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The Seven Deadly Sins was produced by The Crucible as a “Fire Opera.” The intent being to reinvent and reconceive traditional opera text through setting it within
the context of the Industrial Arts School’s various disciplines. Fire Arts and Fine Arts met in the 56,000 square foot
warehouse for an evening of frenetic engaging theatre.
The original work by Brecht and Weill had two performers playing the main character of Anna. An opera singer as Anna 1 and
a dancer as Anna 2. Anna goes out into the world to make her fortune as her soul is tested. Can Anna stay true to her love
and her art or will she be crushed by the demands of Capitalism?
In our version of The Seven Deadly Sins, Anna 2 was reconceived as an industrial artist and artisan. She worked
with molten glass, manipulated acetylene torches and did blacksmithing. The tension between the artist and the capitalist
was then played out through the use of these tools.
The performance space was composed of a 90 foot long catwalk only four feet wide. The audience sat in arena style seating
on either side of the catwalk. At either end of the runway were stages. The ‘Art Stage’ and the ‘Money
Stage’ where the conflicting desires of Anna 1 and Anna 2 were played out.
As a Fire Opera each of the ‘Sins’ were accompanied by a different kind of fire. In Sloth, we see blacksmiths
pounding away on red hot steel cubes. With Pride we see the folly of Anna 1’s artistic dancing by the commercial
success of three women in flaming pasties. Anna’s Anger is displayed by setting fire to Mr. Big’s office with
a torch. Gluttonous platters of flaming food are carried across the stage as an Arialist consumes an apple while suspended
above the audience. A car is driven into the space as Anna 1 enters with her rich boyfriend who has Anna 2’s lover
killed by flamethrower for their lust. In avarice the Family is lifted up by an industrial lift and lit from below in hellish
flames. And finally Anna becomes green with envy at the good people of San Francisco and their industrial tools.
The space provided a number of interesting design challenges. The first I had to confront was that this was not a performance
venue. We rigged trussing and pipes as well as hanging lighting instruments from various architectural structures. While
there were quite a few limitations I found these to be exciting challenges that would help to guide and influence the design
of the lighting.
While the space was quite vast, the actual performance space was rather confined. A four foot wide catwalk does not leave
many options for the light to follow the emotional journey of the characters. However, I knew that the seating on the other
side of the stage would be in full view of the audience. Rather than trying to hide this fact I embraced it and used the
faces of the audience as a surface to light. As Anna 1 and 2 journey through the emotional landscape of capitalistic sins,
the audience quite literally followed this journey, morphing from one color to another, flickering from flames and providing
an ever shifting backdrop in front of which the trials and travails of Anna were played out.
Not only was traditional dramatic lighting considered, but it was necessary to blend and contrast the colors with the various
fire elements. Working with and responding to the flame was quite a fun challenge as I began to see the fire as another character
in the story. How it evolved and changed through the piece was tied directly with Anna and her journey through America and
her struggle with her own soul.
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