A NOTE FROM THE SET DESIGNER

From the outset we wanted to create a set that is as fluid and yet familiar as possible. Instead of depicting one specific location, we set out to create a space that was a collage of the important spaces in Terri’s tale, and simultaneously a contemporary museum; lovingly displaying one man’s life and a one music movement’s artefacts.

Of course the best backing for such a space is our magnolia pegboard. Pegboard being the backdrop to many cool foregrounds. There was a board of it in the Good Vibrations shop, it was used a lot in recording studios at the time, and it expresses the makeshift workshop like way in which a community and pop culture scene was built.

Every texture of the set should be evocative of a different space. The sticky orange Lino of a town hall or pub, the black rubber floor of a gig backstage, the roller shutter on an intimidating street, and the curtain of a gorgeous unexpectedly glamorous theatrical space.

Another source of inspiration is artist Michael Landy, in 2001 he created the piece “Break Down” in which he meticulously laid out, catalogued, and subsequently shredded all of his possessions in an empty shop on Oxford Street. It seemed to be a useful metaphor for this folklore tale in which a constantly regenerating city and community feel that they’re in a city that sees them as disposable.

There are certain spaces that we always feel privileged to be in, none more so than backstage at a concert, we’ve used flight cases to create the sense that this is one of those, intangible, exclusive, “cool” spaces. It’s a great metaphor for this musical movement and era, now a memory play the entire scene is also beautifully intangible, exclusive, and cool.

There is a version of this set where we recreate the shop, or we wheel on the living room in Jerusalem street… But hopefully what our set does is demonstrate that Good Vibrations was more than a location or shop front, that instead, much more excitingly, we have holding space and a visual metaphor for the feeling, the music, and the passion.