The Aeneid - Collapsing Horse

Aaron Heffernon is listed on Collapsing Horse's website as the designer, so I'm guessing he designed this simple and beautiful set, though as a collaborative project, I'm sure the members of the cast all had a hand in it.

The colours are stark rough white, contrasted with the performer's rich red 16th century style robes. Building on the theme of scholarly work, and the idea of a text being true to translation , but allowing space for each individual translator to bring their own interpretation on the text, the performers carry, use and rip up books through out the play. White boxes become seats, city walls, a city under construction and supports for a forest of branches.

Puppets, masks lengths of fabric and paper boats are used throughout the play. That's not new, but it's great to see such inventiveness back on the stage of an adult production. It's a production which is fun, despite raising interesting questions about how far a translator has the right to adapt a classic work, and what happens when you want to change the story?