Herman Melville
"Bartleby, the Scrivener"
2019
Scale models, sketches and ideas for puppets theater
The novel itself develops the problem of the individual, who is totally different from others and in the end is completely abandoned and dies. So a great character to create a doll. Next to Bartleby, the scrivener, I came up with an additional element of re-transcribing the original characters of the novel. These dolls on paper symbolize an unified society. And this rhythmic, constantly moving society machine immediately eats every unique individual.
Scale models 1:50
I used projections from Max Cooper's "Repetition" video. They were very much in line with the main idea of my interpretation of novel, to depict the constant rhythmic movement of society.
On the stage we can see huge heaps of paper that actors can move around and transform.
Scale model 1:50
In one of the scenes, a huge avalanche of paper pops out of the ceiling and Bartleby enters with it.
Scale models 1:50
This is what the final scene would look like when Bartleby abandoned dies in a prison. The huge red brick wall becomes a symbol of emptiness and restraint.
Bartleby puppet sketches
Installation with background paper dolls that would move between paper stacks throughout the performance. Their twisted faces, strange proportions and rhythmically moving limbs would reflect a society where people are all the same, just like ants. They rush somewhere, but does anybody knows where and why? And they forget to appreciate small unique individuals.
I was trying to make the paper heads of society not so unrealistic, just weird and maybe a bit individual, but all together they had to create an image of uniformity
