We acknowledge and pay respect to the Traditional Owners of the lands upon which our campuses are situated, the people of the Boon Wurrung and Woi Wurrung, who have created art, made music and told their stories here for thousands of generations.
Made possible by a VCA Foundation Engagement Grant
Site Credits: Bien Studio, Allan Pooley, John Ford, Lisa Mibus.
Faculty of Fine Arts and Music
The University of Melbourne (Australian University)
PRV12150 / CRICOS 00116K
Set Design 'The Tempest'
Set Design 'The Tempest'
Set Design 'The Tempest'
Set Design 'The Tempest'
Set Design 'The Tempest'
Set Design 'The Tempest'
Set Design 'The Tempest'
Set Design 'The Tempest'
Madelaine Mackaway is a Bachelor of Design student with a double Major in Graphic Design and Performance Design.
Over the course of her degree, Madelaine has been able to embrace the many faces of design to inform her own creative practice and visual language. Madelaine's style is informed by her tactile sensibilities as well as her interests in conceptual art, pattern-finding and abstraction.
Madelaine looks forward to utilising the skills she has developed through her studies and continuing to learn what makes design so important to her.
'The Tempest'
This design concept for Shakespeare's final play 'The Tempest' was informed by the concept of magic, which was vitally important throughout the play. This magic lends itself to many themes, including power, control, spatiality, the inner self, humanity, and the nature of reality. Magic has strong ties to the magical quality of the theatre.
As Shakespeare's final play, there is a level of self- awareness that is at once timeless and modern. The set design features a curved cyclorama in a predominantly white space, somewhat transparent and misted where one can make out the silhouettes and shapes of the faux plants behind. Accompanying this are six square, glass panels. The geometric and dominant sheets form an unwrapped cube, bubbled, and distorted in texture, and moveable across the floor, allowing players to explore internal and external possibilities.
Overall, the materials that comprise the set are distinctly abstract and surreal. They approach the allegories of colonialism and modernity through claustrophobia, distortion, and concealment.
Set Design 'The Tempest'