Centro Dramático Nacional, Madrid
Fernanda Hannah
Stage set for the play by Antonio Buero Vallejo
Historia de una escalera is perhaps one of the most restricted spaces in which the greatest number of situations have arisen... It is a prison, a dungeon where the most terrible things happen, although not without leaving some hope. I think a wise decision, one we hadn't seen in any of the previous sets, was to rotate the stairwell 45 degrees, creating two exposed walls with two access doors to the apartments each.
In the poster a bit of blue sky can be seen at the top of the staircase, a blue sky with clouds. The moving clouds are also a metaphor for the passage of time, and acquire a major presence at the start of the three acts.
In spite of the general acceptance of our project and the prestigious award it deserved I have never been commissioned to design a set again.
ADE Prize (Association of Theatrical Directors), Madrid 2003