middletown

Red Stitch Actors Theatre, 2015

Mary Swanson just moved to Middletown. Population: stable; elevation: same. Along with her fellow townsfolk, Mary searches for comfort and meaning in this small American town, somewhere between a beginning and an end.  
Will Eno’s delicate, wry play nestles itself within the everyday hopes, fears and longing we recognise but rarely articulate.

Writer Will Eno
Director Alice Darling
Assistant Director James Cook
With Jordan Fraser-Trumble,  Christina O’Neill, Evelyn Krape, Gareth Reeves, Edwina Samuels & James Wardlaw
Set and Costume Designer Emily Collett
Lighting Designer James Lipari
Sound Designer Chris Wenn
Choreographer Dale Thorburn
Production Photographs Jodie Hutchinson

REVIEWS

‘Emily Collett’s set is an elegant museum installation. Props for each scene have a niche of their own on the walls, from a baby basket to a kitchen sink. On top of being good looking, the set is flexible and (together with the lighting of James Lipari) gives a sure sense of location.’
Chris Boyd, The Australian

‘Emily Collett is most noted for her costume designs, but here she offers us a mind-blowing set – a microcosmic universe that looks for all the world like a tip of discarded 20th century materialism. And yet every piece of clutter has its own story and purpose, its own importance to someone – somewhere. It’s masterful design.’
Coral Drouyn, Stage Whispers

‘Emily Collett's set is visually enticing: the stage in Act One is framed by two windows through which the characters peer, comment, live. On the walls are tacked props and parts of the set; they are taken down smartly as needed, then replaced. This is both spatially economical and highly ingenious.’
Dina Ross, Arts Update

‘The clever and compact set designed by Emily Collett was a myriad of small alcoves that covered each side of the stage, each housing mundane, everyday objects. It was busy set and highly symbolic.’
Ian Nott, Theatre People

‘Collett really has created the most intriguing playground’ Planet Arts Melbourne

‘Middletown is thematically huge, but the production sustains our attention completely through some superb performances, seamless transitions and an inventive use of space… The set design (Emily Collett), a series of square frames that hold props or fold out to create distinct settings, is remarkable in its capacity to completely transform the small Red Stitch space. It also resonates thematically with some of the ideas in Eno’s text, concepts of putting things on display (as in a museum), the presentation of our scientific and technical discoveries and the persistence of our history.’
James Jackson, Aussie Theatre