The aspect of the play that most interested me as scenic designer was the juxtaposition of Donne and Bearing's poetry with the machine of the hospital and Bearing's treatment. The poetry has a lyrical, curvalinear quality that is in opposition to the purposeful, direct, and impersonal quality of a hospital.
Our goal was to use the scenic design to create the machine of the hospital and allow the characters, their language, and their movements to present the humanity and poetic aspects of the production.
This led to a number of ground plans and renderings, all of which contained right-angled blocking patterns, cold/harsh material choices, and a sterile environment. Cold, white wallpaper, hard floor tiles, plastic bumper-railings, and the exaggerated height of the walls all came from these ideas.
Central to creating the blocking patter of hard, straight lines was the simple tile patter on the floor. I created a 1' outline in the tile to create a central room in the space. The area surrounding the square could be utilized as hallway, forcing the nurses, doctors, and hospital technicians to reinforce the verticallity of the walls and the right-angles in the hallways with sharp, right-angled turns.
In contrast, when Bearing breaks out of a scene to address the audience or engage in a memory sequence, the actors would break away from the straight lines of the set and cross in arcs or curvalinear patterns.
We also made some scenic choices to reinforce the poetic moments of the script, including tracking scenery, magical appearance of props, and a transformable desk, which was utilized to create multiple spaces.
