Set designs for a revival of The Removalist by David Williamson, originally scripted in 1971 and performed at La Mama , Anne Louise Sarks directed this production at the Sumner Theatre in Southbank for The Melbourne Theatre Company. My brief from the director was to make the production unequivocally theatrical. There was an early decision to incorporate audience onstage to facilitate this, making the theatregoer constantly aware of the audience in its observer role.
NTRO Output Category
- Original Creative Work : Design / architectural Work
Place
Melbourne ,AustraliaVenue
The Sumner, Southbank TheatreNTRO Publisher
Melbourne Theatre CompanyMedium
set designResearch Statement
Set designs for a revival of The Removalist by David Williamson, originally scripted in 1971 and performed at La Mama, Anne Louise Sarks directed this production at the Sumner Theatre in Southbank for The Melbourne Theatre Company. My brief from the director was to make the production unequivocally theatrical. There was an early decision to incorporate audience onstage to facilitate this, making the theatregoer constantly aware of the audience in its observer role. Exploring themes of domestic violence, police brutality and misogyny we explore it relevance today without changing the time setting.
The fact that it debuted at the 34 seat La Mama Theatre fifty-four years ago made me aspire to make the vast space of the Sumner Theatre more intimate. To achieve this the space required some compression of the vast overhead void so a suspended lower lighting grid to halve its usual height was employed. I reduced the proscenium width to nine metres from twelve to also assist this idea. The audience on stage had the feel of a jury pressing the actors onto a sliver of a stage against the larger audience. The rear wall of the room was pulled back to include the onstage audience creating a traverse stage.
This was universally well reviewed with most common reference being how relevant the police and domestic violence and general misogyny is today and how this was so without changing the time of the setting to make it more relatable.
“The production is staged in traverse, with part of the audience up on stage staring back at us, reminding us that this is a play as much about witness as it is about violence itself. If the removalist (Martin Blum) allows the action to play out in front of him, so do we, silently implicated observers to barbarism and horror.”
“Set designer Dale Ferguson does a terrific job evoking the prosaic tawdriness of the police station and the functionality of Fiona and Kenny’s home, lit with efficiency by Niklas Pajanti.”
Tim Byrne
The Guardian 16 March 2025
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/mar/16/the-removalists-review-savage-Size or Duration of Work
1 hour 45 mins
