Exhibition
Professional Designers
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Andrea Carr
The Chairs
Selected Category: Set Design
Category: Set Design
Design Statement
A prescient work by Ionesco set in a post-apocalyptic future surrounded by rising toxic sea. Extant's casting of blind actors creates an exciting interpretation of this classic. Inside a fantastical dilapidated research station, an Old Man awaits his guests and the Orator who will impart his urgent message. Concealed entrances within the set are revealed as an Old Woman finds chairs for the arriving invisible guests, bringing in over forty progressively corroded chairs, culminating in a single chair leg being pulled from a pipe. Created for sighted and non-sighted audiences, the design enhances themes of ecological crisis, entropy and system failure. Textured zones and interactive elements provide navigational aides for the actors and enhance the experience for visually impaired audiences through touch tours. From the onset the model's exaggerated surfaces enabled the director and actors to access the design. A closed-loop design made from reclaimed materials sourced from Scenery Salvage.
Gallery
Andrea Carr
Andrea Carr, scenographer, artist and performance maker, enjoys working across a broad spectrum of the performing arts. First class B.A Nottingham Trent University, M.A Slade School Of Fine Art both in Theatre Design. Her design for HOAX Stuck made from discarded festival waste has been selected for publication in The Aesthetica Art Prize Anthology '17. Co-founded Terabac to create work around the ecological crisis, previewing new material at Brighton Fringe Festival this year.
Recent projects include: The Chairs by Eugene Ionesco for Extant, Nodus Tollens DH Ensemble at Liberty Festival Olympic Park using recycled /repurposed clothes and objects, After Little Stitches an artwork about FGM, exhibited Red Gallery and WOW Festival South Bank Centre with ForwardUK. Her work has been seen; Kew Gardens, Somerset House, Bath Theatre Royal, Riverside Studios, ICA, Lycée International Paris and international street theatre festivals. She has worked on new writing, reinterpreting classics with Hull Truck, opera, dance, circus Ra Ra Zoo, and poet Roger McGough at Purcell Room QEH. Participatory and educational projects include: ENO, Philharmonia Orchestra, Glyndebourne, ETO, Opera North, South Bank Centre. Co-founded The EcoStage Pledge, an online initiative promoting sustainability in the performing arts sector launched at ArtCop21.
Recent projects include: The Chairs by Eugene Ionesco for Extant, Nodus Tollens DH Ensemble at Liberty Festival Olympic Park using recycled /repurposed clothes and objects, After Little Stitches an artwork about FGM, exhibited Red Gallery and WOW Festival South Bank Centre with ForwardUK. Her work has been seen; Kew Gardens, Somerset House, Bath Theatre Royal, Riverside Studios, ICA, Lycée International Paris and international street theatre festivals. She has worked on new writing, reinterpreting classics with Hull Truck, opera, dance, circus Ra Ra Zoo, and poet Roger McGough at Purcell Room QEH. Participatory and educational projects include: ENO, Philharmonia Orchestra, Glyndebourne, ETO, Opera North, South Bank Centre. Co-founded The EcoStage Pledge, an online initiative promoting sustainability in the performing arts sector launched at ArtCop21.
Email Address: andrea@andreacarr.co.uk
Theatre Company Extant
The Premiere Date of Production 2014-04-16
The Premiere Space of Production Arena Wolverhampton
Author Eugene Ionesco Translation Martin Crimp
Director/ Choreographer Maria O'Shodi
Set Designer Andrea Carr
Lighting Designer Steven Lowe
Costume Designer Andrea Carr
Sound Designer Peter Boshier
Other Creative Collaborator/s
Assistant Director: Julie Osmon
Choreographer: Aidan Treays
Performers:
Old Woman: Heather Gilmore
Old Man: John Wilson Goddard
