INTERVIEW WITH DEREK MCLANE


“HARD TO BELIEVE THIS PLAY WASNʼT WRITTENÊ YESTERDAYÓ Ê SAYSÊ SETÊ DESIGNER


Derek Mclane to discuss the set design for Man and Boy.


Ted Sod: Have you ever designed a Rattigan play before? Derek McLane: No. This is my fi rst time.


TS: Can you talk from your point-of-view what you think the play is about? DM: I think it is very much about the relationship between a father and a son, fi nancial corruption and potential fi nancial collapse, and all the humili- ation that goes with that. It’s also about the secrets that large corporations and banks keep from the rest of us. The play to me seems relevant right now with all of the scandals going on in the banking world. It’s hard to believe that this play wasn’t written yesterday.


TS: What do you look for from a director when you are meeting to discuss a play you are designing? DM: One of the fi rst things we talk about is what style we want to tell the piece in. Whether it is realistic, theatrical, or if we want to push it in some


UPSTAGE FALL 2012: MAN AND BOY


particular way. We also talk about the tone of the piece. Those things are often related. The level of realism versus theatrically and whether the tone is dark, happy, or funny are all things that usually come out in the fi rst meeting with a director.


TS: Did the director of Man and Boy, Maria Aitken, give you a sense of what she’s looking for in the set design for? DM: Very much. She talked about this as being quite realistic. We talked about having a scrappy and makeshift quality to the furnishings, because the character of Basil doesn’t have a lot of money. He lives in a basement apartment in Greenwich Village in the 1930s, when real estate wasn’t quite so expensive in Manhattan. The furniture then becomes a mixture of things he found, some dumpster dives and maybe one or two hand-me-downs. Also, there needs to be a sense of taste there. We wanted the overall effect to be an affront when his father sees it. His father is perhaps the wealthiest banker in Europe, and Basil’s apartment should be as opposite


15


Ted Sod, Education Dramaturg, sat down with


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