Axis Studios talks designing all things Equus
The twin sisters, Isabel and Moriah Curley-Clay, behind Axis Studios Design have taken on the set design as well as costumes for the upcoming Equus at Actor’s Express. This talented duo has already won multiple awards, including two Suzi Bass Awards for their work on Avenue Q and The Mikado. Now, with opening night approaching, they are talking all things Equus: powerful themes, handling character horses on stage, and the truth behind this impactful show.
Q. Equus is a play that tackles a lot of topics and images in a small amount of theatre time. What was the biggest challenge in using the themes to your advantage and making sure that the audience truly grasped everything from a visual standpoint?
A. The play itself is very strong simply in the language. The theme that we most talked about in the pre-production meetings was ritual. Ritual in everyday life, in mental illness, in religion. During the design process we went through several drafts where we were thinking about the space as simply a ritual space. Eventually we dialed that back to have the space represent the temple in Dysart’s world. There are also references to other ritual spaces, especially pagan and ancient world ritual spaces. Our job as designers is to visually help tell the story, but we don’t want to force the audience to a certain conclusion or hit the audience over the head with a symbolic design that can cause them to disconnect mentally from the story. That said, there is a lot of subtle symbolism that becomes more apparent as you listen to the text. The flexible floor plan helps us deal with the worlds/scenes flowing into and crossing over each other.
Q. Was it difficult to come to the decision about what to do about the horses?
A. Well, we went through a few versions with the director. They’re not supposed to be realistic horses so that is fun. We went through a lot of research on masks from various cultures to give us some inspiration. We had one designed and once we got into rehearsal the Director asked for some alterations. This is not unusual but since the Prop Person is actually building them we had to revise fast and email some material samples around to get at a set idea fast enough that they could be implemented in time. At the beginning of the whole process we had an idea for the horses that involved less clothing but that depended on who the cast was going to be and whether they were all male etc… The horses are being played by some of the theatre’s acting interns which is great, but our initial idea wasn’t really an option with the female cast members. I think what we ended up with suits the production well.
Q. For scene design, I feel like this would be one of this plays where it would be hard to straddle the line of minimalist and realist. How did you handle this? And what was your biggest inspiration or influence for your designs?
A. We had several discussions with David Crow ( the director) about what was going on and where they were. We all felt that in the end we are actually in the mental ward and that the majority of the other scenes are either memories of real places or dreamlike/hallucinations in some way or other. Also there is a lot of ritual in the script and we wanted to incorporate that in some way as well. We settled on a simple, very flexible floor plan with a background that initially looks like it could be a realistic interpretation of the mental ward. We also got some symbolism in there. There is a border mural that has some of the pagan imagery from Dysart’s dreams. Also, the outer layers are more abstract and incorporate visual clues from other parts of the play. As the play progresses the boundaries blend and the realism dissolves into something else. We do a lot of evocative research at the start of our design process. One of the images that was the strongest to us was also really strong to David. That was an ink blot image that I swear there is a frontal view of a horse head coming out of it! It is disturbing and so relevant, it became a large part of the visual.
Q. When Equus ran on Broadway, the nudity involved seemed to become a fixation and the story itself almost fell behind. Was this a worry, and how did you handle this when sex is such a large part of the disfunction and confusion with the main character, Alan?
A. It hasn’t been an issue for anyone. The cast is so strong you get so drawn into the story that the nudity seems like a natural part of the evolution.
Q. The play is based on playwright Peter Schaffer’s reaction to the true story of a 17-year-old boy blinding horses. Was it difficult to portray this violent act and yet make it as impactful as Schaffer saw it?
A. Its so horrifying when you realize that happened. . . We are just getting into tech and adding all of the elements together, but even in the run through we saw this week, in no costumes and fluorescent lighting that moment has a lot of impact. The physicality of the actors in that moment is really interesting.
