Collaborative Spectacle: Designing The Merchant in the Ghetto
abstract
Karin Coonrod describes Compagnia de’ Colombari as an ‘international collective’ that ‘generates spectacle wherever we go’ – a collaboration of energy, creativity and theatricality nourished by different cultures, histories, traditions, disciplines and techniques. In this chapter we hear from three theatre makers whose collaborative work on The Merchant ‘in’ Venice shaped the ‘spectacle’ of this production. Designing its costumes (Stefano Nicolao), music (Frank London) and lighting (Peter Ksander), they established how this production looked and sounded and designed a world for the actors to inhabit.
Keywords: The Merchant of Venice • Designing Shakespeare • Costume design • Theatre design • Music design • Site-specific design • Compagnia de’ Colombari • Lighting design