Inverness-raised theatre designer Kenneth Macleod talks about returning to Eden Court with the design for a new musical set in the landscape of the North
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Theatre designer Kenneth Macleod was awaiting the cast of the new Eden Court musical getting onto his set when we spoke about the production that has brought him back to his own stamping ground.
“It’s really the point where all the elements come together,” said the designer who forged much of his love for the theatre at Eden Court as a youngster.
“I’m really excited to share it.”
In the last few days before the show opened, Kenneth talked about his own time in the Highland capital: “I moved to Inverness for my high school years and before that I was on Skye,” he says.
Handy when the musical is based on Runrig songs!
“I started doing lots of theatre classes here at Eden Court, so it feels full circle in lots of ways.”
Kenneth loved performance as a youngster. The idea of set design evolved later.
“It was probably near the end of high school. I did a lot of acting and performing and enjoyed it, but I had a separate interest in drawing and making,” Kenneth explained.
“I think there’s often a point that happens, when set designers realise set design is a real grown-up job!
“You start to work out what it is for you – art and telling stories through what audiences see onstage, that’s what really gets me excited.”
Kenneth, at Millburn School in Inverness, moved on to the set and costume design course at the Royal Conservatoire in Glasgow, then the California Institute of The Arts in Los Angeles.
Kenneth’s work has been at Eden Court – he was recently the designer on Vanishing Point and the Tron Theatre’s The Metamorphosis.
So how does theatre designer evolve ‘their’ style?
“I think the goal of a set designer is almost for it not to have a style!
“If you don’t notice it then the design is doing its job.
“It does always depend on what the script wants and what the setting is.
“It’s not always just what you want to put on from an artistic point of view because you have all these story considerations and logistics to factor in as well.
“It makes it part of the fun.”
When Kenneth began with The Stamping Ground, it was – as for writer Morna Young – with the Runrig songs.
“What I think is brilliant about Runrig’s lyrics is there is so much in there about the land, there are gold skies and red seas and we were always really aware that we didn’t want to try and attempt to recreate any of that – because you really can’t!
“We were trying to find a way of showing or hinting at the landscape that wasn’t trying to be too descriptive. So for me that was kind of my biggest mission – how do we quite clearly set this Highland and Hebridean story and make all these ideas about the landscape and the epic nature of it?”
Some costume drawings of Kenneth’s Eden Court tweeted, offered hints at how the designer approaches creating a contemporary look for the musical’s characters.
“So much has been trying to make them really authentic,” Kenneth revealed. “You have to go back to basic questions and find out things like where do they shop, what sort of money do they have. Euan is a really good example because with his family he moves back from London to his hometown in the Highlands.
"It's about trying to signal wee things that shows that they were just a little bit more affluent or they weren’t quite as thrifty, or their priorities were quite different in the way that they dressed.
"So you do have to get into the minds of these characters really well and think about how and where they dress."
Talking about style in theatre design, you take Kenneth back to The Metamorphosis which he designed, a dramatic production from Vanishing Point and the Tron Theatre, that came to Eden Court.
"That is a good example of style – that couldn’t be more different from The Stamping Ground!
"That Metamorphosis set was trying to do as little as possible in terms of darkness and depth so that we could do strange light tricks.
"So it was completely different in vibe and equally challenging, bizarrely, trying to do a completely black set that could do all those things."
Talk turns to one of his favourite recent projects, the tour of stage show Bedknobs & Broomsticks.
"That was a dream come true that job!" laughs Kenneth.
"I was associate designer on that, on the puppet design and the set design and prop design. That was incredible, that's a film that I have grown up with – and I was obsessed with.
"To get the chance to work on that and see it through the country!
"The tour happened to go to places where the big touring Disney show hadn’t gone to before, so places that previously didn’t get access to that kind of big theatre work, so getting to see the show was a lovely, lovely thing.
"And hopefully it is not the end of its story either, hopefully it should have some future life and it is such a funny film to go back to as an adult – with witches and Nazis!"
Already, he has some projects lining up to follow The Stamping Ground.
"I’m doing this and working on some early designs for a Christmas show and some things for next year, so it is constantly keeping these plates turning. That is the joy," Kenneth said.
Ask Kenneth about trends in theatre design, and the subject of video and projections comes up, as do new technologies that offer innovation.
"With things like printing, we are now able to print backdrops which sometimes makes things much easier."
Kenneth feels the gap we all had from live theatre may have one positive impact.
"Hopefully people are coming back to theatres and realising what makes theatre theatre and that is the fact that theatre is live and in front of you.
"No, you don’t get a close-up," he says referring back to our talk of screens. "But you get that kind of visceral connection to it – you hope, you hope! ”
Musical The Stamping Ground, the Eden Court and Raw Material Arts co-production, runs until Saturday, July 30. Details: eden-court.co.uk
