Il Trovatore (Conceptual)|Set & Costume Design
Composed by - Giuseppe Verdi | Directed by - Fleur Snow | Welsh Millennium Centre, main stage - Cardiff 2020
A story of witchcraft, murder, love, and vengeance, Il Trovatore tackles mammoth themes within its complex plot. The opera is told in four parts - The Duel, The Gypsy, The Gypsy's Son, and The Execution. The director and I wanted to focus on telling the women of the opera's story and so chose to lead by exploring how Il Trovatore treats powerful women.
Storyboards
Taking civil war and class division as the starting impetus, we chose to set the opera in the Welsh valleys during the 1926 general strike. Flames create a sense of ambiguity, shadows manipulate the audience’s ability to see clearly, from the flicker of a candle to the uncontrolled blaze of a massive fire pit. When Azucena sings the flames around her grow.
The endless dark of the coal and rock feels vast but blinding, the slopes have the feeling of two giant birds’ wings, hinting at their fated destiny. The landscape works to move from sloping hills for battle, to polished and refined ‘man-made’ domesticated spaces.
Costumes
The 1920’s elite feels out of place in this world, with lighter fabric and colour choices. Whereas the working class mining community has the feel of an army, flat caps at the ready, and clothes covered in coal, creating a second skin.
Process
Getting the balance right between the structured framework of industry and the vast wildness of the landscape proved interesting during my modelling stages. I moved close to a heavy pit head influence only to pull back and let the landscape speak for itself.
Initial research led me to focus on the Welsh valleys. Very quick sketches helped to visualise rough shapes of the landscape. I experimented quickly with pencil and then with charcoal to immerse myself within the industrial feel of life in coal.
Reference Images
