Professional Lighting & Production - Winter 2018 | Page 20

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how we dealt with a literal acknowledgement
of what happened – something that’s an artis-
tic abstraction of it, but, when you realize what
it is, it’s quite vivid.”
Additionally, a central turntable is set into
the floor and used in tandem with the chairs to
create movement between and within various
environments.
There is no video projection in the show.
The symbolism, emotional weight, and
settings are entirely represented by the set,
costumes, lighting and sound, and of course,
the actors and musicians.
“The trees are just a symbol,” Binkley rein-
forces. “They’re not reflected by any of the text
or anything in the show; it’s just a visual thing.
They are present throughout the show and
it’s really up to the audience to interpret what
they want out of that.”
The scenic elements and lighting equip-
ment were all sourced through PRG Scenic
Technologies.
Realism was an ongoing concern for Boritt
to the point that, in the initial Toronto run and
subsequent Broadway production, real trees
were used. “PRG actually sourced a place in the
Adirondacks and an arborist, so we got to go
out and say, ‘We want this tree and this tree,’
then he cut them down and we got them into
the shop where they flame treated and sealed
them so they wouldn’t leak and those kinds of
things.”
Boritt had wanted real trees from the out-
set. There were, of course, issues in using the
real thing, but, he says: “Once we actually got
them in there for the Toronto run, everyone
20 | Winter 2018
was like, ‘You’re right.’ The individuality of a tree
is like the individuality of a person. You can’t
create it as beautifully as it grows in nature.”
Boritt was working from a list of trees
native to Newfoundland, but his primary con-
cerns were size, shape, and a certain intangible
“feel.” “I love the live trees and fought hard to
get them for the New York production.”
For the current Toronto run, artificial rec-
reations are used. They are virtually indistin-
guishable from the real thing, and although
Boritt still wishes they were real, the challenges
that would present are prohibitive. “The
heaviest one weighs 6,000 pounds. They’re
cumbersome and you’ve got to haul them up
on a two-ton, or larger, chain motor. It takes
a while to get them into place and locked
down safely.” While that may be an option
for extended engagements, for a tour, it’s
certainly not. “The ones we’re building for the
U.S. tour are artificial trees that are made very
well, so I don’t know that people will know the
difference.”
That degree of attention, Boritt explains,
was a reaction to the subject matter. “We’re
dealing with such a raw, real event – I felt I
didn’t want theatrical artifice anyplace I could
avoid it. There is some, but as much as we can,
I just wanted to use real things.”
While theatre is an “artful representation”
of things, he adds: “In this particular case, it
was important to me because of the delicacy
of the subject matter.”
Overall, his approach was to treat the set
very much like an art installation. The planking
across the entire back wall was also real wood.
“We wanted to give it this weathered effect,
so we had it sandblasted with broken glass,
which wears it down like the rain would
over years,” he explains. “Again, you can use
plywood, paint grain onto it and get basically
the same thing, but it is different; the way real
wood reacts to light, the porous nature of real
wood fibre… There’s something special about
the real stuff.”
For touring purposes, again, the wall will
be of different construction, in order to be
durable enough to stand up to the rigors of
the road.
Impressive pieces notwithstanding, overall,
the set is a minimalist affair, meaning dialogue,
sound, and lighting must define location
changes very swiftly to be effective. “Let’s say
we walked into a bar and a bar light turns on.
It’s like a Shakespeare play in that sense. The
text tells you where you are, so the design is
able to support that in a more subtle way,”
shares Boritt. “The lighting changes are quite
dramatic, and I don’t know that if you just did
the [lighting] change without anything else
you’d know that you were on an airplane, but
when that’s coupled with someone saying, ‘We
were on an airplane,’ and the actor puts on a
pilot’s hat, it’s very clear where you are.”
Binkley’s job was, essentially, to carve
through the set to aid in the storytelling and
shepherd the audience’s attention along with
location and character changes. “It’s not like a
drop flies in and you do a scene downstage,
then it flies out to reveal something else. It’s
all one area,” the LD says. “We had to break it
down. There were many, many scenes in the