Stage design is often a hidden art. While audiences marvel at the final grand result of an opera, few realize the months of drafting, sculpting, and building work that happen before opening night. Etienne Pluss is one of the opera world's most sought-after stage designers and a master of using physical spaces to tell deep, emotional stories. MELODRAMA caught up...
stories
At nineteen, the Royal Central student Leo Simpe-Asante can already list his work as a composer, poet, playwright, and actor on his resume. He has been writing plays and musicals for ten years and as a self-professed "nerd," he shares that without a writing project to throw himself into, he would just be sat “twiddling his thumbs.” This relentless artistic...
Whether she is transforming actors into neon-hued trolls or mechanical dolls, the Berlin-based costume designer Teresa Vergho views the human body as a site of radical construction. Having collaborated with many of the most avant-garde directors of today—from Susanne Kennedy to Ersan Mondtag—Vergho’s work is a study in Tim Burton-meets-Bauhaus surreal eccentricity. Drawing from a lifelong fascination with everything from...