, she assembles images
and objects that recall memories in order to piece
together obscured or forgollen experiences. It is
the painful but necessary recovery of those experiences that is the journey in many of her
pieces-(J journey thot culminates in rebirth.
In addition to all the dark imagery incorporated in this exhibitl there also existed measures of
humor, charm and hope. Small touches throughout seemed to be Makkonen's way of speaking
directly to the individual viewer. The last image I
recoil in the exhibit was that of a bird's nest nestled among the architectural ruins of the disintegrating world of AMielsummer Night~ Dream. It
left me with a feeling of hope, but as Iwrite, I
remember that it was an empty nest-though
birds return sometimes, don't they? -J(
l

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1991