The processes involved in being a theatre designer are often very difficult to describe to people. When I’m asked how I got into this profession, people are surprised when I say I finished university with a doctorate in mathematics and took it from there. Their immediate reaction is that somehow the mathematics must help me with measurement and making things the right size. Actually mathematics at university level rarely uses numbers above three, but what it does do (in common with other subjects) is to order your mind in a particular way. And the way with mathematics is such that it helps you to solve problems – and that is at the heart of theatre design.

When Ellen Kent approached me to design a setting for her new project touring five operas around the UK and Ireland, I was more than a little sceptical about getting involved. When I worked at Holland Park I had been asked to produce single settings to cope with just two operas and that was a tall order. We met and she talked of sweeping curves of arches, columns and statues, staircases and balustrades, opulence and grandeur, magnificent, elegant, classic, tasteful and enchanting. The individual operas were rarely mentioned. I began to see that this was not to be a ‘normal’ job (when is it ever?) and that Ellen had a different kind of problem that needed solving.

We weren’t talking about creating a specific world where say Carmen or Tosca could live, more about creating a space where grand opera could take place. A space that is itself a character, but what kind of character? I was mindful here of the difference between Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine. Olivier would assume accents, spend hours in make-up and invent peculiar traits to find his characters. Michael Caine is always Michael Caine. He might wear a costume but is patently recognisable. Our setting needed to be ‘Michael Caine’ – clothable yes, but always with its own identity manifest.

The grandeur of classical architecture is an obvious choice as a source. Ellen had already chosen the character of ‘Amphitheatre’ to name her new company, so I immersed myself in classical entertainment spaces – The Colosseum, The Circus Maximus and many of the wonderful Greek & Roman Theatres that are the precursors of our own stages. All designers are magpies, stealing little gems from here and there, and gradually the elements of the setting emerged as a new form. My hope is that this will provide Ellen with the scope to stage these pieces with drama and dynamism and to create the spectacular stage pictures that these grand operas deserve.

Written by Will Bowen