When reading Tristan and Yseult for the first time I felt as though the text was very

much open to
creative interpretation, this is because of the contrasting themes that are present throughout the text.
for example, the Shakespearean style speech alongside things such as cameras, sunglasses and balloons
which are more modern touches this implies that the text is timeless. I liked this about the text because
it allowed me and my group to have a lot of freedom with our design ideas. When my group were first
coming up with ideas about how we might want to design our set, we knew we wanted it to be a really
immersive experience for our audience, this was because we knew how much more involved an
audience can be with an immersive set and it allows them to be able to connect with the characters and
understand the storyline on a more personal level. Initially we came up with two ideas about what we
wanted to do. Our first idea was the wedding scene, we were going to set it in the courtyard and have
the audience as guests. our second idea was the voyage scene specifically when Tristan and Yseult take
the love potion and do the dance of intoxication, and we were going to set this in a sea room and have
the audience walking around following the cast in a promenade style. We decided to go for the second
idea because we felt as though with the first idea the immersions were limited due to the very
naturalistic atmosphere, we also knew that we could take a far more abstract approach with the voyage
scene and make it a very sensory filled experience for our audience which isn't something you see very
often. Throughout the development process we played with many ideas of how we were going to make
our visions come to life. We had to decide on the foundation elements such as when we wanted to set
it, the atmosphere we wanted to create and how it all is relevant. We did this by referring back to the
text and creating various mood boards and mind maps to visually lay out our ideas. We went for a
Shakespearian/Jacobean time frame because of the text implications, we also knew that we wanted the
audiences' senses to be filled making them fully involved in what's going on and we really wanted to
ensure that we had a reason for all of our choices so going back to the text was really important. Once
we had the foundations sorted out, we could really get stuck in with making our ideas come to life with
the use of model boxes, sketches, mood boards, sounds, smells, and lighting. We also had to think about
the practicality of our designs and how they would work with performers, so we ensured that everything
had a way to work and be accessible to actors and audiences alike. We spent a few days creating things
to present using materials such as cardboard, shells, felt, tissue paper and as we started to see what
things looked like we were able to make any modifications that we felt were necessary, doing this
created a really good effect because we were able to explore how different textures and colours looked
and the associations we had with them. We also had to keep in mind the structure of the room we
chose which was the studio in Burdalls yard, the room is a long and even space which was perfect for
our ideas because we could envision it being completely transformed into exactly what we wanted.

My specific section was costume design however I also heavily contributed to the set design. I
developed my costume ideas by researching the different styles of clothing in that era and also adding
stylistic choices that are inspired by the text. I made various mood boards which I used in my
presentation to show the style of costume in which I wanted. I designed my costumes for both Tristan
and Yseult I started off with a simple base layer which would be practical to keep on throughout the
entire production the specific things I had in mind included a flowy skirt for Yseult because I thought it
would make her aerial dance with Tristan very dramatic and bold I also wanted her to have a flowery
overskirt which Tristan could put on her during the dance of intoxication to show how she is now tainted
and impure similarly Tristan has detailing on his waistcoat, sleeves and boots to not only to show his
impurity but also to give Tristan and Yseult a connection making them look like a cohesive pair which
Yseult and king mark lack. Some surprises I encountered was finding out how much deeper meaning a
costume can hold and that even the smallest of detailing can hold so much symbolism. It was difficult
when making big creative decisions on my own as some of my group were unable to come in therefore, I
was unsure whether my ideas fit the whole atmosphere of the set I overcame this by gaining confidence
in what my ideas were and being sure about my creative decisions. I learnt that it's important to make
sure that there's a reason for everything because it adds so much more depth to the characters when
the smallest things have meaning to them. I think that my area of development is definitely having more
confidence in my ideas and my ability to execute them, I also think that an area of development for me
could be making sure that the work load in the group is slightly more evenly distributed because I think I
could have spent more time working on my costume design rather than the set although I think it did
work out this time.

I felt that my presentation was quite successful this is because I think that me and my group were clear
with what we were saying and we had planned an order of when we each were going to talk about the
aspects in which we focused on and we tried to flow each part into the next to link together all of our
ideas. we all presented what we had been working on and how it all linked together even ranging back
to the text because of this I thought that the panel had a clear understanding of our visions and ideas. In
my opinion everything we had made looked exactly how I wanted it to. I felt as though when explaining
my ideas, I was clear in what I was saying and covered all of the points in which I wanted to make.
Something that didn’t quite go to plan was that during the day ,prior to the presentation half of my
group weren't in and we didn’t know whether they were coming to the present so we had to plan to do
it without them, in the end they both did come in but I think we would've been more prepared if
everyone was in at the start of the day. And we could've gone over what exactly we needed to do
however it ended up being absolutely okay and we got through the presentation with ease.

I am going to evaluate group mission first, in my opinion the groups vision was very clear, and I
understood what they wanted to show. It was really effective using the slides to show photos and bullet
points while also hearing what each person had to say. I also thought that the talking was evenly
distributed throughout the group with each one brining in their own ideas in a really professional way. I
think a way they could improve their presentation would be to have more sketches or made things to
show exactly what they want it to look like, they could have possibly explored things such as textures
they would use and I think they could've shown pictures of their model box on their slides to allow the
panel to see the details they put into it so we could fully appreciate everything they made. I really liked
their choice of the flamboyant tango for the dance of intoxication. The next group I'm evaluating is love I
thought that the ideas this group had were very interesting I felt that their take on the design could be
effective and I liked how they had contrasting themes which were futuristic and medieval it was clear to
me why they had chosen these themes and they explained their ideas really well, I think that they had
many interesting takes on the text which they moulded together nicely they could improve their
presentation by planning out what they were going to say and when at times it felt as though they were
jumping around with their ideas because they has so many things they wanted to say and sometimes
they forgot to mention certain things which they then mentioned half way through or at the end I think
if they were to have que cards or bullet points of what they wanted to say they could've covered all their
ideas in a professional manner. Overall, I thought that their group had some wonderful ideas, and I
really liked their take on the project.

In conclusion I really enjoyed the process of coming up with ideas and making them come to life on a
small scale. In the future I would like to do more set and costume design because it allows me to be
creative and showcase my ideas and abilities. Things in which I need to focus on include ensuring that
the work in the group is shared out equally and everyone has an opportunity to show their creative
process and I also need to improve on my confidence in my ideas and to not be afraid of showing my
work to others as everyone has different styles and abilities. To ensure I make progress in these areas of
development I will voice when I think that the workload needs to be shared out equally in a professional
way and I will also be sure that all my ideas are relevant to the work to make sure that I'm confident in
what I'm doing. Overall, I feel as though this unit of work was a very fun and new experience, I think
there's a lot I can take from what I've learnt to use in future projects.