Research
Wilder’s And the Sea Shall Give Up Its Dead is still the core and heart of the production, so I created this space first. Many visions with varying practical and impractical solutions came to me. I settled on a cylindrical room. It could be another shape that a cylinder is constructed within. This is the ocean of souls. The walls and floor are covered with green and blue ombred china silk. Fans behind the fabric allow it to undulate and flow, imitating water. The atmosphere is moist and there is a low rumbling to give the impression of being deep underwater. The actors are mounted on the walls above the audience. They wear a special type of harness under their costume which is attached to a pole protruding from the wall on a track which moves the pole with the actor on it slowly upwards during the performance.
The costumes are an active component in the And the Sea Shall Give Up Its Dead section of the production. The wasted garments each character wears go through a rising progression, much like the actors themselves, but not necessarily at the same tempo. When they are first illuminated, the costumes are in accordance with the laws of gravity as if they were on earth. They are weighted down and drape as any garment would under normal conditions. As the actor rise against the backdrop, their costumes separate into panels that begin to lift and float independently of each other and will continue to do so until a certain practical point.
The sound throughout as I have described it is almost entirely atmospheric, with silence being an important counterpoint, marking main events. There are a few sound effects here and there. The taxi cab in which the crashing accident will be heard is one example. The actors in the ocean of souls will be miced. The microphones will have the effect of altering the actors’ voices, giving them an undersea, otherworldly sound. Yet, they will still be understandable and not garbled.
The costumes are an active component in the And the Sea Shall Give Up Its Dead section of the production. The wasted garments each character wears go through a rising progression, much like the actors themselves, but not necessarily at the same tempo. When they are first illuminated, the costumes are in accordance with the laws of gravity as if they were on earth. They are weighted down and drape as any garment would under normal conditions. As the actor rise against the backdrop, their costumes separate into panels that begin to lift and float independently of each other and will continue to do so until a certain practical point.
The sound throughout as I have described it is almost entirely atmospheric, with silence being an important counterpoint, marking main events. There are a few sound effects here and there. The taxi cab in which the crashing accident will be heard is one example. The actors in the ocean of souls will be miced. The microphones will have the effect of altering the actors’ voices, giving them an undersea, otherworldly sound. Yet, they will still be understandable and not garbled.