This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Bristol chapter.
Following the resounding 5-star success of Bristol DramSoc’s production of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, we sat down with the Student Tech Association’s Sophie Slater to discuss her involvement in the production as the head of Set Design.
When did you first get involved with the STA and Set Design and why?
I first got involved in the STA during my first year, I started by working a couple of nights of TRASh and by the end of the year was assistant stage managing and doing costume design on the major musical. I’d been interested in costume at school and wanted to continue exploring that and the STA allowed me to explore different parts of theatre. I did my first set design for TRASh in my second year and have been doing it ever since.
What were the core ideas you had for the world you wanted to create for His Dark Materials?
For this set we needed to create something that could be taken through various worlds and wouldn’t over power any of them. We knew the centre piece would be the alethiometer and then we wanted everything else to work and move around it. The directors came with the overall idea for the platforms and how they wanted the stage set up and we moved from there to create something that could be used for the many worlds.
Did you have any external inspirations for the set?
I used the alethiometer from the national theatre’s production’s programme to begin my design for the alethiometer and then adapted it to create something that would work on the stage. I knew I wanted to create geometric lines to contrast with the circular alethiometer and took inspiration from interior design and architecture
What has been the most challenging aspect of His Dark Materials set design?
The most challenging part has been finding a way to allow the story to keep moving and to not make any of the worlds dominant, it’s very tempting to create an amazing Oxford and forget you move on from there but creating a malleable set was the priority. Obviously you always have the challenges of budget and time constraints but that’s pretty standard.
How have you found the experience of working on such a huge production in such a new venue?
It’s been really great working on the first show back in the Winston, I worked on the last one before the refurb so it’s nice to open it again. There have been some major issues with the new theatre which has made it difficult for us to work as well as we can but I always appreciate a challenge. Doing such a large show ghas been really exciting and it’s always great getting to work with so many people and making new friends.
Do you have any other projects you’ll be working on this term?
I don’t have anything nearly as big on the rest of term but I am working on both of Dramsoc’s studio shows; Who Dares Writes and NSFW in the new studio theatre at the union. I’m also doing a show with Revunions and one with BPC as well as continuing my work with Bristol Improv so I’m sure I’ll have my hands full.
