AN OCTOROON
Writer: Branden Jacobs-Jenkins;
Director: Anthony Simpson Pike;
Set Designer: Sabine Dargent;
Costume Designer: Molly O’Cathain;
Lighting Designer: Stephen Dodd;
Sound & Composition: Giles Thomas;
Movement Director: Annie Lunnette Deakin-Foster.
An angry text that talks about racism. I wanted to use the means that were mine, those of the scenographic theatrical framework, to support the words of the author, who in 6 acts, goes from a conventional theater to the destruction of the framework, describing a Western society based on apartheid and racism, which must change at all costs.
Working on this text with Anthony really challenged me, because i did not have lot of time to create it , but also because i felt it was a big responsability. Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s text is denouncing the based of a racist society, ours. In 6 acts the text described the evolution of that matter, through the original text of Boucicault, an irish writer. An important raging text. Anthony and me decided to have few symbolic elements, such as the cotton balls to express place and emotion, history and present.
… »All played out on a blood red stage. Sabine Dargent's design a minor masterpiece, highlighting the deathly seriousness underneath all the playfulness. » The Arts Review, Chris O’Rourke, april 2022.
… » The result is a thrilling ride – hilarious, inventive, irreverent, and challenging. It’s smart as hell, but eloquent and moving too. Anthony Simpson-Pike deftly directs, as all the play’s eclecticism, ideas and wide emotional range comes through. Sabine Dargent’s set is, like the play, multifaceted to powerful effect. « Irish Examiner april 2022.