During 2017 I worked with Door to Elsewhere Theatre Ensemble ( a group of disabled performers ) to design a forest installation and costumes for Can’t See The Wood For The Trees (work in progress); the ensemble’s contemporary response to the Red Riding Hood story. 

 

 

This work was more fully realised in January 2018 by an installation /performance at Rua Red, South Dublin County Arts Centre.

 

Doors to Elsewhere is a theatre ensemble for adults living with disabilities in South Dublin County. The ensemble is a Tallaght Community Arts initiative led by director Jenny Macdonald and producer Jennifer Webster.

 

In the past Doors to Elsewhere have been inspired by mythology and fairytales in creating several of their previous works. 

These themes came together in Can’t See The Wood For The Trees in which they explored the story of Red Riding Hood in a modern context to consider issues of care, independence and our media-addicted society.

 

I worked with the group to realise their vision of the world of Little Red Riding Hood. My designs are the beginning of a developing installation that would be sited either in a theatre or gallery setting. I made 19 Red Riding Hood costumes for the performers.

 

The work extended and expanded the groups’ performance repertoire into video, ensemble movement and design.

 

This production is a significant development for the group. The combination of dance, video, allied with a specially designed set of illuminated trees and costumes creates a world that evokes the fairytale world of the original story whilst being firmly located on the present.

 

"Audiences were intrigued by the final scene that had 18 red cloaked performers on stage to witness the little girl Red Riding Hood resurrect her Grandmother from the stomach of the Wolf." 

Director of Tallaght Community Arts