1.10.09

waiting for godot









My first scene design assignment is "Waiting for Godot" by Samuel Beckett. This is one of the most well known absurdist plays and it is a critique on how we spend our lives. Didi and Gogo arrive at the same place every day waiting for a character named Godot, and every day a young boy comes by to say Godot will be coming tomorrow.
I am playing with the idea of time lapse for my design. Their actions are in cycles, so I thought it would be interesting to show the growth and death of a tree. Each image would show what is behind and ahead in the cycle. Perhaps, layering them through multiple screens and using lighting as a key part of the design.

Also, those of you not familiar with the play; the scene in the script is described as "a tree. a country road." I played with other ideas but I feel like you cannot...should not...design this play replacing the tree.

9 comments:

mooresy said...

i have to chime in for martha here: "oh, the ephemerality..."

this is so lovely. i read the play two summers ago, and agree...that tree is so much a part of how waiting for godot FEELS.

the layered image far left is especially beautiful. how would this happen on stage? i'm really curious.

Kaitlyn said...

me too. details to come. haha.

i'm thinking a series of sheets of scrim, which is a material that is opaque when lit from the front and transparent when lit from behind. i definitely want it to look flat because this world has no depth.

also working on a few other ideas. all i know is i better have "a full weeks worth" to show on monday...and i'm not quite sure what that is yet...

mooresy said...

"because this world has no depth"
damn, way to translate the play into scrim. damn.

Unknown said...

ahhhhhh beckett! we just watched "film" and "endgame" for my literalism/modernism/brutalism class. i love this transcostal curricular alignment. they are both pretty good, b.t. dubs.

Kaitlyn said...

me too. damn i want to take a literalism/modernism/brutalism class. jeeeealz.

Unknown said...

p.s. the concept is great. i forgot to say that. classically cogent kaitlyn.

Temps said...

duh to the scrim, and to the actually using a tree. work that scrim! This is simple enough that it could actually work and be beautiful.

Kaitlyn said...

thanks guys. my prof sees this in the morning so here's to hoping it goes well.

Temps said...

What was the crit like?