The Revolutionists, by Lauren Gunderson, is truly a high intensity, feminists smashing the patriarchy experience. This modern storytelling sheds a light on the seemingly dark French Revolution. The story centers on historic feminist playwright, Olympe deGouge, as she struggles with leaving her legacy as one to remember. Throughout the show she meets badass feminine icons who’s perseverance, passion, and determination drive the course of this play and show Olympe who she’s really fighting for. 

 

My inspiration for the design of the show was focusing on the idea of Olympe’s constant struggle with her writings. She wants so badly to be remembered and for her voice to change the world that she becomes a victim to her anxiety and her obsession. To show this idea of her mentality slipping, I made her living quarters a representation of her mind. Her words are surrounding her every move, plastered on the walls, papers and books scattered everywhere showing her desperation for change. This design includes setting changes that come from within the set itself, since the whole plot is within Olympe’s mind. Her elevation from the rest of the reality is represented by the height of her work station, which gives her a perfect view of the ever present threat surrounding her. The walls of her house are deteriorating and reveals Olympe’s greatest fear, death. The massive guillotine looms over Olympe’s work space threatening and pressuring her to make a difference before her time runs out. Olympe becomes lost in her own spiderweb of madness by the end of the show and the deaths of her newly formed friends give her the clarity to leave her mark as her life and the story comes to a close.