The Lucknow Sentinel, 1986-07-30, Page 10e,t.
Page ll o ,Ltlekne x Sentinel, Wednesday, Zzaly 309 1986
Bijrih Festival set, costume designer has Ltuknow roots
By Man Rivett
As a setand costume designer at the
Blyth Festival Theatre this season, Slue
LePage has returned to her country roots.
Although she has, travelled across
Canada creating set designs for such prest-
igious theatres as the Stratford Festival
and is a native of Thornhill near Toronto,
she still has a special affinity for the
Lucknow area as many of her father's
descendants were from the village.
"My father's grandfather was William
Bickle wholived in the Lucknow area. He
was also related to the Pentlands who live
in the Dungannon area. My father has said
that William Bickle had run a Harness
Shop and a carriage business in Lucknow,.
reminisced the diminuitive blonde during?a.
recent interview with the Sentinelon the
goer for the Bl
Sue LePage,a set and costume designer Festival play Gone to Glory which
opened on July 15, has a number of family ties . to the Lucknow area as her great
grandfather once owned a harness shop and a carriage business In the village. Although
she's from. Thornhill. near Toronto, her parents still maintain a summer home in the
Southampton area.
[Man Rivett: photo)
lawn of the Blyth Festival.
The LePage family still has some ties
with the area, with many relatives living in
the Southampton area. Her parents still
own a summer home in the Southampton
area, she says.
In her first experience with set designing
for the Blyth Festival, she was given the
task of creating a set and costumes for the
latest play in the Myth season, Gone to
Glory, which opened on July 15.
She's happy to be at Blvth for the theatre
season and the , reasons are twofold.
Firstly, it gives her a chance to be reunited
with her husband Craig Gardner and her
daughter Molly. Craig is acting in the
Festival play, Lilly, Alberta. Also it has
given her a chance to, design sets for the
original, untried plays which Blyth is
famous for.
People place
"Blyth doesn't realize •it, but in the
theatre community it's a famous place as
it's well know for developing new works,"
she said.
"It's also a good 'people' place with a
pleasant working environment. People
tend to know you more than if you are
working in the cities."
Since working with theatre groups while
attending the University of Guelph in
1973, "she has led a somewhat nomadic life
in set designing for theatres across the
country. She received her start at the
Stratford Festival theatre as an assistant
designer .and has recently completed set
and costume design for Hamlet and Rosen-
crantz and, Guildenstern there.
"I love working there. It's one :of my
'theatre 'homes' as I started as an assistant
there. It is a big job and the organization is
so big that it's a real challenge," she said.
When designing a set for a particular
play, there's a long time needed to take an
abstract idea of the play and turn it into
concrete drawings of what the stage should
look like, says ,Ms. LePage.
Initially, the play is read to get a sense of
"what feelings and visual images it has for
you". After two or three readings, it's time
to go to the director of the play and find
out, in general terms, his intentions.for the
"At this stage, we would swap images
pulled.from the script. It's still 'pie in the
sky ideas'. We don't need to take about
priorities or budgets," she said.
R ugh sketches
In order to get some of these ideas down
on paper, the set designer would draw
some rough sketches to help get a better
concept of where the set design will end
up. Next, a more indepth reading of the
play is recrlired to find out what the
specific demands are, what props are
called for,, as part of the set,
Through all these more concrete steps in
the designing of a set, the director would
continue to be consulted in order to "tell
you if you're on the right track," she said.
Careful drawings would then be com-
pleted, as well as all the construction
drawings for the carpenters involved in the
actual building of the set. A scale model of
the set would also be completed.
After both the set and costume designs
have been approved by the director, the set
designer takes on a supervisor role to deal
with any problems which arise during the
construction of the set.
Resource person
"You act as resource person to straight -
t9 en out any problems while it is being built.
During rehearsals with the set, little
problems generally develop which requires
changes in the set. But, hopefully the
changes won't be too painful," she said.
Overall, the whole designing process
takes "no less than six to seven weeks".
"You have to start well in advance.
Right now, I'm. working ' on things that
won't, happen until Christmas," she said.
For the play Gone -to .Glory, Ms. LePage
said her biggest task -was to "strike a
balance" between the beautiful British
Columbia landscape where the play is set,
and. the wet, damp forest where two old
women in the play live, in a log cabin.
"What , I tried to do with the set is to
strike a balance.: The play is a cornedy3:but
the characters are poor and they're not
always funny. Their situation is sad.
"I wanted to give the audience the
feeling of a British Columbia forest which
is both ; rich and picturesque. But, . the
play. *Turn to page 15
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