“In the first act, the action does not take place in the conventional Germany; Marie-Louise Ekman has created a surrealist landscape in a naive style: a tropical island’s mountainous shapes suggest the sensuality of a woman’s body, generous, voluptuous. The second act is also a mental landscape. On the walls, pieces of human bodies are placed here and there, a nose, a finger, a breast... a mangled humanity, broken into pieces and trapped in an empty and icy space.”
Madeleine Kats
The Costume
The costume for Giselle is a dark pink and light pink long skirt and top, which suggests her plain, child like mind set, manor, and behaivour. Albrecht wears all white which means he doesnt work, as it was highly impractical in those days to wear less durable clothing that needs lots of washing to work, as work then, was manual labor like farming etc. The Willies now mental patients, wear modern hospital robes and some wear head bandages. This is suggesting that back in those days when it waas set, patients must have had surgery on the head as the doctors saw it as a way to make them better. The costume for the Villagers and Hilarion are rough looking, wearing dark trousers and top. This is because black is a practical working colour and the rugged material and the dye is cheaper so therefore the clothing will be cheaper as villagers were poor.
