Director: Ella Marchment
Set & Costume Designer: Willow Burrows
The Nose is an opera was written in the 1920s by Dmitri Shostakovich but is based on a novel written in 1830s. For this design I looked into the clash of the two centuries; with the costumes reflecting the 1920s and the structure inspired by wooden Russian architecture of the 16th and 17th century.
I found the life of the author of the original novel very interesting. Gogol develops a fear of damnation towards the end of his life, believing that all his imaginative work was sinful. In the opera there are many mentions of the ‘devils work’ though written twenty years before he took his own life. I wanted the design to reflect this chaotic world, almost a twisted nightmare, as can be found on the pages of the libretto.