The Emperor Jones   by: Eugene O'Neil        Directed by: Ciaran O'Reilly     

The Irish Repertory Theatre

Soho Playhouse

http://www.irishrep.org

Scenic Design: Charlie Corcoran   Costumes: Antonia Ford-Roberts   Lighting: Brian Nason        2010

Puppets: Bob Flanagan

HEWES DESIGN AWARD NOMINATION

“But the forms that Mr. O’Reilly and his creative team give these phantoms, including an early set of apparitions identified in the script as “little formless fears,” have the disturbing beauty — and internal logic — of a symbolist painting.
Every aspect of design — Charlie Corcoran’s set and Antonia Ford-Roberts’s costumes, Brian Nason’s transfiguring lighting and Mr. Flanagan’s living puppets — feeds into a complete vision of interior doubts erupting into a dominating external life. By the end of Jones’s journey he is beyond controlling even his physical movements, a process reflected with anguished precision in Barry McNabb’s enriching choreography.
I don’t want to be too specific about the visions that this production conjures up as we follow Jones, almost against our will, into dementia. They surprised and rattled me, and I imagine they’ll have the same effect on you. But let me say that though I’d never thought of it before, “The Emperor Jones” turns out to be a perfect Halloween entertainment for grown-ups. As this magical production makes clear, O’Neill, a man of many demons, understood all too well that everyone is his own boogeyman. ”

Ben Brantley for The New York Times

Production Photos by: Carol Rosegg