FMP | LOCATION

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Firstly, I need to decide where/when to locate this piece - and I've settled on Victorian London, for many reasons:

1) this is the era in which the play is set and Büchner lived - I like the contextual synthesis of thematically referencing the original text, after Tom Waits' reinterpretation. Also, I think that the tragic atmosphere of the play can only support the conceipt behind the Tom Waits' punchline.
2) the issue of chronology in storytelling: when was "Once upon a time..."?
3) The most enduring impression of both reading and watching Woyzeck is the severity of psychological abuse inflicted upon by the so called superior classes - the Captain and Doctor.
Throughout, Woyzeck is provoked, tested, examined and humiliated by the Doctor - he is treated like a living specimen. Victorian London is synonymous with rapid progress, the world was shrinking, the Empire expanding, curiosities began flooding into the city to be examined - all of which reminded me of a couple of my favourite London museums; Sir John Soanes Museum and the Grant Museum of Zoology - both of which house the extraordinary collections of their former proprietors.

I have therefore decided to locate the intro sequence for my animation in the parlour room of a Victorian collector. Packed with exotic specimens in bell jars, artifacts from around the world, curiosities...


The Grant Museum of Zoology


Note book pages from visit - no photography allowed



Sir John Soanes Museum


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As an extension of this, I plan to locate part of the full animation narrative in the back streets of an apocalyptic Victorian London - around the sideshow culture that was so prominent a form of entertainment - The Elephant Man territory. So I've already been researching the bold graphic style used in the day. I've even put together a poster that will feature: advertising a performance by Tom Waits!