On Show

Sally Nolan

BA [Hons] Design for Stage + Screen Production Design

Hi I`m Sally Nolan- soon to be graduate of Production Design for Stage and Screen. While I love theatre I`ve found over my four years in IADT that I`m time and time again drawn to the world of film. I communicate my ideas best through concept art, AutoCAD models and lots and lots of storyboards.

The Tenement.................... The main living space in Jack and Nora Clitheroes flat in the tenement building, the architecture of which was heavily inspired by the interior of number 14 Henrietta street located in Dublin City. Created using AutoCAD

The Letter Storyboard.................... This story board tells the story of a key moment in Act one where Jack and Nora`s quiet evening is disturbed by the appearance of one of the ICA captains.

Pub Storyboard.................... This story board is taken from Act is taken from Act two which takes place in the local pub. Outside of the pub a crowd has gathered to listen to an unnamed speaker who is rallying support for the rising.

AutoCAD as a Drawing Tool.................... I used basic 3D models that I created in AutoCAD as the base for a lot of my concept drawing pieces which I drew up on Procreate. The drawing here depicts the inside of Bessie Burgess bedroom. The room as you can see is quite bar and lacking in colour, both of these features reflect the extreme poverty that Bessie and many other tenement dwellers had to endure

Early Concept Work.................... For my design for the pub - largely based on the layout of the Swan Bar in Dublin. I chose this pub among others partly because it was one of the buildings occupied by Irish rebels during the rising. The interior also intrigued me as the bar still retains many of its Victorian features from when it was undertaken by Thomas O`Reilly in 1897, to today its as if the bar is frozen in time.

Final Concept Work.................... For the tenement flat, home to Jack, Nora, Peter and the Covey. A challenge that I encountered in my research is that there is typically a lot more photographic documentation of the wealthier classes- their living conditions and possessions, as they were the people who could afford to get professional photos taken. This is where historical recreations of tenement homes such as those on display in 14 Henrietta street and the Irish Tenement museum came in handy.

Final Renders.................... Here is one of my final renders of my AutoCAD pub model. It`s night time outside the pub, inside the only light is coming from shafts of moonlight and the warm glow of a handful of lamps scattered throughout the pub. The atmosphere is lively largely owing the meeting of the ICA taking place right outside the pub.

My design, as I said before is largely based on the interior of the Swan Bar in Dublin, but I also found inspiration from other pubs around Ireland designed in the Victorian style. There are doorways at either end of the pub leading to the snug area and other areas to sit and drink.

From inside men and women can see the silhouette and catch snippets of a speech being delivered by a faceless speaker framed in one of the frosted pub windows.

White Card Model.................... I made this simple 1:25 white card model using my technical drawings of the pub. With there being so much detail in the doorframe, windows and wood panelling along the walls I thought it was necessary to have these details illustrated even in a simple white card. I inspired the card models of Edwina Camm who uses detailed 2D surfaces in order to create incredibly detailed and atmospheric 3D environments. I replicated her process using my technical drawings and sticking them to pieces of form board before assembling the pub.

Nora`s hallucinations.................... In Act 4, was an aspect of the film`s narrative that I wanted to flesh out a bit more. I thought this could be communicated as a dream played out on screen for the audience. The dream would open with Nora waking up in a beautiful meadow of flowers in the countryside, she`s dressed all in white, the sun is shining, and everything around her appears to shimmer. She wanders through the meadow until she comes to a small cottage, where she can see Jack waving to her from a wall. They walk hand in hand together, Nora finally has Jack all to herself. Jack hears something behind him and takes off running into the forest, letting go of Nora`s hand. He beckons for her to follow him, but she can`t keep up and finds herself all alone, her surroundings have changed, Jack is nowhere to be seen. Nora feels utterly lost and abandoned. This short narrative is symbolic of Nora`s own life in which all she desires is to be with Jack, but he wants more and is determined to fight for Irish independence

Seagull POV.................... The opening sequence of the film is depicted in storyboard snippets, told from the POV of a seagull who guides us around Dublin City, starting in the crowded markets on Moore street, over rooftops, down to the docks, and finally leading us to rest on a window sill on Henrietta street. This idea came from the opening of ‘A Christmas Carol’, where we`re taking on a quick tour of Victorian London. I thought about who would be the best person, or creature to guide us around Dublin?

The Plough and the Stars

For my major 4th year Major project I chose to design a film adaptation of The Plough and the Stars, originally written as a play by Sean O`Casey. The setting is 1915/1916 and follows the lives of a group of tenement dwellers in the lead up to the Easter Rising.

This text offered me an opportunity to expand upon the world that O`Casey is giving us a glimpse into- the chance to explore a wider variety of locations than would be possible with the limitations of a stage setting.

My goal for this project was to create a collection of sets that showed a realistic depiction of the hardships endured by the working class of Dublin

Attending a performance: thesis ext PDF Technical Drawings of Pub PDF Notebook Pages PDF

An Investigation into the Interdependent Relationship that existed between Yakusha-e Prints and Kabuki Theatre during the 18th Century in Edo Japan

My thesis is based around the topic of Kabuki theatre, a form of traditional Japanese performance art that originated in Japan in the 16th century along with a genre of woodblock prints known as yakusha-e or actor prints. I focus on the interdependent relationship that existed between yakusha-e prints and Kabuki theatre in 18th century Edo Japan.

The majority of woodblock prints that I discuss in this thesis came from the Chester Beatty Library`s Japanese collection, which can be found at Dublin Castle. The Japanese collection at the Chester Beatty comprises some 1800 works dating mostly to the Edo period (c. 1603–1868). The collection includes paintings, manuscripts, prints and printed books as well as smaller decorative arts (netsuke, inrō and tsuba)

The significance of narrative in Kabuki theatre was one of the main reasons that I was drawn to this research topic. My interest in the actor prints from the Chester Beatty tie in here as they played their own role in conveying Kabuki narratives through the medium of print. Kabuki was and still is to this day the theatre of everyday people. Hence the narrative told on stage not only had to appeal to ordinary people, but it was attitudes and morals of this audience that dictated what kinds of narratives were written and performed in the theatres.

Attending a performance: thesis ext PDF Technical Drawings of Pub PDF Notebook Pages PDF

Production Design

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