Arthur Rackham

I have chosen to look at the play Ashputtel by Carol Ann Duffy (adapted form the Grimm tales). I am focusing on scene eight, the third and final feast, where Ashputtel loses her slipper.







I started my research with Rackham (1829-1939) as he did illustrations for the Grimm tales. My production designs would fall into the fantasy genre. The theme I explored was fairgrounds. The idea for the stage was for it to be bright with lots of lights, and for the back drop to be in black and white. This idea came from 'The Wizard of Oz', where the two tone
world represents normal boring everyday life and the colourful world represents something exciting.












































































Saturday, 27 November 2010

Initial ideas for the Backdrop




The first drawing didn't feel right. The helter skelter and the ferris wheel looked disconnected. Also there wasn't a strong sense of where the scene was being set. I added the trees to make everything more connected, and trees feature heavily in Grimm tales and Arthur Rackham's work. I think the trees have connected everything, set the scene (outdoors) and they create a creepy atmosphere.




My initial idea was to have the brightly coloured carousel infront of this black and white backdrop. When I took this idea too Andy he said it was too fussy and he suggested the backdrop should be the stage.




I am now developing this idea.

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