Practitioner focus: Bunny Christie

The creative industry is currently shining a light on the backstage roles in theatre to encourage young people to pursue those careers. It is perhaps timely then to focus on the designer Bunny Christie. A designer of worlds rather than just sets, Bunny Christie turned her attention to theatre design whilst studying Fine Art at London's Central School for Art. She has since gone on to a glittering career, spanning more than 20 years. When we think of Christie we may immediately think of her design for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, but she has many more productions to her name, spanning the works of Shakespeare and Chekhov to more contemporary playwrights.

© Johan Persson
The set design for People, Places & Things, National Theatre, 2016

Key features of Bunny Christie's work

• Designs bring together multiple different disciplines, with sound and lighting included as part of the stage design.
• Christie designs character as well as space, often focusing on the protagonist of the play and designing worlds from that character's point of view.
• She creates models of designs rather than sketches.
• She is interested in the play, the director and the space and how these elements work together for exciting possibilities.
• Christie will look to books, cinema and art to inspire her designs.

Past projects

• Julius Caesar : Both in the round and promenade, this production at The Bridge Theatre brings the audience into the centre of the action. Focusing on the political atmosphere, the design is stripped back and uses numerous raised levels as performance spaces.
• Emil and the Detectives : In this recreation of 1920s Berlin through the eyes of a child, colour is an important part of this design, contrasting a black and white Berlin with the colourful life of Emil. The design was inspired by black and white films along with German Expressionism.
• Ink : Design consists of towers of desks and typewriters to capture the chaos of a newsroom, while news footage is projected onto the back cloth.

Exercises

Finding a visual language

For this set of exercises, using one of your set texts for GCSE or A Level would be a good option, as it will allow pupils to explore their text from a designer's point of view, meaning they can develop their ideas in relation to their text.

• Gridding the script: To start designing a play, Christie creates a grid of the play to provide an overview of how that play looks. Start by taking a large piece of paper and drawing a grid across the page. Work through the script and begin by writing down every single scene. With each scene, begin to add the detail of who is in the scene, what time of day it is, what month or time of year, and what is happening in the scene. Add any additional notes about anything special that has to happen in that particular scene.
• Collect images: Start collecting images of what this play could look like. These could be from films or photographs. I often create a Pinterest board for each production I work on and this a great platform to complete this exercise. As the teacher you can put yourself in role as director or producer for them to present their collection of images to you.
• White card models: Christie seldom spends much time drawing her designs, preferring to start working with white card models. Using white card, build a model of your set design. Christie builds her sets to scale, but just have a go at creating a model. The reason for working in white card is it allows changes to the aesthetic of the design to be changed and added after it has been built.

Manuel Harlan
Made in Dagenham set design, Adelphi Theatre, 2021

Designing psychology

Christie often takes theatregoers inside the main character's head through her design, as can be seen in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

• Design from character: You could use the same play from the first set of activities to see how your design changes. Focus on the protagonist from this play. Ask yourself the following questions:
• How does this character view the world they are in?
• What does your character feel about the other people in this world?
• What are your characters likes and dislikes?
• What does your character do in this world?
• From these questions write a list of five adjectives to summarise your character in the space.
• Through the character's eyes: Create a mood board for your production through the eyes of your protagonist. What colours appeal to them? What shapes? What era? What texture? What feelings do they have and how can texture, colour and shape help to communicate those feelings? Students could talk through or present their mood boards to help them clarify designs.
• Draw out your design: Once you have clarified your ideas, sketch your design to bring your ideas to life. How can you incorporate lighting, projection, sound as part of your design?

bunnychristie.co.uk