How will the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse take on the world of The Tempest?

The Sam Wanamaker Playhouse is a special space. It has its own particular identity so designing a world in it means taking into account its beautiful architecture, details and of course the candlelight. Tim Crouch, who’s directing the production and playing Prospero, had a clear image of the world being the theatre itself – we’re not pretending to be elsewhere. It’s as if these characters came to the theatre 30 years ago and were marooned on the stage. We use the whole theatre, breaking the wall between audience and stage as action happens on all levels of the auditorium. There is one structure – the back wall of the set – built by the characters out of collected objects, things that might have been washed up on a shore: plastic flipflops, animal skulls, children’s toys and parts of shipwrecks gone before. They have created their own environment and everything has its place.

What were your main inspirations or references for the set?

Tim and I spent months before rehearsals developing the world of the play, which culminated in this sketch of the back wall.

The script itself has a rich array of imagery and that, combined with Tim’s visceral descriptions of the characters and the way he wanted to approach the storytelling, gave me permission to play with time, texture and curiosity where I wasn’t restricted to a place or period. The back wall of the set evolved into a kind of kinetic altar where contemporary and vintage objects are worshipped and destroyed. The ‘magic’ is conjured through movement in the set that is worked by the characters manually and can also have a life of their own.

A lot of my references were inspired from Victorian kinetic toys that can throw shadows by candlelight. The original theatre architecture uses gold filigree, so candlelight reflects and glows which inspired all the different textures in the back wall. I’m using metal and mirror, gold leaf and iron to let the candles play with the light and shade of the surfaces.

Much of the play is being discovered during rehearsals. How does this affect your approach to the design and costumes?

I believe in pinning down a strong concept from which everything can flow. We built a rehearsal set which was a shell of the back wall where the actors could place props, pin up ideas and really play with the staging. The conversations between set, props and costumes came out of this process and allowed freedom of discovery but within a strong framework.

The four ‘storytellers’, Prospero, Miranda, Caliban and Ariel are other-worldly in contrast to the contemporary world. They are a collection of fabrics, objects and textures like the back wall set.

The rest of the characters come from the world we’re in now. The approach to developing those characters very much reflected the actors playing them – their delivery of the text and in the way they look – which meant I needed to wait to meet the actors before designing their costumes. This is true of most contemporary shows I design, but vital in this instance.

I watched rehearsals in the first week to see how they moved and look at their own personal style of clothing and then had chats with each to find out what they felt their character would wear. I like to ask where they think the character would shop which gives me a good understanding of style. Colouring is important under candlelight and I need to keep a contrast between set and costume to make sure characters don’t get visually lost on stage.

Some of the characters are being represented by effigies. How did you approach these designs, and did they inform the costume or vice-versa?

Creating the effigies was fun! As the characters developed, I was looking at their costumes and effigies together. If I found an interesting object, I would find an article of clothing to reflect that and vice versa. For example, I found this old tin which felt connected to Gonzalo and his sleeveless jumper fell into place.

Are there any particular details in the set that audiences can look out for?

I don’t want to spoil it for our audiences as there are a few surprises in this production. It was fantastic working with the amazing Props and Costume teams at the Globe. We had a lot of fun making these curious objects and costume details – I hope that the audience can see that on stage.

Alonso is a Brompton (bike) fan, Caliban likes his football and for those of you who are avid Globe theatregoers there may be some elements you recognise from previous shows.

The Tempest, directed by Tim Crouch, plays until 12 April 2026 in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse.

FINIS.