|
|
 |
| |
Lisa Wright in the wings during RSC rehearsals |
In the world of the play
Artist Lisa Wright spent two years with the RSC working on a project on the Bard’s history plays, now at the Roundhouse, writes Dan Carrier
FREEWHEELING his bicycle along the Prince of Wales Road one morning proved to be an unexpected source of inspiration for Royal Shakespeare Company set designer Tom Piper.
Mr Piper was putting the finishing touches to an RSC production of The Tempest at the Roundhouse two years ago when he spotted some paintings hanging in the windows of the Beardsmore, a small independent gallery.
He was so struck by the oil paintings he returned later and asked for the painters details – and eventually gave artist Lisa Wright a unique, two-year artist-in-residence project while the company prepared to return to the Roundhouse with The Histories this spring.
The result is a series of works covering the rehearsal period of the production, and, as Mr Piper explains, Lisa’s paintings offer a different medium to enjoy Shakespeare.
Mr Piper recalls: “As I cycled to the venue, her strong figurative work caught my eye through the window of the gallery. The pictures were of babies and toddlers caught with great vivacity but completely devoid of sentimentality on large, six-foot square canvases. To my mind, her work chimed perfectly with my own sense of what theatre design is about.
“The theatre designer creates the world of the play. The combination of words brought to life by the actors and the suggestive power of props, costumes or scenic elements can transport us to the battle fields, prisons, court and towers.”
And for Lisa, who has exhibited at Tate Cornwall and is a regular contributor to the Royal Academy’s summer exhibition, the chance to work with the RSC provided an “inspirational” subject matter.
“I was asked if I wanted to work on a production of Hamlet but the timescales were not right – I would have only had three months,” she says. “But they asked me to work on this project over a two-year period and that gave me the time I needed.”
She did not know what to expect when she started. She recalls: “As soon as I went to one of the rehearsals I thought the idea was astonishing. To watch them rehearse was an astonishing experience.”
Her schedule started with doing sketches and drawings and followed the company from London to Stratford Upon Avon as rehearsals increased. As she got to know the plays better, she brought in larger easels and begun to create much bigger works.
“I began to work on more substantial pieces,” she says. “I wanted to ensure they felt monumental.”
• 12 of Lisa Wright’s large paintings from the RSC residency are on display in the exhibition area of the Roundhouse while her sketches
and smaller works are being exhibited at the Beardsmore Gallery from April 3 - May 23.
22-24 Prince of Wales Road, NW5.
020 7485 0923. www.beardsmoregallery.com/
The RSC Histories are being performed at the Roundhouse in April and May, starting with Richard II on April 1. 0844 482 8008. www.roundhouse.org.uk/ |
|
|
|
|
|
