L. C. MEAGHER-DI ELLO                               

Dancing at Lughnasa makes the audience witness to the struggles that faced the rural communities of a young Republic of Ireland in the summer of 1936, though the work is ultimately the playwright’s rumination on childhood in the County Donegal. Early into the design process, the quesiton most discussed was on how to take a show written for a proscenium, and stage it within a black box configuration. The overall census was to approach the show with restraint, simplicity and reverance- all things that served the emotional intent held by the director and design team as well. What resulted was our attempt to cross realism and contemporary stage design, to capture what one might see when forming the memory of a summer of your youth- fifty years later. 

Written in 1775 by Richard Sheridan, the Rivals is one of the most iconic example of the five act comedy of errors. It has maintained itself over the course of centuries as a staple of theatre that the world just can’t shake. From an early point the director exhibited an interest in the  mannerisms used in the films of Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and their contemporaries. And while initially my mind lived elsewhere with the piece (as can be seen in the napkin sketch,) I pivoted to meet the director in the middle, going from the tiny streets of Bath, to the nearly oversized- and mobile- streets of Bath. Mobile set pieces meant that exciting and whitty transitions dominated the piece, ensuring that the play never felt like it came to a halt. 

A collaborative project between myself, and costume designers Izzy Deflice, and Jordan Howe, each of us designed a series of costumes for three factions in a futuristic and supernatural world. Where Deflice designed the Werewolf faction, and Howe designed the Ancient Ones, I designed for the Vampires. The key costumes for this faction were Vlad and Lilith, the Vampire faction’s rival heirs, and their respective advisers, Merlin, advisor to Vlad, and the Baron, advisor to Lilith. The intent in color and shape for Lilith and the Baron, was to depict a fervor for purity, power and homogony, whereas for Vlad and Merlin, it was my intent to capture the feeling of a young upstart princling, with more cunning for treaties than battle, and more modern sensibilities than his sister, as can be seen in the slight brown accents in his and Merlin’s costumes, subtly overlapping them with their “enemy” the werewolves.

Hamlet is a work that at needs no introduction. An ongoing process, this play is in the process of being built. Below can be find drafting from the design process as well as the color illustration of the set design.  The director and myself had decided to depict the Palace of Elsinore in a state of demolition from an early stage. Our hope was to utilize the irrevarance many historical and important structures face today to reinforce the grief and resemtment Hamlet feels for the world he inhabits. By having Hamlet return to an Elsinore in a state of destruction at the hands of a newly crowned Claudius, who has also married his mother, before his fathers body was cold, only serves to reinfornce Hamlet’s emotional state. It also reinfornces the polotical aspect of the story- in how the systems set in place surronding the monarchy have degredated to a point beyond saving. As far as the actual sturcture goes, it was initially our intention to mimic the Globe and Wanamaker theaters in London as these were spaces Shakespeare would have written the play for. To do this, the first design featured a thrust stage, with a wall boasting two levels, and three doors inside an overhung room on the first floor. But alas, as with all productions, there was a budget. Quick to adapt, the director and I pivoted to a reduced form that still captured the story we wished to tell.

This section features theoretical work and projects from the past few years.  Their individual captions will tell you more about them.