Photo of a smiling woman with curly hair from the shoulders upwards.

Alice Jolyet-Cunningham

BA (Hons) Design for Film
Endgame

This project is a speculative stage design of Samuel Beckett's one-act play Endgame, a play which deals with the themes of decay and people's inability to connect with each other. It follows Hamm, who cannot stand, and his servant Clov, as well as Hamm's parents who live in dutbins. The characters are seemingly the last people on Earth, and, despite tormenting each other, continue to live together.

This project envisions the set as a circular thrust stage in a black box theatre. The set design evokes a lighthouse, placing the characters as lonely lighthouse keepers - of a sort - looking out for a world with no more boats, with the "windows" of the set being the lighthouse's glass lenses which hang and rotate above their heads.

Miniature scale model of a circular stage, with large fresnel lens arranged in a circle hanging above the stage. On the stage there is a metal stepladder, a wooden chair, and two metal bins. Blue light shines through the fresnel lenses.
Miniature scale model of a circular stage, with large fresnel lens arranged in a circle hanging above the stage. On the stage there is a metal stepladder, a wooden chair, and two metal bins. Blue light shines through the fresnel lenses.
Endgame - Physical scale model (1:25)
Digital render of a stage. A man sits on a chair in the middle, another man stands beside him facing him.
Digital render of a stage. A man sits on a chair in the middle, another man stands beside him facing him.
Endgame - Digital scale model, rendered in Twinmotion
Endgame - Digital model movement

HAMM: I don't know. (Pause.) I feel rather drained. (Pause.) The prolonged creative effort. (Pause.) If I could drag myself down to the sea! I'd make a pillow of sand for my head and the tide would come.

CLOV: There's no more tide. (Pause.)

- Endgame
Photo of an alcove framed by two arches. The arches are grey cement, while the alcove walls are red. There is a red couch and a black cloth covered table in the alcove.
Photo of an alcove framed by two arches. The arches are grey cement, while the alcove walls are red. There is a red couch and a black cloth covered table in the alcove.
Multicam TV - Rouge final bar set
Photo of a woman sitting on steps in front of a brick wall with a blue door. It is dark except for light from a street lamp.
Photo of a woman sitting on steps in front of a brick wall with a blue door. It is dark except for light from a street lamp.
Multicam TV - Still from Bá, dir. Kevin Meggs
Photo of two bathroom stalls covered in graffiti and stickers.
Photo of two bathroom stalls covered in graffiti and stickers.
Multicam TV - Final bathroom set
3 photos. The first is a woman singing in front of an archway lit up in blue. The second is a medium shot of a woman, turning around and looking behind her, with the same blue arch behind. The third is a medium shot of a man in front of bar shelves lit up in blue.
3 photos. The first is a woman singing in front of an archway lit up in blue. The second is a medium shot of a woman, turning around and looking behind her, with the same blue arch behind. The third is a medium shot of a man in front of bar shelves lit up in blue.
Multicam TV - Stills from Bá, dir. Kevin Meggs
3 images of a digital render. The leftmost one is of an alcove in a bar with red walls and stone arches. Top right is a view of the entrance of bar, a red bar visible on the left forefront. Bottom right is the same alcove, but viewed at an angle, with nobody sitting there.
3 images of a digital render. The leftmost one is of an alcove in a bar with red walls and stone arches. Top right is a view of the entrance of bar, a red bar visible on the left forefront. Bottom right is the same alcove, but viewed at an angle, with nobody sitting there.
Multicam TV - Digital model, rendered in Sketchup and Vray
Black and white construction drawing, showing a plan and extended elevations.
Black and white construction drawing, showing a plan and extended elevations.
Multicam TV - Bar plan and elevations
Digital render of a long hallway leading towards a large window. A woman stands in front of the window.
Digital render of a long hallway leading towards a large window. A woman stands in front of the window.
The Plough and the Stars - Digital model of the tenement in Act I, rendered in Sketchup and Vray
Digital render of a bird's eye view of a large winding stairwell. There are grey figures scattered across the steps.
Digital render of a bird's eye view of a large winding stairwell. There are grey figures scattered across the steps.
The Plough and the Stars - Digital model of the tenement in Act I, rendered in Sketchup and Vray
Two images of a digital model. The left is a man and woman facing each other in front of a large fireplace. The right shows a wall with two large windows. The man leans on one; on the right, in the foreground, the woman is entering the frame.
Two images of a digital model. The left is a man and woman facing each other in front of a large fireplace. The right shows a wall with two large windows. The man leans on one; on the right, in the foreground, the woman is entering the frame.
The Plough and the Stars - Digital model of the Clitheroes' apartment in Act I, rendered in Sketchup and Vray
The Plough and the Stars - Storyboard Animatic for Act I
Three images. The leftmost one is a digital drawing of a pub with stained glass. The middle one is a white card model version of it. The rightmost one is the full white card model.
Three images. The leftmost one is a digital drawing of a pub with stained glass. The middle one is a white card model version of it. The rightmost one is the full white card model.
The Plough and the Stars - Concept art and white card model for the public house, Act II
Technical drawings showing extended elevations, with one section being a paint elevation in colour.
Technical drawings showing extended elevations, with one section being a paint elevation in colour.
The Plough and the Stars - Extended Elevations and Paint Elevation for Pub Act II
16 storyboard drawings in 16:9 ratio, drawn in a mix of digital and pencil, in greyscale with dashes of red. Three man covered in blood walk onto a street; a woman bursts out of a house and embraces one of the characters, while the other two - one bleeding severly - collapse onto stairs.
16 storyboard drawings in 16:9 ratio, drawn in a mix of digital and pencil, in greyscale with dashes of red. Three man covered in blood walk onto a street; a woman bursts out of a house and embraces one of the characters, while the other two - one bleeding severly - collapse onto stairs.
The Plough and the Stars - Storyboards for Act III
Multicam TV: Rouge

Rouge is a collaborative, realised project done with 3 other set designers from 4th year - Muireann O'Keeffe, Laura Maleady, and Faye Langan - as part of a larger collaboration with TV Year 3. In this project, we pitched, designed and built 4 sets, in which TV shot 4 different TV pilots. This was a large scale set, built in IADT's Studio One, with the main set being a bar - named Rouge - as well as a small bathroom, alleyway, and bedroom. The main challenge was creating sets that had character and clear design choices, but were also able to be adapted for different TV drama requirements - each drama needed fairly different set dressing, from Irish pub to brothel.

The sets were all designed collaboratively, but part of the division of work was assigning each production designer one TV drama, for which they were in charge of set dressing and props. In my case, the drama was Bá, directed by Kevin Meggs and written by Grainne O'Reilly. The setting for this drama was a bar between life and death, that the protagonists had to escape before death claimed them.

The Plough and the Stars

The Plough and the Stars is a speculative film adaptation of Sean O'Casey's play of the same name. This play is set in 1915 and 1916, and depicts tenement dwellers in Dublin in the lead up to and during the Easter Rising, focusing on domestic life and social issues, rather than the patriotic ideals of the Rising - even going so far as to criticise these romantic ideals.

In this project, I storyboarded scenes from Acts I to III and designed sets from all three acts, with a particular focus on the Clitheroes' tenement apartment in Act I and the public house in Act II. A major challenge was balancing historical research with character and mood. In the tenement, I aimed to create a room decorated as though trying to hide the inevitable decay of the space and the simmering unhappiness of the inhabitants. On the other hand, the pub was designed to be a comfortable, small but traditional space, with colourful stained glass windows through which glimpses of an Irish Volunteer and Irish Citizen Army rally can be seen.

Thesis: The Shakespearean Stage and Rising European Fascism: Julius Caesar between 1935 - 1941

This extended thesis is a study and comparison of four different productions of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar in the 1930s and 40s. Julius Caesar is one of Shakespeare’s plays which has remained relatively popular since its premiere in Elizabethan England. However, perceptions of the play and interest in performing it shifted in the 20th century, particularly in the 1930s, during the rise of European Fascism, notably with a 1937 production directed by Orson Welles, which deliberately referenced Fascism. However, this was not the only production of Julius Caesar which was linked to Fascism - there were three other major productions: in Berlin directed by Fehling, in Rome directed by Ferdinando Tamberlani, and in Prague directed by Jiří Frejka and designed by František Tröster, between 1935 - 1941. Caesar is a Roman play which deals with the ideas of dictatorship, political performance, political power, the rise and fall of regimes and empires; with Fascism’s links to Ancient Rome, it represents a complex, interesting play for theatre-makers and directors of the 1930s seeking to discuss contemporary concerns - and yet each production of the period linked to Fascism expresses these concerns - whichever they may be - differently, which extremely diverse impacts. This thesis compares and analyses each production in order to highlight the different meanings and effects a single play can take on across different contexts and under different directors and designers.

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Photo of a smiling woman with curly hair from the shoulders upwards.
Alice Jolyet-Cunningham
BA (Hons) Design for Film

Alice is an Irish-French designer based in Wicklow, recently graduated from IADT's Production Design (BA Design for Film) course. Over the past four years, she has been able to develop skills focused around designing sets for the stage and the screen, such as technical drawing and storyboarding. She particularly developed digital modelling skills, with Sketchup, Blender and Vectorworks.

Alice has also gained experience from a variety of different opportunities, such as in collaborations with the National Film School, and a placement in Noho developing digital skills. She was also able to spend a semester abroad in Brussels, studying scenography at La Cambre, which allowed her to explore alternative ways of approaching set design.

BA (Hons) Design for Film