Set Designer brief for:
I AM BEAST
The Role
To design and build a set for I AM BEAST, which premieres on May 24th with some re-development time in June and July to bring the play to Edinburgh this year, performing at Pleasance Courtyard. London previews are on the 10th – 12th of July
I AM BEAST is a new play by Sparkle and Dark about what happens when the wilder and darker parts of our mind to take control and transform our own realities. How far will we go? And who will be the one to pull us back?
Job Description
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We are looking for a dedicated and reliable set designer to design and build the set for I AM BEAST.
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This role will involve working alongside director Shelley Knowles-Dixon and writer Louisa Ashton during this rehearsal period to provide designs inspired by the script.
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The successful applicant will also be required to build a practical and durable set ready for daily use at the Fringe. This means it will need to be fast to assemble and strike.
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It would ideal for the set to be built in time for the show première on 24th May.
We will continue to rehearse in June and July in order to take the show to the Edinburgh Fringe Therefore, there is an option for set build and design to continue beyond the May première in time for our London previews at The Pleasance in Islington on 10th - 12th July. We would expect the selected set designer to be available during this time to adjust and complete the set design/build in preparation for Edinburgh.
We are looking for an inventive and reliable designer who has experience creating sets that are transformative in nature. More through light and shadow, rather than moving parts. The play will be balancing on a fine line between reality and the inner fantasy world of an adolescent girl. This fantasy world of her creation is inspired by the graphic novels and comic books she is obsessed by. The set will need to reflect this duality - a concept that will continue to be developed throughout the rehearsal process.
The Show
After Ellie loses her mother, her world falls apart. She seeks solace in the comic books that she has loved since before she can remember. Drawn to their flickering pages of colour and adventure, Ellie discovers a way to create a new world for herself inside her imagination. A world built on violence and redemption, where virtue is born from sin and where she gets to decide who lives or dies. Then she meets him. He just appears one day and he's not going away. At first it is just like a game where she makes the rules, but the deeper Ellie and ‘The Boy’ go, the more strange things start to happen, until the walls between her two worlds begin to crumble.
The play features experimental light play and innovative life sized Bunraku style puppetry, set to a live musical score, overlaying acoustic and electronic instruments with looped sound.
I AM BEAST is currently being developed with support from an Arts Award from the Wellcome Trust and funding from the Arts Council.
Fee: £1200
There is a separate materials budget for this project. Build space and potentially a build assistant can be available.
Applications
Please send us a cover letter to info@sparkleanddark.com explaining your interest in the project and highlighting relevant previous work. Please also include your email address and phone number as we may be meeting people this week.