Allegra FitzHerbert // stage design

Set and costume designer. This is a mix of costume pieces, set designs and installations as well as development work, sketches and paintings. This is an exposition of my own work, so all images belong to me unless indicated otherwise.

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I LOVE MY LOVE by Fay Weldon

Set and costume design.

A play about a life swap that becomes a wife swap, charting the relationships between two very different couples. The emphasis in the set design was to visually portray the blurring of boundaries as the couples exchanged roles, while firmly establishing their differences; the colour palette of reds, browns and blacks was maintained in the costume design, and reflected the transfer of roles as the play progressed.

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I Love my Love by Fay Weldon, directed by Tara Newton-Wordsworth

Set, props and costume design by Allegra FitzHerbert

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I Love my Love by Fay Weldon directed by Tara Newton-Wordsworth

Set, props and costume design by Allegra FitzHerbert

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BIG BROTHER BLITZKRIEG written and directed by Hew Rous-Eyre and Max Elton.

Costume and set design for a satirical comedy about Hitler entering the Big Brother house. As we were working off a set for a show on just beforehand, our set had to be put up and removed efficiently and quickly before and after each show, so this was the focus when thinking of the set design.

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Costume sketches for Big Brother Blitzkrieg

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GOD’S EAR by Jenny Schwartz

Directed by Colm Summers

Set design by Allegra FitzHerbert. Premise: everything happening on stage space, allowing for simultaneity of action. Also no masking or flats, an open space. A hybrid undefined place- elements of stark airport decor fused with wildness and the outdoors. A dreamworld.

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God’s Ear design ideas and modelbox of final set design

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Lifedrawing bits

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GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES

by Rajiv Joseph. Directed by Anushka Senanayake

Costume and Set design for The Lir, Studio 2, June 2015.

Two-hander. Chronology of scenes mixed up, so in every odd scene the characters regressed in age. Costume changes and make-up (injuries) took place on stage, so costumes had to be simple, with tricks such as layering and reversible clothes to make transitions easier for the actors. A tight colour palette of greens, oranges and yellows (mainly pastels), using the same colours as in the set.

Set design: the premise was to create a space which encapsulated the characters’ relationship, bringing together fracture and fragility, but also a sense of harmony and balance for occasional moments. The play opened with an oversized climbing frame through which two hospital beds were arranged to look like a single very long bed. The fusion of the clinical and the playful was important, and was reflected in the pastel colour palette and in the set; there were pale green muslin curtains surrounding the climbing frame like in a hospital, while at the back was one long sweep of blackboard.

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Gruesome Playground Injuries ideas and modelbox

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Gruesome Playground Injuries costume ideas and sketches. Changes had to happen onstage so had to be quick, reusing and layering garments as much as possible. FOr instance school shirt in scene 1 same bloody shirt as in scene 2. For ex skirt in scene 1 used until scene 3; a reversible skirt; velcro instead of buttons on shirts used.

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Gruesome Playground Injuries by Rajiv Joseph. Directed by Anushka Senanayake.

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THE GHOST SONATA

by August Strindberg

Set Design

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Initial notes; Final modelbox and figures for The Ghost Sonata

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SET DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE DESIGN FOR POEM BLACK ROSES BY SIMON ARMITAGE.

The poem tells the true story of a hate crime committed against a couple who identified as goths; the girl, Sophie Lancaster, later died in a coma from injuries she sustained. It is told in the first person from her point of view, as she lies in a coma.

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Set design inspired by the poem Black Roses. The poem is told in the first person, delving into the mind of a coma victim. This is a visualisation of how she might tell her story on stage. MFA project 2015.