J Plummer Designs

I have always led a visually creative life, growing up art was my top priority. I was more comfortable drawing and colouring then I ever was reading and writing. Never successful in expressing myself through words I turned to other mediums and through paint, sculpture, fashion and ultimately theatrical design, I was able to express myself in a way that satiated by thirst to be creative and challenged all my interests. Designing theatre allows me to create in multiple mediums, through costume with fabrics shape and texture, through light with colour and movement and through sculpture and architecture.

 

Theatre is a conduit to allow people to express themselves. However, it is not an individual expression. Truly successful theatre is done collaboratively when all artists work with each other and feed off each other’s energy. In that way, all of the separate components come together to form a show as one, as opposed to being individual pieces that kind of relate. The set, lights, props and actors are seen as one cohesive unit, whereby the show could not run without any one of those parts. I love to work collaboratively and my most successful designs were created with collaboration. Art is meant to be shared and experienced and when you can share in the creation of art the product becomes elevated with the energy of the people who created it.

 

My idea of a successful design is one that not only provides context for the show, but becomes a part of the show itself. One that interacts actively with the action on stage, instead of just being a backdrop for the actors. A design that becomes so integral to the show that the production could not be performed without those elements on stage. There must both be a pragmatic and artistic element that combines the directors vision with my creative ideas, a true collaboration.

 

For the audience, theatre is an active experience. Not only are they viewing it, they are hearing it and feeling it, and they aren’t doing it alone. An audience experiences the show together, collaboratively as a community. They laugh together, gasp together and cry together. It is because of that I like to create designs that have strong sculptural element, suggesting location and time through a fragmented or altered realities of the setting. This allows the audience to further engage with the show, allowing their imaginations to engage and together with the actors on stage, the set, the lights, the costumes, the crew, and the energy of all the people who worked on the show, come together, in collaboration, to experience an elevated artistic expression, theatre.