Preliminary Design Conversation
Some of my thoughts RE; my conversation with CATF Set Designer, Bob Klingelhoefer: I like to begin the design process with a discussion on the “world of the play” and the predominant element in INANA:
INANA by Michele Lowe:
TIME: February 4, 2003
PLACE:A hotel room with an adjoining bathroom in London. Various flashback/memory scenes: A bookseller’s shop in Bakir Iraq; Mosul Museum courtyard; The Shalid home in Iraq; Emad Al Bayit’s art studio; Emad’s home; a desert near Nineveh, Iraq.
THE WORLD OF THE PLAY: I see two worlds… The original and the copy…the past and the present. History/culture vs. today…Innocence vs. Destruction. The world of the play is a museum…a place to preserve and protect a civilization’s culture, history, and identity. “The objects are part of the people. They’re the deepest, hidden, most secret part. They’re the best part and the most important part to protect.”
I want to create two worlds. The present world set in London and the world of the past set in Iraq. The London world is set in a dingy hotel room with an adjoining bathroom. Even this present world is split into two rooms…the hotel room and the bathroom.
The past is set in various locations in Iraq. The past is revealed in a series of memories/flashback scenes. I am interested in seeing both the museum world which preserves history and memory…And the present world where Darius tells his story. I want our set design to explore the concept of TWO: There are two statues… two rooms…the present and the past…etc. Shali says:
“There were two of me. The one before and the one after. I always wanted to be the other Shali. We all yearn for the other self, the one that is connected somehow to our childhood and then is pried from our memory by Time until finally we are forced to let it go.”
PREDOMINANT ELEMENT: STORY/SPECTACLE: The predominant element in INANA is “story.” INANA is a mystery…a thriller…a political thriller. INANA is a classic “mystery” play. It is also a love story. Our design should assist us in telling the story on stage. INANA is a quick and engaging tale. It is a human story about an epic struggle to preserve a culture. Primarily, and most surprising, this is a love story between strangers who eventually morph into a connected whole.
INANA is also a spectacle play. The spectacle is HISTORY/TIME/DESTRUCTION/INNOCENCE/MIDDLE EASTERN CULTURE. The spectacle is MEMORY. I want to create spectacle on stage…the spectacle of destruction…the desecration of a country’s sacred heritage, severed into pieces like so many body parts. I want the audience to reflect on the unconscionable desecration of war. At the beginning of the U.S. invasion in 2003, the museums in Iraq had been looted badly, and excavation sites had been destroyed. The play offers our audience the opportunity for illumination.
Tomorrow I will continue my conversation with Bob Klingelhoefer, Set Designer. I will share with you my thoughts on the MAIN IDEA of the play.
Ed Herendeen