Scenography is not as familiar a term in theatre in India as it is in the West, but can be loosely associated with set design. The skills that a scenographer brings to a production can enrich our viewing of the performance. It is a specialisation closely intertwined with the art and aesthetics of staging. When I first happened to stumble upon Jean Michel Adam's art work in Paris at a gallery in the famed, artistic Saint-Germain-des-Prés quarter in the sixth arrondissement, I had no idea that he was also a scenographer by profession. Yet the lovely art-work on his lamp shades (that can be used) immediately gave away a sense of the theatre.
Partly inspired by classical Greek, Roman and baroque architecture, the lamp shades in different sizes and forms (you can hang them, keep them standing, or wall-mount them) evoked a great sense of a theatrical set condesned into the dimensions of the lamp shade. The feeling of space, even in its minimised form was immediate and had atmosphere. We got into a conversation and I discovered that Jean Michel Adam besides being the artist of the month at the Galerie des Saints Pères was also a scenographer who has worked with some of the best known theatre and opera companies in Paris. I decided to interview him because in his person I found that rare combination of a theatre practitioner who is an artist at heart.
Jean Michel's wife Séverine Vincent was very kind to broadly translate the interview from her husband's original French version. I have largely stuck to her English translation because it provides an immediacy of feeling with the couple's mother tongue.
By Deepa Punjani
Deepa Punjani (DP) : Scenography can be an important aspect of theatre. It requires special skills. In your own career as a scenographer, what has been your experience?
Jean Michel Adam (JMA): Initially, I studied Musicology. I had a great predilection towards it. During my studies, I often went to see operas. I felt that the visual performances I saw were not such a good echo of the musical and dramaturgical strength of the work, until the day I attended a performance of Aperghis' LIEBERSTOD, in a setting of Yannis Kokkos (one of Europe's leading designers, in my opinion). Kokkos' work blew me away. I felt at that moment how visuals could marry a musical work, and magnify it. I stopped my studies in Musicology and I decided to go to the Beaux Arts.
After three years at the Beaux Arts in Metz, I was received as a student in the prestigious "Villa Arson" in Nice. I spent three years there. There I developed my work specifically as a set designer. I came in contact with professionals invited to speak to students. In order to pay for my education, I also used to work as a graphic designer for architectural firms, and as a machiniste for the Opéra de Nice. These jobs allowed me to simultaneously engage with art and design and made me realistic too.
I always found time to paint my own work, and in fact in this period, I also received my first prize for painting - the « Mossa Price ». My teachers however had a dim view of my interest in painting and even stage designing. I often fought with them about this. I could not see how one discipline could not be integrated with the other. And I've always been a tireless worker. Coming out of school, I was hired as an assistant designer in television. I didn't stay long. It was not my world.
One of the most important aspects of my younger learning days was that I went to work in one of the biggest European decorative building workshops in Lille. My job was to make the link between the set designers, their projects, and construction crews. These were very large designs for prestigious festivals and stages across Europe. There I not only met and worked with the best leading designers (including Yannis Kokkos), but I also learned to master each step of building a decoration. I think it is great strength to perfectly know the work inherent in each position - locksmiths and carpenters build the chassis, until Deco painters dematerialize all. Each position is a key position. To arrive at the desired result, it is important to share and interact with each person participating in the construction of the décor. Being in this position, I could point out the designers who were concerned and those who did not care. I saw the end result of this approach depended systematically: those who followed the construction of their décor with fervour and diligence always arrived more easily at the desired result.
I then became a set designer myself, and I have never deviated from this rule. Later I competed in a tender to build the Concert Salon Théâtre des Champs Elysées. I was winning. My first big décor happened. It was a great experience for the young man that I was, to imagine the greatest musicians in the world playing in the décor that I had imagined. I had came full circle with my affinity for music. Then life directed me more and more towards the theatre and the opera.
DP: Although scenography would differ from one production to the next, what are the key elements that define your style? What are some of the characteristics of your work?
JMA: Most important, I think, is to do service to the text and the vision of the director. I am very particular about this. So, I do not sek to impose a style. I try to stick to the show. It depends on whether it is a farce, a tragedy, classical theater or contemporary. My approach will be very different from production to production and therefore the result too.
But of course, like all designers, I have my pet peeves, and there are processes that I like to use as the transparency effect, to reveal a second set, or double space.
I attach enormous importance to the space that I invent for the set. Dramaturgy of space, with its tensions, its breathing, that will allow actors to evolve in a meaningful configuration. The scenic area of each of my designs is unique. It would be impossible to play another play than that for which the space was designed.
I work my designs in 3D. This reinforces the very architectural aspect of my work.
I also systematically accord great importance to light. I work closely with light designers, right from the first design . My designs are often materialized caskets for light.
DP: In your own experience of working with different theatre companies and directors in France, do you feel that scenography is taken seriously enough?
JMA: I am fortunate to work with directors who place great importance on the scenography. This is not the case of all directors; some are just content to do decoration, such as a nice little flat and an expected image. Those with whom I work regularly do deeper research, and are bolder. For me, they are right; this is the essence of theatre.
I would add, however, that our designer business is much more precarious in recent years. The theatre is in crisis, and producers often do not allocate the necessary resources. I think they are wrong to be cautious. Just see the shows in London, for example, to understand that this is putting the necessary means we get to do exceptional performances, and the public's affluence there proves it.
Facing this question, I apply myself to find little tricks to make the most inventive and surprising proposals as cheaply as I can. It takes double dexterity and mastery of the trade. And I do not count my time working!
DP: Tell us about a favourite production with your scenography. Why is it special for you?
JMA: There are many I like, but I think the first that comes to my mind is Anthony Shaffer's SLEUTH, directed by Didier Long in 2002 at the Théâtre de La Madeleine. In the first place, because it is the first big scenography that I did for this director I admire (since we have done together over twenty performances). Second, because the scenery was very bold.
There was, for example, between Act 1 and Act 2, to allow accessory changes without intermission, a huge curved wall inlaid little scary clown masks, which came sliding across the surface of the stage as a huge closing airlock. When the wall came, the impression was very strong for the spectators. The music composer François Peyrony, during rehearsals, was the first to seize this scenic effect: he composed music (beautiful) which included the train noises, locks, imprisonment, which increased tenfold incredibly the weight and mass of the wall, its dangerous side.
It seemed that this gigantic wall was coming from nowhere and took possession of all the theatre! Hence the importance of working together - musicians, set designers, light designers, and all others involved. The powerful effect produced by this wall ultimately resulted from the collaboration of everyone. This décor earned me my first nomination at the "Molières", the French awards for the theatre. It was also the scenography that I was doing during the birth of my children, and this gives it a special (affective) load.
DP: What are the qualities a scenographer must possess?
JMA: I think we can work well on a theatre stage only if we know every corner of it, and if we can claim to have a good idea of the work of each trade that is evolving in it - machinists, actors, costume designers, administration, and so on. I even included an actor oriented workshop during my studies in order to understand the scene from the point of view of the actors, and to understand their own difficulties. It has been often very useful to me.
Moreover, it is obvious that the designer profession requires real technical ability. It also takes a lot of imagination in order to create the dramatic atmosphere, and be able to totally change register from one show to another, depending on the demand of different directors.
DP: Your exhibition at the Galerie des Saints Pères in Paris exhibited painted lamp shades. They were unique. They focussed on architectural elements such as the Greek Corinthian column. Some of these explored light, space and depth beautifully. You mentioned that the designs were inspired from your own set-design creations for the theatre. Tell us more about the show.
JMA: Thank you for the compliment ! This specific exhibition related to my work as a painter, which is the intimate part of my career, and it's very precious to me. This is where I'm not in the service of a work, but where I can express myself freely without a forced dramaturgical framework. It seems obvious there is a high correlation between my scenographies and my personal work, because I am very fond of space, light, architecture, pictorial materials. But when I am on my own, I am completely free to rein in my inspiration.
This produces a very good balance in my life as an artist - to be able to combine theater and a more personal artistic approach. When Anne-Marie Farnier, who runs the Galerie des Saints Pères, gave me her trust and offered to exhibit my works permanently, I decided to get involved much more with my personal work than I had before, probably due to lack of time. Our cooperation becoming perennial, I decided to give the creation of my "objects" as important a place as my set designs. Today I recall my art teachers who were negative about being both - a set designer and a painter, and it makes me smile.
