Before the visit, we had only a vague idea of the design concepts from Fiona, the project's designer/design consultant, so meeting with Kevin Johnson, the programme leader and director of Clockwork we got a much clearer idea of his vision. Unfortunately, Natasha Buckley, who is directing Lear, is away at the moment so there were less details for that production.

Being briefed by the director, I found very helpful, as we got to understand the whole production in context, rather than just seeing the costume designs by themselves. I found the way Kevin talked about the plays inspiring, especially Clockwork since it is the one he knows more about, and excited to see the finished production. 

A Clockwork Orange (directed by Kevin Johnson) 

Kevin's production is based on the play with music, not the book, and definitely not the film. The first thing he did was warn us of recreating the 1971 film, which is far too iconic to even take inspiration from. This production is therefore set in a kind of parallel world, removing historical dates and references (except Beethoven, of course) so that its style is timeless, and layering in lots from the novel, as the strongest work according to Kevin, so that it differs in aesthetics and content.

The look of the production is all very clean and stripped back, and plays with the idea of exhibition with perspex boxes holding props on stage, and art frames being held up by the actors to draw the audience's focus. Overall, the aesthetic needs to be pleasing to look at, to jar with the disturbing content. The fashions in the parallel world include lots of animal prints and stripes, all monochrome, with only pops of colour per costume. Layering and overdressing will give the impression there is something else under the apparently pristine look.