I promised you sketches and they are going to be in this post. I did these sketches on the way to work while I was next to someone that was working on some graphic design work on the train on his MBP. I then got into the mood and thought about what I wanted to do for the stage. I don't have a certain stage in mind, so I'll have to find a set of dimensions to work off, but these are just initial ideas.
My primary concept is about the stage being an oversized adult's study table; basically somewhere you would find a bunch of books. As it's all about what parents tell children, there would be a bunch of "serious" leather-bound books that the parent has in his/her collection, but amongst them all is a bunch of fairytales in colours that stand out from the bunch of books. A single pile of books are treacherously stacked on the left (hello, Rapunzel's tower!), while a few are laying open on the stage.
As the first song starts, the curtains rise and you see Cinderella, Jack, and the Baker and his wife in a tableau in front of their respective books (the baker + wife would be standing down-stage of a book with no title - representing them starting their story - the ending will have the "same" book with "Into the Woods" to represent the closure if their story.)
My first sketch is my overview of the whole stage without extraneous details - just the backdrop and the most outer/down-stage leg of the stage. It's really simple, all the books will be of neutral colours, maybe with a splash of a red burgundy for some interest. There could also be a way to allow the actors to move through the backdrop – primarily allowing the mysterious man to move quickly and deftly to different parts of the stage.
My second sketch is me trying to figure out the logistics of what I want to do. The main words that I have taken from this sketch is “Pop-up book” and that's what I had in mind. However, I just need to find a way to make sure that a 2m pop-up will work. Like which materials to use, how will the book look like after the treatment, how will I counter turning the pages and the obvious change in height of the books. I have to talk to some people that are skilled in set design to see what their thoughts are, and how they would implement my idea. I know that there is a world record for the worlds largest pop-up book, so there is a chance to figure it out.
I think with the pop-up books, it will make the world on stage a little more magical. As the first scene is nearing it's end and all of the people that are moving into the woods have left their houses, all the actor/stagehands have to do is turn to the the next “pages” of the books and trees made out of letters will pop-up and suddenly everyone is wandering through the woods. Red Riding hood is approaching her grandmother's house? Get the wolf to turn the page, and hide in the house. Want a change of trees? Flip another set of trees during the Midnight songs. How do you signify that the blind Giant has stumbled though this neck of the woods. Close all the books. Maybe I have to do some researching into similar stage designs, but that's later.
However, that's what all my second sketch is all about! I'm thinking of only allowing myself 5 spreads per book, so that the books aren't too thick. I think that should be more than enough for the books, I just have to figure out how to get Red Riding's book onto the stage, I'm pretty sure that most of the books will basically be unmovable once they have been set, and I will have to find a way to slowly lower the books down to start the show.
One of the biggest problems that I can think of is visually represented in the bottom righthand corner of the second image. That is that the pages will slant if I keep them “traditionally” bound, and that means that will basically be untreadable and potentially could be an OH&S issue. Either I have to find a different way of binding that will make it stable/flat every time that it turns, or make the pages flimsy yet durable so that the difference is negligible. I'll get back onto the drawing board.
looking good!
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