My Uncle Oswald Initial Set Design

        The scene which I have chosen from My Uncle Oswald upon which to base my set and scene takes place in Madrid's Ritz Hotel, where Oswald and Yasmin have installed themselves in order to steal the seaman of King Alfonso XII of Spain. That it takes place in a specific, extant location means that I have some excellent reference material to work with when planning the shape and layout of the set. While many of the photographs available of this hotel show it in a fairly modern condition, it is not hard to imagine it in its early 20th Century glory. The Ritz was and is synonymous with opulence and luxury, making it just the sort of establishment that Oswald would feel at home in.

        In spite of the vivid pictures painted by Dahl's novels, he gives remarkably sparse descriptions of the physical appearance of either his characters of locations, allowing the reader to fill in the blanks. This allows a certain amount of freedom on my part, to imagine how the hotel room of the Ritz might by laid out and decorated. One of the few descriptions makes plain that Oswald and Yasmin have separate rooms, which combined with Oswald's wealth and the amount of sensitive scientific equipment the pair bring with them makes me imagine a suite of connected rooms, allowing the pair privacy in which to avoid prying eyes.

        What stood out to me about this hotel, aside from the sumptuous and palatial decor, was the rounded turret on the corner. A round set would, in my opinion be more aesthetically pleasing and interesting than a standard square room, devoid of dark, dingy corners, particularly with the three floor length windows which can be seen above. However, building in the round does present a number of issues, the most obvious being that sheets of plywood (one of the predominant set building materials) is not curved, it is flat. While it is possible to bend plywood into a curve, it will be more labour intensive and time consuming than working with flat walls. With this in mind I also sketched out the floor plan for a similar room, with three straight walls. By cutting diagonally across the corner, it is still more dynamic than a room of right angles, yet may be simpler to construct than the rounded version. However, it still seems a little flat by comparison. Another solution, for producing a dynamic set which more closely resembles the round room is to create a hexagonal or even octagonal shape.