Shubhra Nayar
DESIGN IS THE BLOSSOMING CORE
This section is like a picture blog of processes (a whole host of projects were just a bit too crazy to get any pictures of ! ). In here you should find snippets of the fun stuff and the hard work thats gone into the Projects and the Productions. You'll probably also see all the amazing people behind the scenes that make my dream projects real.
Design Process 2014 -16
The Sprite of the Salt Deep - Process
The seed of this show was born in a studio in Wales in 2009. In 2012, Ariel was designed, and a hip, two legs, arms and wooden carved hands took shape.
In 2014, the script got rolling first on the waterfront of a historic city and then in a glass-house workshop in the hills of India. All the puppets were created in two weeks with rehearsals running simultaneously. The puppeteers, transient and resident to the city, were the stars of the show!
Sketches | Video and Production details
For the entire process visit The Sprite of the Salt Deep in retrospective real-time!
The Sprite of the Salt Deep - Process
The seed of this show was born in a studio in Wales in 2009. In 2012, Ariel was designed, and a hip, two legs, arms and wooden carved hands took shape.
In 2014, the script got rolling first on the waterfront of a historic city and then in a glass-house workshop in the hills of India. All the puppets were created in two weeks with rehearsals running simultaneously. The puppeteers, transient and resident to the city, were the stars of the show!
Sketches | Video and Production details
For the entire process visit The Sprite of the Salt Deep in retrospective real-time!
Aduni & the Watertutu - Process
Prior to the workshop and the show, the production team designed and created the basic structures of all the puppets with wood, wire and pvc piping. and the faces were made from papier mache and M-Seal over clay moulds.
The filling out of the basic structures, rendering of all the puppets and the faces, costumes for puppets and puppeteers and the sets and props were done in the Valley, during the workshop.
Here are one or two photos of each stage of development, as much as we could get in between the frantic work times!
Excercises with Puppeteering
Death & the Nightingale - Process
The various avatars of the Death puppet were conceptualized and designed through a mood-board of images, sketches and maquettes.
The Lantern Seller and the Warrior were the two main forms, while the Warrior puppet had three miniature multiples, typical of ancient mythical Chinese fighters!
The special people behind the scenes for Lady Death : Holly McCarthy for the beautiful costume of Death as Lantern Seller, Mary Drummond for her patience and guidance, Luned Aaron for stunning photos of the show.
This production with its team of 30 odd students and tutors, from design to realization and rehearsal took about 6 weeks.
Death & the Maiden - Process
The production of Death & the Maiden at Jagriti Theatre, was originally designed to have a projected video of a dramatic black and white drip to be used as the backdrop to the entire play - reflective of the the excruciating pace of the struggle for justice in countries like that of Dorffman's story.
The drip first experimented with at table top level, was then filmed for the production over a weekend. Tarsh Thekaekara, my husband and I worked on a board 6ft by 4ft across pouring paint along the top to achieve the effect I was looking for. Tariq Thekaekara, filmed the process and edited it.
Here are photos of the process and videos of the fun bits on the side - the amazing things that paint does when left to itself!
