Industrial Nature: The Unrealised King Lear of Norman Bel Geddes

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis paper examines the surviving production evidence from the long-prepared but never staged production of King Lear from industrial designer Norman Bel Geddes and explores the evidence through the lens of Bel Geddes as regisseur. Following a brief introduction to Bel Geddes’ artistic background, it considers the evidence in light of several forces influencing the world of American theatre at the time. This paper goes on to devote considerable focus not only to the evidence specifically related to the King Lear production, including the production script and scene renderings, but also to the ongoing connection between the production and Bel Geddes’ design for ‘Theatre Six’ and its integral role in manifesting the designer’s vision for his adaptation of Shakespeare: the paradoxical use of developing technology to aid in returning the staging of Shakespeare to its Early Modern form. The paper concludes with a consideration of the manner in which his approach to Shakespeare illustrates the need to answer Bel Geddes’ plea for supporting new voices in theatre.KEYWORDS: ShakespeareKing LearNorman Bel Geddestheatrical design Disclosure StatementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 Bel Geddes, Papers, Theater Box 156, Folder j3. Norman Bel Geddes to Dorothy Lockhart, October 17, 1929.2 Wilson and Goldfarb. Living Theatre, 371.3 Moderwell, The Theatre of Today, 59.4 Ibid., 64.5 Bel Geddes’ handwritten notes on the title page of his personal copy of: Moderwell, The Theatre of Today. Located at The Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin. Austin, Texas. Call no. PN 2189 M6 HRC-TA, Copy 3.6 Bel Geddes’ handwritten note, page 64 of his personal copy of: Moderwell, The Theatre of Today. Located at The Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin. Austin, Texas. Call no. PN 2189 M6 HRC-TA, Copy 3.7 Szerlip, ‘Colossal in Scale’.8 Bel Geddes, Miracle in the Evening, 132.9 Ibid., 95.10 Macgowan, ‘New Path of the Theatre’, 85–86.11 Reinhardt, ‘Theatre Through Reinhardt’s Eyes’, 65.12 Craig, A Living Theatre, 3.13 Bragdon, ‘Towards a New Theatre’, 172.14 Bel Geddes, Papers, Theater Box 156, Folder j3. Norman Bel Geddes to Dorothy Lockhart, October 17, 1929.15 Fuerst and Hume, Twentieth-Century Stage Decoration, 5.16 Ibid.17 Kennedy, Looking at Shakespeare, 26.18 Ibid., 27.19 Dobson et al., Oxford Companion to Shakespeare, 437.20 Kennedy, Looking at Shakespeare, 35.21 Crosse, Shakespearean Playgoing 1890-1952, 47.22 Bel Geddes, Miracle in the Evening, 342.23 Wilson and Goldfarb, Living Theatre, 418.24 Bel Geddes, ‘Theatre of the Future’, 124.25 Bel Geddes had first encountered Appia’s work through Hiram Moderwell, whose The Theatre of Today featured an Appia design opposite its title page.26 Craig, A Living Theatre, 4.27 Appia, Music and the Art, 13.28 Simonson, ‘The Necessary Illusion’, 91.29 Macgowan, ‘The New Path of the Theatre’, 89.30 Hornblow, Theatre in America, 320.31 Bel Geddes, Miracle in the Evening, 172.32 Innes, Designing Modern America, 41.33 Hardberger, curator, The New Stagecraft.34 Bel Geddes, Miracle in the Evening, 259.35 Ibid., 146.36 Brockett et al., Making the Scene, 234.37 Macgowan, ‘The New Path of the Theatre’, 87.38 Bel Geddes, Papers, Theater Box 61, Folder k1. Prefatory notes to Norman Bel Geddes’ production script for King Lear.39 Bel Geddes, Papers, Theater Box 161, folder Y1. Manuscript notes for Norman Bel Geddes lecture to Architectural League of New York April 1922.40 Ibid. Theatre Six would later comprise part of Geddes’ Repertory Theatre design for the Chicago World’s Fair in 1939.41 Bel Geddes, Miracle in the Evening, 179.42 Bel Geddes, Papers, Theater Box 61, folder X1. Exhibition caption material.43 Bel Geddes, et al., ‘Theatre Planning: A Symposium’, 3.44 Simonson, ‘The Necessary Illusion’, 91. Simonson’s essay appeared just before Geddes’ own essay, ‘The Theatre of the Future’ in the same issue.45 Bel Geddes, Papers, Theater Box 61, Folder X1. Exhibition caption material.46 Bel Geddes, Papers, Theater Box 61, Folder k1. Prefatory notes to Norman Bel Geddes’ production script for King Lear.47 Bel Geddes numbered the pages in his script by using scene / scene division / scene division page number (if necessary). For example, his script begins on 1.1 and ends on 9.4.3. Thus, his page numbers read similar to act / scene with an additional number included. As Bel Geddes’ script was based on the Cambridge Edition, textual references in this paper include both the location in Cambridge (C), and in the Bel Geddes script (G).48 Bel Geddes, Papers, Theater Box 61, Folder k1. Prefatory notes to Norman Bel Geddes’ production script for King Lear.49 Bel Geddes, Papers, Theater Box 61, Folder k1. Production script for King Lear.50 Ibid. Bel Geddes’ plan for staging the play in a traditional theatre involved movable stone blocks that could be rearranged into different formations.51 Bel Geddes, Miracle in the Evening, 80. In Bel Geddes’ story, the real magic trick is not on stage, but after a show when a traveling magician, who also dealt in snake oil, swindles his customers using a strategically positioned, specially designed table for returning their change. Bel Geddes is let in on the ruse after he wows the audience by performing an impromptu trick alongside the ‘doctor’.52 In one case, the page containing Gloucester’s blinding (G 3.6.5), there are no less than thirty typed or handwritten notes and directions.53 McGuire, Speechless Dialect, 99.54 Bel Geddes, Papers, Theater Box 61, Folder k1. Prefatory notes to Norman Bel Geddes’ production script for King Lear.55 Bel Geddes, Miracle in the Evening, 261.56 Ibid., 179.57 Ibid., 131.58 Bel Geddes, Papers, Theater Box 61, Folder k1. Prefatory notes to Norman Bel Geddes’ production script for King Lear.59 Ibid.60 Bel Geddes, Horizons, 165.61 Ibid., 166.62 Bogusch, ‘Norman Bel Geddes’, 421.63 Bel Geddes, Miracle in the Evening, 262.64 Bel Geddes, Papers, Theater Box 61, folder X1. Exhibition caption material.65 Bel Geddes, Papers, Theater Box 61, Folder k1. Prefatory notes to Norman Bel Geddes’ production script for King Lear66 Bel Geddes, Papers, Theater Box 61, folder Q1. Source Material, Clippings.67 Bel Geddes, Miracle in the Evening, 140.68 Bel Geddes, Papers, Theater Box 61, folder X1. Exhibition caption material.69 Bel Geddes, Papers, Theater Box 161, folder Y1. Manuscript notes for Norman Bel Geddes lecture to Architectural League of New York April 1922.