Barrington Stage Company: Break a Leg

Karl Eigsti Discusses Set Designs for Pittsfield Theatre

By: Charles Giuliano - Aug 16, 2006

Theatre designer Karl Eigsti. Giuliano photo

 

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   For the past three weeks our friend, theatre designer, Karl Eigsti, and his dogs Ruby and Tucker, have been staying in a loft in the Eclipse Mill. Recently, he dropped by to say hello and discuss a busy summer of designing sets for three shows and two companies in the Berkshires. We hadn't seen him in some time and there was a lot to catch up with. Before he departed for a rehearsal of "Ring Round the Moon" by Jean Anouilh (adapted from French by Christopher Fry) we made plans for dinner at Spice and attend the first preview of the first night of the newly renovated home of the thirteen year old company of renowned artistic director Julianne Boyd.

       He called later to inform us that 5:30 was the only possible reservation at the enormously successful new restaurant. Considering the importance of the occasion, the first performance of a new theatre, we discussed attire and decided to dress up. That meant a spectacular outfit for Astrid, a flowing silk print jacket, accessorized jewelry and spiffy open toed shoes with flowered leather appliqués. Later a friend laughed and informed us that people in the Berkshires hardly every glamorize. We soon found out as the opening night performance was sold out largely to seniors and a bus load of Elderhostel folks with name tags.

         Arriving at the enormous, magnificently appointed, upscale restaurant it was fairly empty at 5:30. After waiting awhile we took a booth and stalled the very polite waitress. Eventually I went looking for Karl in the theatre and a stage manager gave me his cell phone number. He was stuck in traffic as he had to go back to North Adams to feed the dogs and change. He joined us at six and commented that he had asked for a six o'clock reservation but they wouldn't give it to him. Inadvertently it worked out fine and we were delighted to see him as we settled in and perused the menu. A review of the restaurant will appear separately with special coverage by Astrid, who has food issues, on just what is offered by the restaurant for a diner ordering "not spicy." The meal and service were outstanding but more on that another time.

          Normally during the summer Karl is an avid golfer including trips with friends to the famous clubs in Ireland and Scotland. But this summer, there has been no time for sports as he took on three projects. Professor Eigsti runs the graduate theatre design program at Brandeis University. Over the years we enjoyed seeing his work for the Huntington Theatre, sharing evenings of theatre, and his lively, insightful recaps.

         He describes Julianne Boyd as an old friend from his New York days when they lived in the same building and their kids grew up together. They began collaborating and he did the sets for her Broadway musical "Eubie" based on the life and music of ragtime pianist Eubie Blake. So he is delighted to be working with her and a company dedicated to doing superior productions of old and new material particularly comedies and musicals.

          "It's been so crazy getting this show on," Karl said. "It is the first audience ever. Today as we were rehearsing someone was testing the fire alarm system and that triggered the fire curtain to drop suddenly. Several people jumped up to grab it as it fell otherwise it could have injured someone or damaged the set. Tonight is the first preview and a gala will occur a week from tonight. The company was located summers in a high school in Sheffield and it is one of the best in the country. It has compiled a tremendous track record. I have known Julianne since the 70s and we did "Eubie" in 1976. It starred Gregory Hines and ran for two years. She originally came to the Berkshires as artistic director of the Berkshire Theatre Festival which is now in its 78^th season. It is one of the oldest summer theatre programs in the country. She left after a couple of seasons to establish her own company."

           Earlier this summer Eigsti designed the sets for the very successful Berkshire Theatre Festival production of "Amadeus." And he did the first Barrington production of the season William Saroyan's "Human Comedy" which ran in the Berkshire Community College Theatre because the Pittsfield stage was under construction. This is his third year of working in the Berkshires.

            I asked if there were special issues designing for a popular and well known play such as "Amadeus." As a designer does he try to put his own stamp and reconfigure the look and feeling for a new production of a familiar play? "That's the worst thing you can try to do," Karl said between bites of a goat cheese and beet salad. "If you try to put your own stamp on a production you are going to end up with a mess. The first priority is that you try to tell a story. You have to do that within a certain space and a given budget. You try to tell the story as interestingly as you can. With "Amadeus" there was an anachronistic touch. Salieri speaks to the audience as a ghost of the future. So it conflates the past and the present. To convey that, I put a neon frame around an ornate gold frame of a painting by Watteau. The challenges are always the same whether you are designing for a suburban theatre or Broadway.  How to tell a story? In a novel the author combines dialogue and description. In the theatre there is only dialogue so the designer is responsible for the description or the setting."

           In creating a production the designer is one of the first to work with the script. "With "Ring Round the Moon" there was a particular challenge as the play stars twin brothers performed by a single actor (Hugo/Frederic performed by Christopher Innvar). So there had to be a lot of doors in the set," Karl said. He was reluctant to elaborate further and take away from the surprise and invention of the play.

            With three acts, ten actors (eleven if you count Hugo/Frederick) and two intermissions it proved to be a rather long evening of a comedy which I found more amusing than funny. The first act in particular took a lot of exposition to develop all of those characters. But, as always, the greatest pleasure of the evening was intermission and Karl's comments and insights. Anouilh, was one of the most successful French writers of his era until he was pushed aside by the development of the Theatre of the Absurd. Eigsti discussed the nuances of the performances of an outstanding cast, particularly a Grande Dame of the theatre, Carole Shelley, as the wheel chair bound meddler Madame Desmermortes. Innvar was remarkable as the smarmy bastard Hugo, a man women love to hate, and the sweetly sappy, sentimental Frederick. It was quite a trick to flip on and off between characters. Overall the direction was quick and snappy. Particularly the complex and absorbing choreography of the women rivals sprawling about in a nasty cat fight and hair pull. Why is it so entertaining to see women fight?

           When the curtain came up there was applause for Eigsti's superb set. It evoked an upscale period green house and atrium as a part of a country estate. Of course there were several doors which seemed to function well serving the demands of the plot for split second exits and entrances of the actors, particularly Innvar. The mood was complemented by potted plants and garden furniture. The set also  reflected the action that progressed from afternoon, the assembly of the weekend guests, the evening ball, occurring elsewhere from which the players came and went, and a third act conveying early morning and the resolution of the plot. The play conformed to Aristotle's definition of a drama as an action that is resolved within a single day. There was an ironic line when clandestine lovers embracing were concerned that since they were in a greenhouse someone might spy on them. In fact there were no windows in the set or it would have revealed the trick of the complex entrances and exits of the performers.

            Overall, however, "Ring Round the Moon" proved to be a long and wordy play and Anouilh has been compared to the wit of Oscar Wilde. Actually, several of the actors appeared in Boyd's production of his "The Importance of Being Earnest." Clearly there was some risk taking in choosing the seldom produced play to launch the $4 million renovation. But it is not proper to review plays based on previews. So we will be eager to read the comments of opening night critics. And look forward to future productions for years to come. Thanks Karl for this unique experience and to share in a moment of theatre history in the making.