Something Caught My EYE
I recently saw a production of ISAAC'S EYE at the Ensemble Studio Theatre, and, while the play was great, there's a particular aspect of the experience on which I'd like to ruminate, here. Since we aren't exactly a site that reviews theatre, I'm not going to discuss the strengths of the play, itself, instead choosing to bring to the forefront an aspect of theatre commonly left unnoticed, using ISAAC'S EYE as a, well, lens.
The staging of the piece, surely created after great amounts of work by scenic designer Nick Francone and technical director Derek Dickinson (et al., I'm sure), creates a theatrical space that, when viewed from a bird's eye perspective, can only be truly appreciated as a work of fine art. Not just the set, but the placement of chairs, the empty space behind them, and the glorious column that occupies the center of the EST main stage, are all brushstrokes in what comes together to be a fantastic painting of clever design.
I can't do justice to the work of the EST team, but I'll try to describe what the ISAAC'S EYE folks have set up: A small stage area up front, not raised, where actors are essentially up against a bare wall that is garnished with an oft-used chalkboard for a lot of the show's action. The audience seating, on risers, form a V-shape as they extend from the "wings" of the staging area towards the column at the center of the space. So, the stage and the seating (in a V) ultimately take up about half of the net staging area of the EST main stage. Thus, behind the audience, lies the empty other half of the space, which audience members can file in and out of with plenty of room. Imagine something like this:
____ <--stage
V <--seating
O <--column (actually at the vertex of the V)
____
____ <--empty space
As I said, I can't do it justice, except to say, see the play to take this in for yourself. But, before you do, let me elaborate on why this is novel. There are two reasons:
One, the EST design team have applied imagery worthy of a great painter. ISAAC'S EYE is, in brief, about Isaac Newton and his famous experiment in which he put a needle in his tear duct to (as the play speculates - we don't know the real reason) bend his eye in such a way that he could distort the light absorbed on the retina. The brilliance of this set design is that it seats us directly in the eyeball. "Where's the subject?" Well it's that stage that's right in front of you. "Where's the retina?" You're it. "And, most importantly, where's the needle?" See that column over there? The one right behind you, bending you toward it? There it is. "Is it distorting your view at all?" Actually, seeing such a close stage on such a slant does kind of change my perspective, yes. "Good. That's the play. At a glance." Behind this eyeball theatre is the brain, the void, the place where you and your friends come and go, topping off this most apt metaphor.
Two, the second act of the play utilizes a very important symbol. I won't elaborate, except to say that the figure is one of a Y with two strikes across the stem. Imagine the symbol used to denote the Yen. That's it. Now, take another look at this stage set up: Seats in a V formation, empty space behind where two strikes could easily run perpendicular, and, wait a minute, where's the stem? Oh yeah, it's us. All the symbol of this show needs, then, to be complete, is its audience. And don't we all, ISAAC'S EYE? Don't we all.
The goldmine of artistic merit that rests in this design is up there with a Van Rijn or a Turner. It essentially gives you the play, before you've even seen the thing. This is perhaps the greatest example of smart set/house design that I've ever had the pleasure of digesting. Don't cast it off into the wings. Appreciate the artistry of such a seemingly functional set-up. The text has been rightly lauded in many outlets, but this hasn't. And it's a shame. What are all those pesky words, anyway, in the face of this masterful image?
(Note: Of course "those pesky words" matter a lot - I'm just being snobbish because this is a blog and I feel like I should be in-line with the standard.)
