animation for theatre set design

I have been out of touch for a while working on a completely new and exciting thing.
Some time ago I have been asked to design an animated part of a set for a theatre performance called “Portfolio”.

“Portfolio” is an interactive monodram in which an actress is trying to showcase her achievements and pitch herself to the audience. She is exposing the process of constructing a personal portfolio – a mask that we create in order to sell ourselves. It is not necessarily the picture we would like others to see but it is imposed on us by the reality. We have to show that we are successful, tick all the boxes – unique and different but within certain measures. The play develops from an official portfolio – collection of dates and links into more personal story – a real portfolio of life in which we see a genuine person who struggles, who’s work is affected by the history, politics and people around.

The topic is actually really close to my heart since the whole process of constructing portfolio to find clients or get hired is a story of my life. In fact I do it all the time creating my ‘on-line’ presence, even writing this blog. Although we have all those fantastic tools to express ourselves, somehow we are trapped by them…

The process of creating the animation which not only become a part of the set but also was an equal component of the play which acted together with the actress was a great challenge. It had to be simple enough not to draw to much attention but also interesting and surprising, so that the audience wasn’t bored. There were a lot of technical issues since the animated set was meant to be divided into two separate videos that were projected on different planes and at the times even onto moving objects. Also a few times the animated elements were becoming “real” props moved around the scene by the actress. So the entire set was meant to remind of an animated pop-up album of life.

The première was on the 27th of March in Łódź and from what I have heard (unfortunately couldn’t see it myself) it was a success in a way that it caused discussion and mixed reactions from the audience.

“Portfolio”,  KANA Theatre, direction: Weronika Fibich

…Once I receive some more photos and video I will make sure to upload them to My Portfolio.