An epic food fight and tiny kitchen cabinets: the complications of designing Rules for Living

Working on Rules for Living has been a rather unexpected challenge. On paper it's a single location, six-hander comedy about family dynamics at Christmas and how quickly and catastrophically polite conversation can descend into total anarchy. No huge scene changes, one costume each and a present day setting. In practise however, it's an incredibly complex and detailed piece of writing which demands real precision and collaboration between all creative departments to make it (and its concept of characters having 'rules for living') cohere as a piece of theatre. Composition and then expert conducting by the director has been vital.

The design process was, as is often the case, an exercise in simplification and wading through the melting pot of ideas, stripping things away until we were left with a single conceptual gesture. Then to rebuild from that point in a slightly more practical ‘how many entrances and exits do we need’ kind of mode. The landing point for this design was the set being like a doll's house.

Everything in the set was built at 10 per cent smaller than real life to heighten the spatial intensity

Simon Godwin, the director, and I had talked a lot about wanting the characters to feel as if in a pressure cooker, something most people who spend Christmas with their family feel! The decision was then made that everything in the house should not only have a slightly wipe clean, vivid colour aesthetic but also be built at 10 per cent smaller than real life to heighten the spatial intensity. This was not necessarily to be consciously perceived by the audience but instead give a sense of things being slightly distorted, exaggerating the feeling of the audience as voyeurs; as if gods, watching the mortal puppets below (quote from Simon!).

The key question was then how to integrate the rules assigned to each character in such a way that they enhanced the flow and comic potential of the show but didn't slow the pace down or break the tension. Simon and I decided early on to use video as part of the design so the rules could have an ephemeral quality; be of the characters’ subconscious. Also important was that the surfaces they appeared on were part of the fabric of the house in which the play was set rather than a location outside of it which would take you out of the story.

We had to cause mass set destruction in a minute-long fight sequence

The set build and props sourcing was made trickier because of the reduction in size of things. Kitchen units were made not bought, white goods were chopped down to size and kids cutlery used instead of adults. The play also culminates in a full throttle food fight between the characters so specific attention was also paid to how we could cause mass set destruction in a minute-long fight sequence. The stage manager's clean up operation is an epic one and there are lots of rigged elements to the set to allow for things to appear to break without actual force. Non slip glaze covers every floor surface and all scenic fabrics are waterproof.

I think ultimately balance has been achieved and the production is both emotionally engaging on an intrinsic human level; you’ll laugh a lot and identify with the characters, but also on a more cerebral level a thought provoking night out which will leave you with lots to talk about post show.

By Lily Arnold

Rules for Living runs at Royal & Derngate until 30 September and the tours the UK before arriving at the Rose Theatre Kingston from 7 to 18 November.