The Tigers of Wrath: "another character within the play itself"

Chapman Tripp nominated designer Daniel Williams tells drama on the waterfront about the challenges of creating the set that becomes the fifth character in The Tigers of Wrath.

Kate Prior and Heather O'Carroll, Act One.

We needed some bunks for the show, as we are a small co-op we decided to try and source some for free! So the journey began, Kate Prior mentioned they used bunks in Heat, so we decided to contact them and see if we could use them. After a group mission out to Lower Hutt, we got the Heat bunks still smelling of fish and penguins, and after a little tender love and care we were able to bring them back to life! 

Nathan Meister, Act Two.

Part of this design was about finding many different dressing items, and a fun part was venturing into all the Working Men's pubs around the Wellington area. I have great memories from looking around the Newtown sports pub storage cupboard for beer posters and pub stuff to bring Mangere Bridge tavern to Circa Two!

The space is a real tricky challenge! It's so wide and shallow and makes the designer's role very difficult! Initially I wanted to create three really different environments that move fluidly and quickly. The idea of moving walls came early, however the issues surrounding this was somewhat of a process. The actual act of the wall transition aided the theme of time passing and crossing of continents, so I really wanted the set transition to be a part of the action, not making it just a scene change but more of another character within the play itself. 

Heather O'Carroll and Neenah Dekkers-Reihana, Act Three.

The Tigers of Wrath runs in Circa Two until 1 December. To book, please call the Circa Box Office on 801-7992 or visit www.circa.co.nz.