Adolphe Appia Research Paper

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Adolphe Appia was born in Geneva on the 1st of September, 1862; His father was one of the Red Cross co-founders, Louis Appia, not much is known of his mother. Adolph is best known for his many scenic designs for Wagner’s operas. Appia created a new perspective of scene design and stage lighting through painting three-dimensional "living" sets because he believed that shade was as necessary as light to form a connection between the actor and the setting of the performance in time and space. Through the use of control of light intensity, color and manipulation, Appia has formed a new trend that was gaining popularity. Both directors and designers have both taken great inspiration from the work of Adolphe Appia, whose design has helped to shape …show more content…

Appia maintained that two dimensional set painting and the performance dynamics it created, was the major cause of production disunity in his time. He advocated three elements as fundamental to creating a unified and effective mise en scene: Dynamic and three dimensional movements by actors: He often tried to have actors, singers and dancers start with a strong symbolic gesture or movement and end with another strong symbolic pose or gesture. Appia saw light, space and the human body as malleable commodities which should be integrated to create a unified mise en scene. He advocated synchronicity of sound, light and movement in his productions of Wagner’s operas and he tried to integrate corps of actors with the rhythms and moods of the music. Perpendicular scenery: (need a …show more content…

Although he admired the operas, Appia had no love for the use of the proscenium stage, elaborate costumes, or painted sets. Instead, he favored powerful, suggestive staging that would create an artistic unity, a blending of actor, stage, lighting, and music. After a long study of the operas, Appia concluded that there was disunity because of certain jarring visual elements. The moving actor, the perpendicular settings, and the horizontal floor were in conflict with one another. He theorized that the scenery should be replaced with steps, ramps, platforms, and drapes that blended with the actor's movements and the horizontal floor. In this way the human presence and its beauty would be accented and enhanced. For Appia, space was a dynamic area that attracted both actor and spectator and brought about their interaction. Complementing his concept of space was his belief that lighting should be used to bring together the visual elements of the

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