Details

Abstract / Summary

Tanya Moiseiwitsch's theatre costume and set designs are particularly significant within Canadian theatre because of her association with and assistance in the development of the Stratford Festival. Her costume creations for Stratford spanned a period of 32 years and influenced numerous designers who followed. Through her association with the Festival, Moiseiwitsch contributed to the 20th century transplantation of British design tradition to North America. Moiseiwitsch's position within that tradition was clarified by tracing the development of the designer role in British theatre. Beginning in the mid 1930s, she helped to shape a more metaphorical, less decorative-oriented design approach, emphasizing a collaborative production process and incorporating aspects of Gordon Craig and Adolphe Appia's design theories. Studies pertaining to Tanya Moiseiwitsch's theatrical experience have described some of the strong and consistent characteristics in her work (Behl, 1981; Blom, 1982; Bundick, 1979; Stuart, 1974). The purpose of this study was to identify Tanya Moiseiwitsch's application of colour in Shakespearean costume designs and to add to our understanding of costume colour and characterization relationships. By examining selected costume designs from two Shakespeare plays, All's Well That Ends Well and Romeo and Juliet, created by a variety of designers in Britain, Canada and the United States, it was possible to distinguish Tanya Moiseiwitsch's approach to colour and characterization. Costume designs from selected theatres in all three countries were colour coded using the Pantone Professional Colour System to ensure accuracy in colour readings. Colour charts for each character provided a visual reference from which to establish characterization and colour relationships.Using established colour associations compiled by Pantone, costume colour and character interpretations were correlated. By researching numerous designers' applications of colour for the selected characters in the two productions, it was possible to determine pervasive cultural colour attributes existing both geographically and temporally. The research findings indicate that Moiseiwitsch's palette for these plays favored a low to medium hue saturation with an emphasis on the warm colour spectrum. Overall she applied a colour coding similar to that used by the other designers, but often used different hues having similar associative meaning.

Field of Interest

Theatre

Author

Cecile M. Clayton-Gouthro, 1945-

Content Type

Essay

Duration

0 sec

Format

Text

Page Count

382

Publication Year

1994

Publisher

University of Manitoba

Place Published / Released

Winnipeg, MB

Subject

Costume design, Theatre, Music & Performing Arts, Shakespearian Theater, Staging and Design, Tanya Moiseiwitsch, 1914-2003, Costume design, Teatro Shakepeareano, Teatro de Shakespeare, Cenografia e Design, Escenografía y Diseño

Keywords and Translated Subjects

Teatro Shakepeareano, Teatro de Shakespeare, Cenografia e Design, Escenografía y Diseño