ENDA WALSH
DONNACHA DENNEHY
PROJECTION DESIGN
DONNACHA DENNEHY
The First Child
PROJECTION DESIGN
The final installment in Enda Walsh and Donnacha Dennehy’s suburban horror opera trilogy. The First Child premiered at Dublin Theatre Festival 2021 and will tour in 2022 and beyond. Co-produced by INO and Landmark.
The first two operas in the trilogy are The First Hotel and The Second Violinist. All three feature Irish new music ensemble Crash Ensemble.
I was also video designer on the latter - check it out here. Full cast, creative and production team here.
I had a ball working on this and it was about as satisfying a creative process as you can get from start to finish. The design called for a range of elements from stylised Tinder and Instagram designs, to slow motion aerial ocean waves and giant CG curtains.
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Three blended projectors were used to cover the full width of the set. Shadows on the back wall were minimised with a combination of a steep projection angle and mask painting.
Production photos by Ste Murray. Note on production photos - projections are often difficult to capture nicely in photos, so some colour banding and uneven exposure are visible. Video clips to follow.
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The first two operas in the trilogy are The First Hotel and The Second Violinist. All three feature Irish new music ensemble Crash Ensemble.
I was also video designer on the latter - check it out here. Full cast, creative and production team here.
★★★★★
‘Equal parts baffling and brilliant, The First Child is a remarkable conclusion to the Dennehy-Walsh partnership.’
- The Irish Times
★★★★★
‘...Jack Phelan's stunning video design...’
- The Arts Review
I had a ball working on this and it was about as satisfying a creative process as you can get from start to finish. The design called for a range of elements from stylised Tinder and Instagram designs, to slow motion aerial ocean waves and giant CG curtains.
Three blended projectors were used to cover the full width of the set. Shadows on the back wall were minimised with a combination of a steep projection angle and mask painting.
Production photos by Ste Murray. Note on production photos - projections are often difficult to capture nicely in photos, so some colour banding and uneven exposure are visible. Video clips to follow.
JACK PHELAN - VIDEO ARTIST, DESIGNER, DIRECTOR WICKLOW, IRELAND.