Scene - 1-2: Australian Scenography, Dec 2021

The global ecological crisis calls for a new approach to theatre making that overturns the ‘take, make and dispose’ production model that has become so intrinsic to the performing arts. Ecoscenography is a burgeoning movement that interweaves creative, environmental, social and cultural aspects of performance design to produce ecologically sensitive and evocative spatial experiences. The neologism has its roots in Australian fringe theatre and freelance design practices, many of which take pride in shoe-string budgets, site-specific, ad hoc and non-traditional forms of theatre making. Ecological re-considerations of performance design have emerged through these grassroot experiences which continue to be a vital foundation for Australia’s thriving theatre community. Nevertheless, there is still very little written about sustainability in the performing arts (both in Australia and beyond), particularly from the perspective of the scenographer. This dialogic article is a conversation between two Australian-based scenographers who are passionate about bringing an ecological ethos into performance design. The article explores Ecoscenography ‘in conversation’ by drawing out common perspectives and experiences to demonstrate how an ecological ethic can inspire the performance maker’s creative process. We discuss our trials and tribulations of sustainable practice, from our first engagement with the topic, to our aspirations for the future of the field. The result is a candid, tangible and personal account of what it means to be an ecoscenographer in an increasingly turbulent (but hopeful) world.

This article attempts to introduce and define the creative practice of ‘scenographic photography’ through the exploration of a body of practice-based research completed as part of a Ph.D. at the University of Tasmania in 2018. As research, it examines how traditionally representational forms of photography and scenography can inform each other through the more performative mode of ‘scenographic photography’, an interdisciplinary neologism operating between the performing, spatial and visual arts. Throughout this article, in attempting to define ‘scenographic photography’ as an emergent field, I will concurrently explore how queer space making was used as a critical tool for the research, visualization, execution and exhibiting of this body of work. The title of the body of work – Cruising Wonderland – refers to a specific ‘beat’ site in Sydney associated with illicit encounters and the homophobic violence it engendered during the 1980s, as well as an embodied means of re-presenting such traumatic histories. Within Cruising Wonderland scenographic scale-model making is adopted as a critical tool with which to interrogate specific sites of queer trauma. The inherent ‘wonder’ and fascination associated with the art of the miniature encourages the possibility of a reparative reading not always possible via the explicit documentary tradition of photographing actual sites of trauma. Once presented the audience are required to ‘cruise’ the darkened exhibition environment, like the ‘beat’ spaces referenced in the work, with an acute sensory awareness of their surroundings, of fellow spectators and how they, as participants within Wonderland, perform and are perceived by others. This immersive approach to engaging with the work is designed to encourage a process of empathic engagement, illuminating often-invisible histories, allowing us to move towards reparation through active re-witnessing.

For this special edition of Scene, award-winning Australian set and costume designer Christina Smith was invited to reflect on her experience of resuming work on Melbourne Theatre Company’s Berlin after a year hiatus due to COVID-19 lockdowns. In the form of a reflective note from the field, Christina examines the unexpected discoveries and unlooked-for liberation that came from being forcibly untethered from her creative process. Raw and personal, this note offers one designer’s journey out of isolation and back to the stage.

In recent decades, there has been considerable interdisciplinary debate around the theories of scenography, but less so around the practices of scenography. This article revisits scenography to reposition it as a contemporary design discipline, with a reminder that its history is embedded in the traditions of art theory and philosophy. Using Isabelle Stengers’ ‘Introductory notes on an ecology of practices’ as an opportunity to rethink the practice of scenography, a project is revisited, under the rubric ‘design fiction’. This project ‘Burying the Narrative’ is presented as a source of conceptual and theoretical encounter as several objects are buried under the ground. This was a tactic to deliberately disassociate scenography from traditional conventions and methodologies. Design practice is considered an integral part of the ecosystem of theatre and performance, and certainly in the early stages of a project, clever manoeuvres give rise to creative speculations.

The costume fitting room has long been considered an essential space in developing a character, with many actors crediting the fitting as a critical stage in creating or understanding their character. In these spaces, characters and costume designs emerge and evolve. This article argues that active in this emergence are actors, designers and costumers and the costume itself. This research explores the costume’s agentic nature in the performance-making process, using ethnographic observation of Australian theatre costume fitting rooms. It evidences the multiple, disparate and sometimes surprising elements that impact character portrayal and design development. The agency of the costume as a creative partner is currently a topic of debate in costume research. Leaning into this conversation, this article draws on Karan Barad’s perspectives of new materialism to argue for greater consideration of the costume’s influence and value in forming a performance work. Recognizing this contribution and the affective power of costume prompts a challenge to the structures and practices surrounding actors and costumes and how they intra-act. The article concludes by reflecting on the implications for current industry rehearsal, production and costume practices.

This article is primarily focused on sound design in the performing arts. While scenography is usually defined as the visual/object elements of a performance design, it is often discussed as including all of the heard and seen elements: sound, costume, lighting, sets, props and projections. The intention is that these elements work synergistically to create a ‘whole-more-than-the-sum-of-its-parts’, with scenography considered a wholistic discipline that embraces many aspects to support the intentions of the creators and the performers in a performance. Scenographic designers provide bespoke or unique solutions required to do this across specific briefs and budgets. While the discussion here centres on sound design for performance in Melbourne, it is intended to apply more broadly, particularly in developing a more complementary, integrated approach to sound in scenography, and regarding education and processes. This is to encourage a more global and inclusive consideration of the topic – to develop discussion, and therefore potential – of the manifold interrelationships in scenographic design in the performing arts. While there is no attempt to explicitly answer a key question or propose a defined theory, this discussion intends to illuminate various issues in sound design for performing arts in order to develop conceptual and practical approaches that enhance the collaborations and synergies possible in scenography for performing arts, ensuring that the whole is indeed more than the sum of its parts.