SET DESIGN BY SADAR+VUGA

The stage set for the opera performance of Leos Janacek's "Aus einem Totenhaus" ( FROM THE HOUSE OF DEAD)  is the hardware of the performance. The stage set is developed as an abstract machine and does not aim to look for direct references to the libretto itself. It is an instrument used by the director to produce time and spatial sequences of the action on the stage. The instrument consists of four white movable platforms of dimension 12x4 m. Platforms are set one above the other, fixed on the sides to anthracite grey access towers with ramps and attached with steel ropes for flights of the stage tower. On each platform, there is one big hole of 1.6 m diameter and four small holes of 0.8 m diameter. These holes are located on platforms in such a way that when juxtaposed there is always a slight shift between the holes on the upper and lower platform. Through raising and lowering of platforms, movement and the reaction of actors to platform moving, changes in the illumination of spaces appearing between platforms, projections to the edges of platforms and into the spaces between them and, of course, the sound waving of the opera music, the director establishes audiovisual software, the effects of which generate a new perceptual experience for the spectator. The stage set, the instrument, occupies the whole front of the stage, erases the third dimension, depth and thus emphasizes sectional and vertical spatial sequences of the performance.