GARY McCANN / SET AND COSTUME DESIGNER
McCann’s design process is one of building an architecture in which, at each successive moment, the lone figure, or choreographed chorus complete the space. Through each picture the audience’s understanding of the narrative, the juxtapositions and layered meanings develop. These are achieved through the proscenium theatre toolkit – with scale,altered perspective, reveals and groupings of specifically coloured and styled characters and chorus. In the UK tradition, he usually designs both set and costumes, seeing them as absolutely derived from the same conceptual approach, with essential comment to be made about the world they occupy and the characters’ relationships with their unfolding narratives. Understanding that we can only see historical styles through our own 21st century eyes, McCann is equally at home researching, plundering and representing period and cultural styles and status, as he is referencing and extending contemporary fashion extremes.
IN THIS ISSUE: Text by KATE BURNETT.