Studio: international art (78.1919)

THE ART OF THE THEATRE

SETTING BY NORMAN MACDERMOTT FOR
MAETERLINCK'S “ MARY MAGDALENE”

grown and is now brimming over with
interesting experiments. At the recent
Conference at Stratford-on-Avon, organ-
ized by the British Drama League, an
exhibition of scenic models and designs
was one of the outstanding features of
an altogether admirably conducted pro-
gramme. The reproductions which we are
privileged to present in this issue were
made from the models designed by Mr.
Norman Macdermott, a young artist who
has devoted many years to the study of
dramatic work in all its aspects. He has
had practical experience of theatre working
in connexion with the Liverpool Repertory
Theatre, and as Director of the Everyman
Theatre will have entire control of its
artistic policy. Mr. Macdermott, left
entirely free to execute his own ideas,
has an enviable but formidable task before
him. a 0 a a a a
Experiments and efforts in reform are
generally costly, and those carried on in
connexion with the theatre are no excep-
tion. It is vitally important, therefore,
that they should be conducted with the
strictest economy. Mr. Macdermott claims
that his new methods of staging are
essential to theatre reform as they assist in
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that economy. By the simple expediency
of using the same set of materials and
arranging and lighting them in different
ways his designs are capable of producing
an amazingly large variety of effects. 0
Simplicity, consisting in the selection of
essentials, value of colour and light and
unity are Mr. Macdermott's guiding prin-
ciples. Poverty of thought is often covered
by a lavish display of costliness. Simplicity,
when it is poetically conceived, will stimu-
late the imagination of the audience and
assist in the creation of the mood and
spirit which the play demands. It will da
this in a manner far more subtle than any
attempt at either forced realism in the
scenic arrangements or misplaced over-
elaboration of setting can ever hope ta
achieve. Restraint, then, and sparsity in
the use of paint and canvas characterize the
work of this designer. He relies entirely
upon the emotional qualities of lighting for
nearly all his effects, and his sk 11 in the
manipulation of it is remarkable. He
employs plain neutral surfaces upon which
he lets his coloured lights fall. “ In my
own scene models," he writes, “ colour has
to a great extent deserted the actual canvas,
cloth, etc., of the scene, and is embodied in