The Marriage of Figaro

Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro whisks us through the events of one crazy day.

Figaro, the Count’s valet, tries to wed Susanna, the Countess’s maid, before their philandering master can bed her first.

Brought in to remake the original video design, we pulled certain elements from the set and costume design, and refined the storytelling, reducing the original video to it’s most important elements and re-filming others.

The servants, running around the stage avoiding their uncaring masters – the protagonists – have a greater presence. They appear during changes, dancing with the ever-present bull’s skulls and playing with the idea of the skulls as symbols of ownership or masculinity. The entire re-design makes use of the large, flat surfaces of the revolving set design, the skulls looming over the actions of the cast.

Client:
English National Opera

Location:
Colisseum, London, 2014

Services:
Video & Projection Design
Content Creation

Team:
Video Designer: Ian William Galloway
Assistant Designer: Bella Riza
Animator: Moira Lam
Editor: Will Casela

Production Credits:
Director: Fiona Shaw
Set and Costume Designer: Peter McKintosh
Lighting Designer: Jean Kalman

Photos:
© Mesmer