THE BALCONY

For the collaborative project, our group chose “The Balcony” of Jean Genet to work on. We can test the real life, the escapism and the sound on it –which are our individual project subjects. The group have already chosen the script and the space, which will be a brothel – as Genet set there his play.
We want to create transparent walls, as the borders between reality and fantasy are not definite in the play. The cloth it would be a nice idea, but as the walls will cover a lot of meters it will not be affordable.
As my project is on escapism and on fantasy, I trying to find ways to create a set design which will give this impression. How can we show what is going on in the outside world, where the war has decimated the whole society? The heroes are in a protected, but fragile environment. They are hidden there, “performing” their sexual fantasies where they are assuming roles of power, of authority.
Reading the play, you can not understand what is true and what is not. What is happening for real, and what in their minds. I believe that our set design also should be characterized by this ambiguous element: this room is a room where people are protected? Or not? They live there their real life, or just an illusion? What is happening outside? The war is real, or it is a dream? It is maybe a wrong information, as the Golf War, which is said that never existed?
The room we want to create it’s a brothel. And a brothel in a war zone, so in a period that people have animal instincts, they become cruel, they are interested just in themselves. The madame of the brothel insist in the “quality” of her place. She says that after their services men fell well again, they love their family, they can understand mathematics.. This place should be familiar and cold at the same time: they should fell free to do whatever they want, and keep themselves away from the reality of the war, but when their time is over, they have to leave.
It’s a “distorted” place – if we can use this word for a place – but it is healthier than the outside world. It’s getting dirty from it, the out side of the walls are dirty, blood there is on them, it’s trying to get – in a metaphoric way – in the room.
I imagine the walls like an old tapestry, which tries to keep its old lordliness and delicacy, but it’s damaged now. A decadence in planned in the room. At the same time, I imagine it like these houses that people make in war periods, just “carbon” houses, with materials they can find for free, in order to have somewhere to live – or like slum houses. Maybe, we could create these images with several effects. First, different qualities of transparent material. Plastic with bubbles, opaque or scratched plastic. Maybe in some corners (in limited space) we could use other kinds of materials, like carbon, metal or wood.
I was thinking to create masks, which will be hanged behind the wall. Masks of tattered faces, with frozen characteristics. They will be covered by cling film and be placed on the wall, as being part of it. As people who died can see people who are still alive and live in this brothel. They are built in the wall (since death is a situation between reality and hyperreality..)
Finally, another way of representation of the outside world I was thinking of, was to create shadows by carbons, as it is happening in the theatre of shadows, and ropes that will be handed by the roof.