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THUMBELINA

My intentions for this production aim to modernise the story by placing it in an urban setting, providing a critical perspective on the world we live in as a contemporary society. My focus therefore will be pollution and environmental awareness in the contemporary urban landscape. 

As the cast will be made up of tiny, thumb size Thumbelina and a supporting cast of insects and other small creatures, scale will play a vital role in my design approach. Waste and litter will serve as inspiration for my costume design, as if the creatures have become one with the polluted environment in which they live. For this reason, set design will feature heavily in this reimagining, creating a macro snapshot of the tiny world the characters live in with a focus on utilising theatre-in-the-round with the audience looking down as a method of heightening the tiny scale of the creatures’ world. 

As litter will play a large role, I intend to design my own ‘packaging’ inspired by other Hans Christian Andersen stories to pay homage to his huge body of influential work and to brand my designed packaging. Taking inspiration from retro branding, I will aim to show the lifespan of the waste that is being represented. I aim to use this technique to visually present the impact that discarding a tiny piece of litter can have for many decades and the scale at which this affects the tiny creatures. 

The conversation around recycling and consumerism began during the second world war yet we are still living in a society built on excess waste. This discussion is becoming evermore prevalent and it is imperative that the younger generation take it seriously moving towards the future. 

Therefore, this adaptation will aim to aid a younger audiences understanding of their environmental impact on the earth. In order to present this, each character, dependent on their age will be inspired by a different decade’s branding style and aesthetic to reference the length of time it takes for many of these discarded items to degrade. 

Contrast will be presented between the creatures and the fairies who will be representative of the idea for a change to a green landscape. They will feature organic silhouettes to contrast with the structural, architectural silhouettes of the creatures, with the overall aesthetic reflecting urban fashion trends and consumerist culture within the contemporary world.

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