Adrienne Smook and Braden Griffiths in Sage Theatre’s production of Scorched

DETAILS

Scorched presented by Sage Theatre
Pumphouse Theatre
Thursday, November 19 - Saturday, December 5

More in: Theatre

When you enter a theatre, the last thing you expect to feel is the gritty crunch of sand beneath your feet. But that’s exactly what you’ll find with Sage Theatre’s production of Wajdi Mouawad’s Scorched — the largest production in Sage’s 12-year history.

Veteran set designer Terry Gunvordahl loves giving audiences a dose of the unexpected.

“I have a bit of a reputation for screwing with the space,” he says laughing, “but not at the risk of the show.”

The space is the Joyce Doolittle Theatre, the smaller of The Pumphouse’s two theatres, which houses the historic pump — a design challenge all its own.

Moreover, the locational demands of Scorched are heavy. “It’s a play that takes you all over the world,” says director Kelly Reay. Well, it takes the audience to Montreal and some (deliberately) un-named country in the Middle East.

The play tells the story of twins Janine and Simon, who, upon the death of their mother, fulfil a request set out in her will to deliver letters to a father who they thought long dead, and to a brother they never knew existed. In doing so, they discover their mother’s secret past.

Mouawad was born in Lebanon in 1968. After civil war broke out there in 1975, he and his family fled to France and, in 1983, came to Canada. He has developed a critically acclaimed career in Quebec as a playwright, winning the Governor General’s Award for Drama in the French-language category.

Gunvordahl embraces the global challenge presented by Scorched, creating “an emotional space rather than a specific space.” He didn’t want to make a “doorknobs and doilies” set, as he calls the more traditional fare he designs.

“It’s going to be all-encompassing, it’s going to surround them, it’s going to evoke a feeling,” he says.

To help achieve that end, Gunvordahl is bringing in a dump truck of sand from Burnco. “The way the sand is going to be used within the show is evocative of the Middle East and of the show. Sand creates an immediate, visceral response that is a lot like the writing. Things can be buried in sand,” says Gunvordahl.

However, using sand raises a whole host of other considerations. First of all, the crew has to lay a subfloor, so the sand doesn’t damage the theatre floor. They have to make sure the sand doesn’t get dry and dusty, giving it the potential to damage the theatre’s technical equipment, not to mention the actors’ throats. So, a nightly spray is part of the show’s ritual.

The crew also has to ensure the sand stays in the theatre. As such, a carpeted floor mat has been laid down to capture the sand before it’s tracked into the lobby.

“Technical achievements free up the playwright to tell a story that isn’t limited by 19th -century design. There’s a lot more ways to tell a story without having to be real,” says Gunvordahl.

Of course, with these changes in how stories are told, the job of the traditional set designer also evolves; no longer are they responsible only for creating windows and doors. Gunvordahl sees the role of a set designer as taking on a deeper meaning.

“Designers can explore things other than place, what’s going on in characters’ heads, relationships…. It really gives you freedom. It insists you do look deeper,” he says.

Also, because the tools available to today’s set designer are always evolving, it’s important to keep on top of technology. “You have to keep up with what’s going on and involve yourself in the whole community,” he says.

Gunvordahl says he is always careful to respect the intent of the playwright. Because Mouawad is specific about depicting Montreal, the set design will echo that. However, much of that specificity has been created with other design elements available, especially the use of video images. And because Gunvordahl is taking a more abstract approach to the set, costume design has also played an important role in defining location — demonstrating once again the importance of collaboration in theatre.

For inspiration, Gunvordahl consulted pictures depicting the Middle East.

“You see tents, clothing and refugee camps in the middle of the desert that all have that same tattered, torn, wind-wrecked, ravaged look. That’s what I’m trying to create,” he says.

As such, Gunvordahl has incorporated a second major visual element into the show: a giant piece of seamless muslin that’s 150-metres long by 3-metres wide, which he ordered from a theatrical fabrics store based in New Jersey.

“I wanted to look at it (the set) with much broader strokes, in terms of textures and colours, because it is a show that is epic in its feel,” he says.

Epic indeed if previous reviews are anything to go by.

As one Globe and Mail reviewer said: “If the gods were just, this heart-wrenching wonder would tour on forever.