Let's Talk About Sets: Libby Watson on Laila The Musical

Pravesh Kumar director and writer of Laila has been talking to me about this project for a couple of years. His idea was to write a musical based on a love story that originated as a 7th century Persian poem, Layla and Majnun. There was to be a fusion between western musical theatre and Sufi music using a theatrical form of storytelling. We have collaborated many times before but on this project we particularly worked on the aesthetic during the writing process, which helped inform the final style of the piece. I remember him calling me with an initial statement. ‘I need it to look really beautiful’. No pressure at all then, except to make the staging of it all appear elegant and effortless.

I decided early on to use a static single setting to which we would add to. The story is multi locational and I wanted to avoid time consuming scene changes. We needed a fluidity and a style to the piece that would not lose momentum. I felt the set should reflect the most beautiful aspects of Indian architecture but in their simplest form. We decided on a large carved wooden screen with intricate carved patterns that would create our backdrop to the various locations. The writing is rich with the themes of passion, honour and love ever present. It has a heart-breaking quality and the music does so much of the work we were keen to keep the staging simple, with minimal props and simple solutions to locations.

The intention is to make the audience feel like they are arriving at a concert as they walk into the theatre, with the musicians visible onstage on rugs and cushions as you would find with a traditional Sufi performance. This would very much inform the context of the piece right from the start and allow the audience into our world of storytelling and imagination. The band are always present and we can see the musicians playing throughout the evening.

We are using different fabrics to create some of the many locations. A light organza that spans the entire stage is a metaphor for Laila's veiled world. As we are a touring production we sometimes have limited flying capacity so I decided to use the drama of Kabuki drops. There is something graceful and yet destructive about the falling of metres of silk onto the stage floor and then being dragged away.

The evening is seen through Laila’s imagination, from her discovering an old book in a Bradford bookshop that she realises resonates with her life in the present day. This very much inspired the visual style as she puts herself into the world of the story. It meant that we could take the central character and the audience on a journey that was steeped in tradition but presented in a non-naturalistic form.

By Libby Watson

Laila – The Musical runs at Watford Palace Theatre until 17 April and then tours.