《暗恋桃花源》
Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land
Set Design
Team: Sno Zhao, Ivy Chen, Chenxi Wang, Chuyuan Ning, Helina He
Role: Set Designer, Stage Manager
2019-2022
Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land is a renowned play in Mandarin, directed by Jinghui Meng. I redesigned this play with the Set Design team for Brown Chinese Drama Society. The play was on stage in the spring of 2022.
Exhibition:
The Color of My Land —— The Gelman Gallery,
RISD Museum, 2020
Stage Concept
(from Scene 7: Peach Blossom Land)
Plot Analysis & Design Concept︎︎︎
Originally written by Stan Lai (赖声川), this play starts with two drama troupes arranged to have a rehearsal at the same time by mistake; one of the workshops is playing the early-modern tragedy Secret Love, and the other one is playing the period comedy The Peach Blossom Spring based on a classical poem. Since they have only one stage for their rehearsals, issues and conflicts follow. Secret Love for the Peach Blossom Spring creates a unique experience of stage play by mixing up the costume and modern, sorrow and delight.
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Initial Plot Outline
Initial Plot Outline
Color Analysis︎︎︎
Scale Model︎︎︎
Final Concepts + Graphics︎︎︎
The language of "secret love" is depicted realistically with romantic lights and historical backdrops, while "Peach Blossom Spring" is portrayed with exaggerated and humorous features like off scaled peach blossoms.
Spatial Graphics
Image Credit: Yiwei ChenThe script of "Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land" offers a bold-structured, captivating storyline with intricate time and space elements. However, the text with specific imageries presented a challenge in finding opportunities for creative expression.
To overcome this, we streamlined the design to the big branch across and altering the hanging objects to enhance the scene's visual cues.
The gesture of hanging a huge tree branch in the blackbox has proven to be simple yet impactful, activating the space immediately.
Props & Construction︎︎︎
List of Props to Prepare
The use of steel pipes, long poles, and iron hooks provides a flexible and interchangeable system, transforming the black box into a more approachable installation-scale space.
The concept of "rehearsal" was emphasized by incorporating spontaneous marks on the ground, inspired by the imperfect state of the production two days before opening night.
Final Results︎︎︎
Date: 8-10 April, 2022
Location: T.F. Green Hall Downspace at Brown University
Response: Achieved 100% seat occupancy rate three days in a row.
Date: 8-10 April, 2022
Location: T.F. Green Hall Downspace at Brown University
Response: Achieved 100% seat occupancy rate three days in a row.
