We're very much looking forward to June for Donizetti's L’elisir d'amore (the Elixir of Love), which promises to be full of laughs and lots of fun!
The production will be conducted by Alice Farnham (listed in Classic FM Today’s Ten Best Women Conductors), directed by acclaimed British-Swiss director Max Hoehn, and designed by Jemima Robinson, former winner of the Linbury Prize for Stage Design, the Max Rayne Design Bursary at the National Theatre and nominee for Best Set Design at the OFFIE awards.
We caught up with Jemima about the creative team’s approach to this new production, the part that the design plays, and what to expect in this comedic masterpiece...
Where did you start with L’elisir d'amore?
When Max, the director, first approached me about L’elisir he said he wanted to set it in the English countryside, as if it were happening just the other side of the Longborough stone walls. I immediately thought, “brilliant” – and what a wonderful time with the Coronation and street parties to set something so quintessentially English.
Whenever I design for opera or dance, I start with the music. I respond to sounds, beats, rhythms and tones with colours and shapes. Donizetti’s music is playful, sprightly, and crisp, so I knew I wanted the set to feel bright and fun rather than sombre.
What's the opera about for you?
Love: how wonderfully complex and yet so simple this ‘incurable disease’ is.
What kind of role does the design play?
Costumes are the first impression of a character before they speak. Costumes tell stories alone. Unfortunately it is human nature to prejudge, and often this is on someone’s appearance and how they hold themselves – so costumes can be vital on how an actor portrays their character. You don’t need a set to tell a story, but I do feel it can bring a story to life. Imagination for me is key.
What was your visual inspiration?
I get my inspiration from all sorts of places and things. Max and I both have young boys, so Postman Pat became one of our first pieces of inspiration. All the characters for the opera are in Postman Pat’s village: the vicar, the granny, the mechanic and of course Postman Nemorino… I also was inspired by other classics such as The Vicar of Dibley, Last of the Summer Wine, and The Darling Buds of May. I looked at artists such as Martin Parr and Grayson Perry who try and capture ‘Englishness’.
Were there any hard choices to make?
The hardest part for me was deciding which craft was best to illustrate our village. Through my research, I visited local village halls and churches, and was inspired by the tapestries of the kneeling cushions and the local souvenir tea cloths. But it was my childhood visits to the countryside visiting my granny – who always had a jigsaw on the go – which created a feeling of nostalgia. I think her eyesight was diminishing towards the end so pieces would be all misplaced, which gave the collage element of the set.
How do you see the relationship between director and designer?
It’s a bit like a marriage – when you have worked with someone for so long you normally know what the other one is thinking, and so you can communicate with just a few grunts and equally challenge each other when you disagree!
I jest but Max and I have now developed a style which makes the process really fun. There needs to be a lot of trust with each other, especially when having meetings remotely.
What's your favourite part of the design process?
I love the beginning when the director and designer can brainstorm, and bounce ideas off each other. But I also love working in the model and experimenting with lots of different elements and aesthetics, paints, and textures. I try and ignore constraints like budgets and allow myself to play and explore lots of possibilities.
What's most important to you in the production?
That everyone is having fun, and that the story isn’t getting lost in the design!
Jemima Robinson, Designer
Jemima is an artist and scenographer with a background in Social and Political Science. She is a former winner of the Linbury Prize for Stage Design, the Max Rayne Design Bursary at the National Theatre and has been nominated for Best Set Design OFFIE awards. Jemima was resident artist at Kenya’s Kuona Arts Trust in Nairobi and resident designer for Istanbul’s Talimhane Theatre.
Jemima has collaborated with Max Hoehn on Mozart and Salieri, A Feast in Times of Plague & Four Sisters (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland), Biedermann and the Arsonists for Independent Opera (Sadler’s Wells), Hansel & Gretel for Iford Festival and Handel Furioso for Grimeborn, Arcola Theatre. Forthcoming collaborations include Così fan tutte for Welsh National Opera.
Design credits include: Much Ado About Nothing (RSC), The Majority (National Theatre), The Persians & Cyclops (Cambridge Arts Theatre), I’ll Take You To Mrs Cole! (Complicité), Twelfth Night (Guangzhou & RSC), Frankenstein (Beijing Inside Out Theatre).
