2D/3D Design for Theatre and Performance

This exhibition of ‘2D/3D Design for Theatre and Performance’ was the third in a series mounted by the Society of British Theatre Designers. It provided insights into the work of British designers working internationally, as well as in the United Kingdom, through an exploration of the relationship between the two-dimensional and three-dimensional processes through which design ideas are generated. In particular, it focussed on the point at which ideas move in to three dimensions and how this varies from one designer to another.

Burrows' design for ‘Mister Paul' by Tankred Dorst, which was directed by David Graham-Young and performed by the Contemporary Stage Company in October 2001 at The Old Red Lion, was included in the ‘Come Into My World' section of the exhibition. This section, as well as exploring process, demonstrated the variety of explorations undertaken by designers to blur the boundaries between performance space and audience. A significant feature of Burrows’ long standing collaborative relationship with Graham-Young at the Old Red Lion was researching ways in which the intimacy of the space might be exploited to create dynamic and engaging interactions between performer and audience. Burrows’ work on ‘Mister Paul’ illustrates the results of these experiments.

Burrows’ contribution to the exhibition included an interactive computer-based display with video footage that tracked the process of design realisation from initial ideas in 2D into the model box and through technical rehearsal into production. The exhibition was supported by Arts Council England and private sponsorship.

David Burrows Research Interests:

All aspects of theatre design and visual aspects of performance practice from the latter half of the twentieth century onwards especially.

Biography
David Burrows is a theatre designer who has worked extensively in the UK and Europe. Alongside his professional practice as a designer he has worked in higher education for more than thirty years and is now Head of the Theatre School at Wimbledon College of Art.

Current Research
'The Life and Work of Richard Negri' is a project to acquire key information and perspectives on the development of post-war theatre design, from the ideas and teaching methods developed at the Old Vic Theatre School under Michel Saint-Denis, where Negri studied after serving in the Royal Navy during the second world war, to Negri's design and building of the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester in 1977. The study also examines the dilemma in teaching and learning between the infallible guru (the Negri model) at one extreme, and the current student-centred norm at the other.

Long-term collaborators
Phil Young has worked with many designers in the course of his work in the UK and Europe (especially Germany) over the last thirty years, and has sustained his professional relationship with Burrows for twenty-two of these. They have collaborated on seven productions, from 'Crystal Clear' (Wyndhams, 1983) to Alistair Beaton's 'Feelgood' (The English Theatres in Vienna and Frankfurt) in 2005.
Alkis Kritikos is a Greek actor/director who has worked mainly in the UK, where he trained in the late 1970s. Burrows has collaborated on 10 of Kritikos' productions from 'Miss Julie' by Strindberg in 1981 (Sir Richard Steele, London) to 'Roast Beef' by Leah Vitali at Riverside Studios in 2004.

David Graham-Young is a more recent collaborator. A distinguished translator of contemporary play texts, particularly from Spanish, French, Portuguese and Polish, he is artistic director and founder of Contemporary Stage Company for which Burrows has designed the last five productions.

• http://www.davidburrows.com
• http://www.contemporarystage.co.uk