TAKE A DEEP DIVE INTO THE WORLD OF HORNE'S DESCENT
MIRANDA CATTERMOLE - Set and Costume Designer
Miranda is a set and costume designer based in London. Having originally trained in Fine Art, after completing short courses in Set Design for Performance (Central Saint Martins, 2023), and in Set Design & Construction (National Youth Theatre, 2023), she has begun designing for live performance.
Her approach to design is character driven, and she seeks to utilise psychological or emotional states to inform the visual storytelling of her costumes and environments. She is interested in designing surreal and expressive spaces that explore the relationships between visual art and theatre.
I was immediately excited when I read the script for Horne’s Descent. It was brimming with drama and rich themes like religion, temptation, damnation and masculinity, all whilst being set in a really interesting moment in history. Together as a creative team we decided that the core artistic vision would be ‘a fight for man, as shown through a fever dream’.
As Horne’s Descent is a play that elegantly balances so many different ideas, I had an eclectic mix of visual touchstones in this design process. I looked at the dream-world in Twin Peaks (1990), the bright and graphic (whilst eerie) design of Suspiria (1977); depictions of the supernatural in Romantic painting and printmaking; the work o
As Horne’s Descent is a play that elegantly balances so many different ideas, I had an eclectic mix of visual touchstones in this design process. I looked at the dream-world in Twin Peaks (1990), the bright and graphic (whilst eerie) design of Suspiria (1977); depictions of the supernatural in Romantic painting and printmaking; the work of Constructivist artists in the early 1920s such as El Lissitzky; and fashion illustrations from the period.
In early conversations with our director Chloe, we talked about liminality as a core concept for the design: the play exists in a space between the literal and the symbolic. This feeling of ‘the inbetween’ is also reflected in the period; in the aftershock of war and the beginning of the roaring twenties. As a designer I sought to capture
In early conversations with our director Chloe, we talked about liminality as a core concept for the design: the play exists in a space between the literal and the symbolic. This feeling of ‘the inbetween’ is also reflected in the period; in the aftershock of war and the beginning of the roaring twenties. As a designer I sought to capture the essence of 1920 whilst visually suggesting this otherworldly, ‘fever dream’ space that our characters are in.
I decided to utilise period costumes and antique furniture in a space with a bold, graphic floor and atmospheric drapery; such that the characters and objects in the room are ‘period’, but the whereabouts and nature of the space is teetering on the edge of believability. The theatre space in the Old Red Lion is particularly unique, and it has been a really exciting challenge to work with this as a designer. The pew-like seating feels particularly in keeping with the religious theme in Horne’s Descent, and this is something I wanted to work with, by having accents of red and dark wood in the furnishings of the set to harmonise with the audience seating. The irregular polygonal shape of the stage was also something that I wanted to heighten and draw attention to with the geometric floor, to emphasise the feeling of disorientation within the play.
I would love to thank the cast and creative team of Horne’s Descent, for all of your exciting, generative ideas, collaborative practice and for being such a kind and capable team! Thanks also to the Old Red Lion for having us, and to Rotherhithe Picture Research Library at Sands Films.