FAUSTUS : THAT DAMNED WOMAN
PROCESS
Faustus : That Damned Woman by Chris Bush is a modern retelling of Faust, a narrative of Joanna Faustus making the ultimate sacrifice and signing her name in the devils book, giving up her soul in order to control her own destiny.
Director Richard Fitch and myself wanted to create an imposing space, a cauldron of approaching and inevitable sacrifice, damned since birth. Staged at Mountview Academy in 2025.
RESEARCH AND INSPIRATION
STORMZY at the Brit Awards in 2018 - Religion in conjunction with concert performance.
The Grateful Dead's 1974 performance staging of 'The Wall of Sound'
The Opening Ceremony for the Sochi 2014 Olympics, exploring people and smoke in space.
Photography of the 2019 fire at the Notre Dame in Paris.
The edge of an abandoned Flour Mill in New York, layers of decay and human architecture.
The depiction of the devil in Michelangelo's 'The Last Judgement' in the Sistine Chapel.
DESIGN DEVELOPMENT
Initial Sketches, looking into Christian Iconography of the devil.
Initial Renders looking into transforming the space, extending the stage into the auditorium.
Developed Renders, incorporating the London skyline into the broken and decayed space.
White Card Model, developing ideas of 'hiding spaces' and heights for players.
Developed Rendering, exploring textures and exposed lighting.
Final Model, working off 3D Visualisations with developed textures and colour.
Final Renders, exploring the finale of Act I, a dramatic 'concert' presentation of the Great Fire of London.
Final Renders, developing ideas alongside Alex Fernandez, the lighting designer, of moments in the script.
Exploring ways of transforming the space to take the audience from 1600 through to the far flung future!
SET BUILD AND TECH
RESEARCH AND INSPIRATION - COSTUME DESIGN
Maison Margiela Artisanal Presentation by John Galliano Summer / Autumn 2024
The underside of Fungi, layers and layers of texture created by nature.
Details of Penny Rose's costume designs for 'Pirates of the Carribean'
The iconic plague masks of the 1600's worn by plague doctors and filled with spices and herbs that deterred the illness.
Layers of dyed natural bark.
Smudged eye makeup of Las Vegas showgirls.
COSTUME DESIGNS
The journey of Joanna Faustus - from a 17th Century peasant woman conjuring the devil, to a Victorian Doctor and future businesswoman.
Lucifer, adorned in Joanna's father's broken down garments
Doctor Lucifer - goat horns protruding from his head.
Mephistopheles, the devil's servant and right hand man.
A Singer, the 'other' that tells our story.
Joanna Faustus' father, a plague doctor.
Joanna's mother, tried for witchcraft.
The Seven Deadly Sins - a viceral image in Faustus' mind, presented by the devil; "damned, Joanna, damned since birth'.
Production Photographs
