Exhibitions
2012 Curator/Designer "The Art of Chichester Festival Theatre - a Celebration"
Pallant House Gallery:
9,North Pallant, Chichester.West Sussex PO19 1 TJ
Opens March 3rd - June 2012
An interactive visual exhibition and installation showing important works that theatre designers created for the unique ' Theatre in a Park ' - in 1962. Models, costume drawings, costumes, memorabilia, films and videos.
An education programme will accompany the exhibition. Enquiries Elaine Bentley e.bentley@pallant.org.uk
© Pamela Howard 2011
Giclee print commissioned by Pallant House Gallery
Available from bookshop@pallant.org.uk
The image is an imagined recollection of the opening of the theatre in 1962
The Marriage
Part of the the additional programme of Prague Quadrennial 2011.
La Fabrika is a unique location in Prague. A former factory in Holešovice, Prague 7 it has been semi converted into a thriving International Arts Centre by its owner Richard Balous. Studio 2 is the unreconstructed factory space, full of atmosphere. The adjacent Gallery is a modern clean well designed art space. La Fabrika is a music and performance venue in Studio 1, as well as a cinema, café, cyber centre and meeting place.
In Studio 2 "The Marriage" an interactive installation of 1000 vintage objects created for the performances in 2010 of the chamber opera by Bohuslav Martinů at the Mozart Sal, Reduta Theatre (National Opera Janáček Theatre Brno CZ). Visitors were able to walk through the installation, open cupboards, the fridge, read letters and imagine how the characters, Russian emigres, may have lived in New York in 1950.
The servants quarters© Maylan Thomas
General view of studio 2© Maylan Thomas
The servants quarters© Maylan Thomas
A batchelor's walk-up© Maylan Thomas
Hommage to America© Fred Meller
Memories of the old country© Maylan Thomas
A young girl's dream© Fred Meller
New York - the paper bag city© Krystof Kris
The installation in studio 2 was lit by Daniel Tesař.
In the Gallery at La Fabrika, visual artwork for "The Marriage" - "The Excursion of Mr Brouček to the Moon" (Leoš Janáček) 2010 Janáček International Festival National Opera Janáček Theatre Brno CZ: Carousel 1:25 The Story of the Wall (from 'The Great Game' Tricycle Theatre London).
View of gallery from studio 2© Krystof Kris
View of gallery from studio 1© Krystof Kris
Agafya's wedding dress© Maylan Thomas
Layout of the Marriage© Maylan Thomas
Brouček on a crate© Maylan Thomas
The Story of the Wall
"The Story of the Wall" is an artefact taken from the Tricycle Theatre London's highly successful production of The Great Game 2009/2010 and USA tour 2010/2011. It was conceived for the Society of British Theatre Designers exhibition in Cardiff in March 2011 to respond to the theme "Transformation and Revelation". It shows how the principal scenographic element - a wall 5 metres high x 13 metres wide built on a simple hydraulic system transformed from an exterior wall to an Afghan Poppy field, following the content of the 12 1/2 hour specially commissioned plays that made up The Great Game. The Carousel was inspired by a photo of an Afghan child in a destroyed landscape going to a fairground and playing with a miniature diorama. Each stage of the Wall is held between the points of a Red Soviet Star, which sits on top of a golden Pentagon. The viewer can turn the carousel. A central pole is painted in the Nuristani style and depicts the life cycle of the poppy, and the carousel stands on a base depicting an Afghan landscape as if seen from the air. It is entirely constructed out of found and discarded materials.
The carousel© Maylan Thomas
Afgan landscape© Maylan Thomas
The wall© Maylan Thomas
The Taliban whitewash© Maylan Thomas
The wall becomes a projection© Maylan Thomas
September 11th 2001© Maylan Thomas
Poppies always come back© Maylan Thomas
The Story of the Wall montage
Photographs of installation and gallery by:
Maylan Thomas
Krystof Kris
Fred Meller
Exhibition credits:
With thanks to:
Richard Balous and Staff at La Fabrika, Komunardů 30, Holesovice Prague 7
Staff and Technicians from Naródni Divadlo Brno
Academy of Performing Arts (DAMU) Prague
National Theatre Prague
Monica Bastos and the team of volunteers from DAMU and elsewhere
Stan Mädl
British Council Prague
British National Exhibition (for Transport)
Tomás Pilař
Le Phénoméne Martinů 2009
The National Museum, Prague - The Czech Museum of Music, Prague - Czech Republic Scenography for 'The Greek Passion' 2005. 'The Marriage' 2009.
125 years of the Victoria and Albert Museum London
