It has been an interesting and busy few weeks - I have been taken on by the State of Play theatre company as their costume designer for their touring production of GI Joe in Dorset, written and addapted by Samantha Muiruri and Tony Horitz about when the American African American GI forces were stationed in Dorset during the Second World War and how the locals reacted and interacted with the white and african american troops. This production originally comissioned by the Development Education in Dorset (DEED) as part of the We Were Here Heritage Lottery Funded Arts and History project.
This has been an incredibly interesting and challenging production to design for as the set design needed to be interesting and strong visually, but easy for get-ins and get-outs, light weight and durable and able to be packed down as small as possible for transport.
For this production, we have after some design experimentation decided that what suits the production and the quick turnaround in scenes is to use projection to create the backdrop for the performance. After playing around with different idea's in terms of a cohesive visual, and in the end have decided to use a kind of 'postcard' feel to the images. This suits the production as the troops would have been frequently writing home, and we are trying to use images from the era and the local area and locations to where the performance is touring to - in particular Wimbourne, Dorchester, Weymouth etc.
Here is one of the earlier set designs of a physical set!
This was a composite of images from the era and the local area, overlaid over a stylised image of a Dorset church and pillbox - a WW2 defense building - done in black, white and sepia.
For further information on the production please follow the link below to the website!
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