Set Design for Laura Wade’s ‘Breathing Corpses’ by UCD Dramsoc
with Jack O’Connor, Lisa Carroll and Tiarnán Fallon Verbruggen

Nominated for Best Set at the Irish Student Drama Association Awards, 2013

The play consists of 5 scenes in different locations; a hotel room, a self-storage facility, a kitchen, a garage, and a hotel room again.

With the idea of unpacking the story in mind the set unfolds to mirror the narrative of the play. Wade presents us with a series of seemingly disparate scenes, laying clues for us as audience members to assemble together into a whole.

The idea of apparent transparency and partial concealment was influenced by Director Lisa Carroll’s interest in ‘seeing and seeing again’.

Props and objects used throughout the play are left behind on the shelves of the set; as memories layered and weaved into the skeletal tapestry. 
4 ‘gates’ are used to distinguish between the various locations’ entrances.
Actors, as a storytelling troupe, sit on boxes (with their props within) to the rear of the framework, coming to life during choreographed scene changes. The collective ensemble setting the next scene.

The set is a magic box inspired by the impossible paradoxes illustrated by MC Escher. It is a toy, and a tool, to tell a tale.