Scenographic thinking is heterotopic. Possible scenography, heterotopia, and retracing an unruly archive: the intersection of design and scenography in expert theatre practice

This PhD by Public Works argues for ‘scenographic thinking’ within design methodologies, integrating embodied practice and process. It presents a conceptual framework of ‘heterotopias’, expanding Michel Foucault’s premise, to argue for ‘scenotopia’ as a new and original contribution to the Theatre and Performance lexicon, addressing the current gap in knowledge which exists at the intersections of theatre design and scenography in practice. In examining my process driven practice-as-research I isolate the concept of ‘scenographics’ and ‘scenographic thinking’ as central to my practice, where ‘scenography’ encompasses both a design practice and a discovery method and an investigative analysis of the potential of scenographics.

I draw on my personal archive of thirty years of theatre design scenographic practice, investigating publications containing the works, the published plays, and museum study collections where works are held. Drawing on the work by Joanne Tompkins (20I4) I apply the Foucauldian lens of heterotopias to my practice. The work of Rachel Hann (2019, 2023), Joslin McKinney and Philip Butterworth (2015), Joslin McKinney and Scott Palmer (2017) and theories of theatre, scenography, and design related discourse (Lawson 2004, 2006, 2009; Cross 2023) elucidate the ideas and practices that my work builds on.

I advocate scenographic thinking, as defined by Platform Scenography (ten Bosch, Groot Nibbelink, Mann and Scholts (2013), as connected to thinking-drawing (Burnett 2014; Field 2021). I argue scenographic thinking as the design practice for conceptualizing ‘possible scenography’ and for producing an assemblage that is called a set design. Whereupon the direction, lighting, and sound design join to craft the scenography – as ‘performance scenography’. Thinking scenographics is thinking about possible performance scenography.

This thesis activates scenographic thinking about past practice as strategies for making and reading scenography, as both provocation and a guide for other theatre practitioners, designers in other fields. A lens to read and curate theatre and theatre design and methods to retrace practice through scenographic thinking and design theories.