Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1992 - 26

realisric drama, his skewed perspecrives
are more congenial to proscenium rhan
open srages. His only work on a nonproscenium srage was ar rhe Royal
Exchange in Manchesrer for a producrion of Schiller's Don Carlos direcred by
icholas Hymer.
"The rhearre is complerely in rhe
round," says Hudson, "and ro be honesr,
I cheared a bir-I rook some of rhe sears
our. We acrually made ir son of ([averse,
so rhar rhe ser, which was jusr a floor,
came in rhe building and rhrough ir and
our again. Ir was like a long rhin corridor,
a corridor builr in real slare. The enrire
case, excepr for Don Carlos and Posa, had
raps on rheir shoes, so rhar you would
hear rhem coming. Ir was very sinisrer."
Besides using rhe floor as a scenic e1emenr, Hudson suspended a cross over rhe
srage which, in anorher of his norable
coups, bursr inro flame ar rhe opening of
rhe producrion.
"I enjoyed rhe experience of working
ar rhar," he says, "bur I musr say I didn'r
find ir enrirely sarisfying. I didn'r like si rring in rhe audience and seeing orher
people beyond. I find rhar disrracring. I
do like rhe proscenium arch, definirely."
Similar reservarions abour visuallimirarions and orher resrricrions keep
Hudson wary of relevision and film,

alrhough he has had several of his srage
operas adapred for relevision, and was ar
rhe momenr designing a new opera,
Camera, wrirren expressly for relevision.
"One of rhe rhings I love abour rhe
rhearre is rhar I'm in charge," says
Hudson. "Thar's why I always design rhe
sers and rhe cosrumes, so rhar I'm responsible for everyrhing you see on srage,
excepr rhe lighring, and even rhen I obviously have my inpur. Wirh film ir's so
big, and rhere's a lighring cameraman
and a ser dresser, and rhere's so much
money ar srake. Perhaps I'd enjoy working on a small budger film wirh a symparheric direcror."
For Camera, Hudson approached rhe
problem of relevision's mulriple viewpoinrs by designing a series of componenrs which could be changed around
and pur rogerher in differenr ways. "The
rhing rhar alarmed me rhe mosr ro begin
wirh," he says, "was rhe facr rhar I
couldn'r be sure exacrly how ir was going
ro look, how much of ir was going ro be
seen. If I had a ser rhar could be pur
rogerher and raken apan in any number
of ways, rhen ir freed me up. Ir made me
nor be so neuroric abour nor knowing
where ir was going ro be seen from."
The re-arrangeable componenrs rhar
Hudson arrived ar were a series of doors

and cupboards. "The whole ser-rhe
floor, rhe ceiling, rhe walls-is made up
of doors and doors wirhin doors. Some of
rhem are pracrical, somerimes rhe characrers come up rhrough rhe floor rhrough
doors, somerimes apenures open in rhe
doors and in rhe walls, and lighr comes
in.))

Accusromed to exrended discussions
wirh his srage directors, in which mosr
sraging decisions are made prior to rhe
beginning of rehearsals, Hudson was surprised rhar rhe relevision director did nor
plan camera angles in advance as parr of
rhe design process. "I rhoughr we would.
Thar's rhe orher rhing rhar I wasn'r used
to, how vague rhey were," he says.
Was rhe experience of designing for
relevision one he enjoyed~ "I have quire
enjoyed ir," he says wirh a laugh, " bur
I'm nor sure I wanr [Q do ir again. I
mighr change my mind once we've
filmed ir."
While relevision and film may nor be
rhe new direcrions Richard Hudson
wanrs to move in, America definirely is.
He rhoroughly enjoyed rhe experience of
working on La Bhe, alrhough ir "shook
me up a bir," he says. "Ir made me feel
rhar perhaps I need a change, maybe I do
need to go and live somewhere else and
work wirh orher people. Nor hecause I'm

We Light·
.The Stars

Custom drops . . .
from yesterday,
today & tomorrow.
Cusrom drops from Tobins Lake Studios put time
in your hands. Whatever the century, our skilled
professionals can provide just the look you need
for stage, film and video production. And we
rent, at a reasonable price, high-quality backdrops, drapen'es, and electncal equipment.
And we've been doing it on-time, withinbudget, right-the-first-time, no excuses.

~.i.;.~
;; .. ~.
:.;:~~~"!.~. Call (313) 229-6666 today & speak to
':~>i""

j".:.

our professionals.

Call or Write For Our New
Theatrical Lighting Catalog

Sales 0 Service 0 Rentals'.
UServing the Television, Video, Theatrical,
Night Club and Concert Lighti.ng Industry."

...~.
Theatrical Lig~ing Systems, Inc. .
P. O. BOX 2646 0 909 MERIDIAN STREET .
HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA 35804
(205) 533-7025 0 FAX (205) 536-7846

1992 SPRING

TD&T

http://www.Lighti.ng

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1992