The Ladies of the Camellias images
This design, by Allen and Dina, is leading to a really lovely set. The Upstage portion represents a 19th-century set, and everybody today thinks of 19th-century stage sets as, above all, busy. We can do that. At right you see the Stage Left wall, with the marble surround and fireplace. The next page in this series will show the mantelpiece that stands up against this and completes the look.
Well, not quite completes. The huge frame over the mantel will get a portrait of, who else, Sarah Bernhardt. The frame is one that Cal and Andy and I made for Six Degrees of Separation a couple of summers ago. Andy built a stretcher for the canvas that Kelly used to paint it.
Recall Allen's concept of these walls: The real set is 14 feet tall, but in our house you can only see the bottom 9 feet 6 inches of it. That's why some features extend way up into the grid; they'll disappear into the gloom.
The second photo shows the Center and Stage Right parts of the Upstage set. This will be Marguérite's sitting room, at a moment (the afternoon before Sra. Duse's performance of The Lady of the Camellias) when everything has been loaded into the Paris playhouse but the full set hasn't yet been moved into place for the show.
The door and window will be richly curtained, and of course the floor will have a huge rug. Most everything else is in place by now, and our last weekend will see the floor painted. The Table stands before the window; I think in this photo it must have had its rear feet on some object, because The Table doesn't really lean forward that way. A second table, really nasty old yard-sale thing, will go in an alcove just outside the frame at your left with writing materials.
The next page will show some things you'll see when the production goes up, as well as one thing you mostly won't be able to see. (The physical gags are not ready to photograph; visit these pages again in a week or so.)
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