Set Design

Amazing Grace: The True Story is a complex production featuring everything from battles and storms at sea to locations as varied as the streets of 1740s London to the jungles of Africa. The research that goes into making these settings believable is intense and involves the depiction of period details which combine to help the audience feel as though they are being “drawn in” to another world. The goal of good set design is not to draw attention to the sets themselves, but rather to have them seamlessly blend into the story, helping the audience suspend their disbelief while the characters are on stage. The engineering challenges involved in depicting a ship at sea, rolling and pitching with the waves before nearly sinking, are significant (as are the many cannon and fire effects necessary for scenes aboard the HMS Harwich.)

Preliminary designs utilize an entirely new effect that the author conceived while writing the show. This method will help complete the illusion of both the ship and the surface it rides on. A team of engineers and set designers will evaluate and adapt this concept (which is a combination of both mechanical and video projection technologies) to ensure that it is safe for the actors and audience and that it not only works on the stage for the World Premiere, but is also transportable and scalable to accommodate theatres of varying sizes.