How Vanya’s set design went from stage to NT Live screen
As Vanya, starring Andrew Scott, hits the big screen with NT Live, set designer Rosanna Vize describes retaining the intimacy of London’s Duke of York's show
![Actor Andrew Scott amid Vanya set design, at National Theatre, on stage in blue shirt](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/mxBs8jhtf9Ca34gZpirGDK-415-80.jpg)
‘Vanya was finding a way of creating a space that held the essence of the person, the singular person on stage, the strange endeavour of doing it,’ says Rosanna Vize, the designer who brought the Chekhov play Uncle Vanya to life on stage in its most recent Duke of York's theatre, London, iteration. ‘You’re bringing a kind of subtle magic within it that you just don't know is going to work. You just have to throw things at the wall and see if they stick.’
Following a five-week run at the Duke of York's, NT Live has now released Vanya at cinemas worldwide, with the one-man show placing actor Andrew Scott at the centre of Vize’s understated, provincial world. Directed by Sam Yates and adapted by Simon Stephens, the show sees Scott portray every character with a raw, often unsettling, empathy.
Taking Vanya’s set design from stage to film
For Vize, the challenge of the set design was in maintaining the intimacy cultivated on stage for the big screen. ‘What was extraordinary about working with NT Live is that they really preserve the very thing that you made in tech and in previews. You expect that there's going to be this huge list of things to change, with things being too bright or overexposed. But scenically, the only huge change was that Andrew has to really keep an eye on not showing his Smirnoff Ice to the camera.’
Lighting, too, was faithfully reproduced for the cameras, with the requirements of the stage translated to the screen, becoming a sharp foil for the muted colour palette of the set. ‘So much of what we were trying to make dramaturgically and tonally was held in colour,’ Vize adds. ‘I think whilst the playful intricacies of the characters should and will develop all the time, [the set] relates back to what Chekhov is always doing, which is creating this real sense of gentle melancholy. You have to hold on to it when you're working with [this] kind of text to stop it becoming saccharin or pointless, I think. A lot of the time, when you translate these sorts of theatre productions to film, everything feels really warm, for example, and you lose all of that very subtle detail, but it doesn’t feel like that here, which is a lovely thing.’
NT Live: Vanya is at cinemas worldwide. Find your nearest screening at: ntlive.com
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
Hannah Silver is the Art, Culture, Watches & Jewellery Editor of Wallpaper*. Since joining in 2019, she has overseen offbeat design trends and in-depth profiles, and written extensively across the worlds of culture and luxury. She enjoys meeting artists and designers, viewing exhibitions and conducting interviews on her frequent travels.
-
‘Hedonistic and avant-garde’: Rabanne’s Julian Dossena on the legacy of the chainmail 1969 bag
Paco Rabanne’s 1969 chainmail handbag encapsulates the late designer’s futuristic, space-age style. Current creative director Julien Dossena tells Wallpaper* about the bag’s particular pleasures
By Jack Moss Published
-
Postcard from Paris: Olympic fever takes over the streets
On the eve of the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, our correspondent shares her views from the streets of the capital about how the event is impacting the urban landscape.
By Minako Norimatsu Published
-
The Mercury Prize nominees for 2024 have been revealed
Charli XCX, The Last Dinner Party and Beth Gibbons are amongst this year's nominees
By Charlotte Gunn Published
-
Toys, fantasy and the US immigration system: inside Julio Torres' debut film, Problemista
Julio Torres writes, directs and stars in Problemista – now on digital release – where the nightmare of US immigration is given a surreal spin
By Hannah Silver Published
-
First Fraenkel Film Festival in San Francisco: what to see
The Fraenkel Film Festival, at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco, sees ten Fraenkel gallery artists choose films that impact their work
By Lauren Cochrane Published
-
Paul B. Preciado on his Orlando film: 'There is no trans question'
Paul B. Preciado interprets Virginia Woolf’s work in 'Orlando, My Political Biography'
By Sam Moore Published
-
Enter the immersive world of film noir at a disused hospital in Venice
Fondazione In Between Art Film returns to Venice with ‘Nebula’, by curators Alessandro Rabottini and Leonardo Bigazzi
By Amah-Rose Abrams Published
-
Cannes Film Festival 2024 highlights: our verdict is in
What to watch or not to watch – cut to the Cannes Film Festival 2024 highlights
By Sophie Monks Kaufman Published
-
Cyber-noia, pornography, and liberation: inside the queer sci-fi of Shu Lea Cheang
Shu Lea Cheang's new film, ‘UKI’, exists in two worlds simultaneously: the real world of flesh and blood, and a strange digital landscape
By Sam Moore Published
-
‘What a Fantastic Machine’: new film explores the camera, pop culture and human behaviour
Maximilien Van Aertryck and Axel Danielson’s new film, ‘And the King Said, What a Fantastic Machine’, dissects the role of the camera in popular culture
By Zoe Whitfield Published
-
Back to Black: all eyes on film-maker Sam Taylor-Johnson
Back to Black cinematographer Polly Morgan tells Wallpaper* how a shared love of French New Wave close-ups brought Sam Taylor-Johnson’s Amy Winehouse biopic to life
By Craig McLean Published