Theatre set designer lifts the curtain on creating the world of Arlington [a love story]

​Award-winning theatre designer Jamie Vartan talks to GIAF about transforming Leisureland into the world of Arlington.

Creating something from nothing isn’t easy but such is the set designer’s lot. It’s a task made more difficult when the venue is well established in the minds of audiences, who will need something really special to transport them to a whole new world on opening night.

Lucky for Arlington [a love story] audiences, set designer Jamie Vartan has form in this area, having transformed venues around the globe into surreal onstage worlds. Vartan is a regular Enda Walsh collaborator, having created the set for Landmark Productions' and Galway International Arts Festival’s hugely successful productions of Misterman and Ballyturk, both of which premiered in the Black Box Theatre. The world he created “seemed to emerge from the walls of the Black Box in perhaps one of the best uses of the space in this theatre’s history,” according to Irish Theatre Magazine.

Side view of the transformed stage

Transforming a theatre

As part of his design process, Vartan has spent months scoping out Leisureland and his team has now come up with something very special for the venue: a space built especially for the play. They are creating a controlled theatre space in the middle of the Leisureland floor, instead of making use of the raised stage that is currently there.

“We are using the qualities of the resulting performance space to our advantage, as an important ingredient in the design process,” Vartan says. “So the design is in effect custom made for Leisureland.”

Audience view of the stage

He is also using a bank of raked audience seating looking down onto the floor of the set, which ensures the audience can see the action clearly. “The resulting nature of the space created forces the characters into an extremely strong physical dynamic,” he adds. Vartan envisions the world of Arlington to be a place that’s extremely resonant for what's going on in today's world, saying that the play touches on very topical themes. Audience members are going to feel like they are right in that world and seeing it unfold, he says.

Arlington [a love story] by Enda Walsh

On work working with Landmark Productions and the Festival, Vartan says, “You feel like you're right there at the source of where great new work in all the venues can be premiered, shared and brought into the world - the atmosphere across the whole Festival's electric.”