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Barbara Loots
MY NAME IS LUCY BARTON is currently onstage at the Baxter Theatre. The set and lighting design by Kieran McGregor turns Lucy’s hospital room into a canvas upon which the stories exchanged between her and her mother are given a clear geographical context for the audience. The design superimposes visual touches aligned with the tales spun by the mother-daughter duo, each in search of a better understanding of the other.
From the first moment a very young energetic McGregor was introduced to theatre, he knew he wanted to be involved in the industry in some form. His heightened energy had a great long term pay-off, as his parents put him in extra mural drama classes. “I loved every minute of it,” shares McGregor. “The space to create, make and tell stories has fascinated me ever since!”
It is then no surprise that his X account profile sees him described as “doer of things in the theatre”. He jests that he completely forgot about that account and made a mental note to close it. But the statement still rings true as his general fascination with all things theatre has seen him getting involved in the various aspects of the creative process, both on and off stage. That all-rounder understanding reflects in the way he approaches the design of a show. He understands both the impact that design can have in elevating storytelling and appreciates that it can aid the performer in optimally taking up the space to do so.
His general enthusiasm from student days, putting his hand up to help with whatever was needed to get a play staged, has definitely paid off professionally as people know and respect both his well considered design contributions and his team-player spirit.
“From my earliest moments in theatre, I’ve always loved the pre-production and creation side of making theatre: rehearsals, playing, designing, solving the problems. Even as a performer, I loved it. While studying, I wanted to be involved in any capacity. As long I was there, I was happy. I volunteered and started working as crew, stagehand, stage manager, or whatever was needed. At the same time, part of my studies was learning the production, design and technical processes and departments, which I gravitated towards and really enjoyed. I was lucky enough to either volunteer or work, as part of my course, on festivals, events, and professional productions on the UCT Campus. At the end of my first year, Daniel Galloway, who was my lecturer of what was called ‘Stage Craft’, as well as the production manager at The Little Theatre at UCT, told me, not asked me, to stage manage and design for a final year Masters production and from then on it felt like something that was in my grasp, and that was a real option for my career.”
McGregor has been learning and fine tuning his craft ever since, never becoming complacent and always eager to accept a challenge to further grow as a theatre maker.
“I kept working, and building my network while studying and by the time I graduated, the transition to design and production was a natural move. While I did spend a couple of years working the occasional performance job, my focus was very much on my design and production career.”
When asked if there is any specific theatre maker that he looks up to as a mentor, or from whom he takes great inspiration, he initially, very diplomatically, says there are too many to mention as he loves what different people from various performance styles bring to the table.
Though, when pressed for an answer he does reveal there to be some creatives whose work has provided a constant source of inspiration throughout his career.
“Two people whose work I often return back to is designer Jan Versweyveld, and his partner and collaborator, theatre maker, Ivo van Hove. Their interpretation of the subject matter, and their expressionist approach, is something I really admire. Jan’s often minimal spaces are full of depth and meaning. Ivo has been described as being a ‘maximalist minimalist’, which is an apt description of his and Jan’s output.”
Anyone who has sat in a theatre space transformed by McGregor will attest to the strong sense of minimalism that often creates the perfect space within which both the performers and audience can suspend reality for a brief moment in time and be transported to a place where stories can unfold unobstructed by clutter. McGregor is not a designer that places elements on the stage simply for the purpose of dressing the space. He considers every aspect of the design, weighs every element to be added within the context of the story being told. The true impact of his design is so often found in the crisp clarity and restraint with which he readies a stage.
It is then no surprise that his starting point with every theatrical brief is the script. From there he conceptualises through research and collaboration with the theatre makers (directors, creators, producers and alike) to distill the ideas that take shape in his minds eye into a single concept statement. That concept statement he declares to be his “North Star” to which he always comes back.
“Often a lot of that work might already be done by the director, but getting it down to a single line statement is important for me. It keeps me focussed on the ‘why’ of the project. Why this project, why now, why in this medium, why that choice of lighting, why that choice of colour, and every other why that I will encounter while making the production.”
While he keeps the concept as his guiding light, he also looks at what is created in service of that from a holistic perspective. Questioning how that concept statement can best be served by specific design departments. In taking this approach, McGregor again emphasises that he places great value in the exposure he has been given to various forms and aspects of theatre making, as it has given him an appreciation of all the moving parts that have to come together to create a cohesive production. The magic that is found in his design approach is then the sum of all things he has experienced as a “doer of things”, embracing any opportunity to be involved in the creative process no matter how big or small. Even though many creatives can ask what the “why” of any production choice is, few will have the nuanced appreciation that McGregor can bring to a project.
His holistic perspective makes him a great asset to any creative team, because of his versatility to design everything from set to lighting.
“Integrating both lighting and scenic elements from the start, guides the design as a whole,” McGregor explains, “and while I later break things down into specific components, I constantly refer back to that full image.”
Although he embraces opportunities to be involved eagerly and fearlessly (which has seen him involved in a wide range of productions from children’s theatre, corporate events, musicals, to straight plays), he does profess to have a personal preference when it comes to a style of theatre. He finds himself “particularly drawn to productions that are expressionistic in their approach, exploring stories, ideas, or concepts from an emotional experience rather than a physical reality.”
As much as it allows for constant growth, designing for a broad spectrum of creative forms does bring with it different sets of challenge. The biggest being the managing of expectations.
“Expectations change so much between different styles that it’s hard to say which is the most challenging”, McGregor reflects. “The biggest challenge is when expectations don’t match reality”, when expectation must be realigned with “what is physically possible within the design, the space, or the budget”.
Rather than seeing such expectation challenges as an obstacle, McGregor chooses to turn it into a form of inspiration.
“These challenges can often be used as a catalyst for concentrating your ideas to their essence. Every challenge pushes you to question your choices and could lead you in a direction towards new creative discoveries.”
With his clear go-getter perspective of theatre (embracing obstacles as opportunities for solutions and reinvention), it is no surprise that he regards himself as having been incredibly lucky to have worked on “many amazing productions”. Within that honest gratitude he humbly roots a sense of pride for what he has achieved too. One such production of great pride for him was the Fugard Theatre staging of The Father, where he worked as lighting designer as part of a design team that also included Rocco Pool as set designer and Charl Johan Lingenfelder as sound designer. He goes on to explain that The Father “was an incredibly challenging production to get right conceptually, but as a group we worked tirelessly to effectively realise that concept. This marked an important development in my own growth as a designer.”
Even in a moment of pride one realises that McGregor places great value in collaboration, again reflecting that team-player spirit that he has nurtured from his earliest encounters with the world of theatre.
Asking about his design approach specifically within the context of MY NAME IS LUCY BARTON, his respect for collaboration shines through yet again. He confesses that at the start of the process he was only aware of the play, but from that basis researched and discovered the scope and impact of the original book.
Designing a show that is an adaptation of an acclaimed book can’t be an easy task, again seeing that ever present challenge of expectation coming into play, as audiences could have preconceived ideas as to how the world created by the book should look.
McGregor explains that he approached the challenges associated with the staging of MY NAME IS LUCY BARTON in a very pragmatic manner at first, considering the production realities. He confesses that at the start of the process audience expectation was the last thing on his mind. He needed to make sure the design served the play first and foremost
“The only expectation, and my main concern, is, are we effectively telling the story? Going back to that concept statement, and making sure that the design speaks to that and helps tell the story. There are many things a book can give stories that theatre can’t, and similarly theatre can give stories many things that a book can’t. Audiences should be getting something new from the story in this medium, if they aren’t and we tell the story exactly the way it is told in the book, we won’t have an meaningful experience for the audience whether they’ve read the book or not.”
That level-headed approach along with the general aesthetic inspiration McGregor gravitates towards is reflected in the minimalistic design that allows the play to layer projected images on the hospital room ‘canvas’ he has created as the set. Through this various scenes are amplified visually at key moments. He declares this all to be a “very deliberate choice”.
“[Director] Charmaine [Weir-Smith] came to me with very clear conceptual ideas, of looking through fragmented memories or moments in time through Lucy’s emotional experience rather than her physical experience. The minimalist space developed fairly quickly, though the layering of the projection and lighting elements that follow her emotional experiences developed during the rehearsals as the play took shape.”
As the project progressed and the various design elements started taking shape to bring MY NAME IS LUCY BARTON to stage, McGregor found himself excited about the unique view point the play presents audiences with:
“The process of looking back, of storytelling, of questioning your past, your choices, other people’s choices is so important. It’s what us ‘doers of theatre’ seek out in every production. Examine and look for truth. Seek it out in our lives and the world around us.”
You have until 5 October 2024 to go see MY NAME IS LUCY BARTON at the Baxter Theatre. Go and experience the journey that storytelling takes the character and the audience on, as amplified by carefully considered, exceptionally excited design. Tickets can be booked online through Webtickets.
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