Ways of using the images in the galleries as a starting point for practical work:
Costumes:
Try to make a costume from one of the designs, either at full scale or for a maquette/doll. How much information is given by the design and how much do you have to contribute?
Does the costume suggest certain kinds of movement? What if the movement is very different to that suggested?
What if the costume is used without a mask, or if it is paired with a different mask?
Try to work out what materials Herbert used for her drawn costume designs. Use these materials to make your own designs for some of the characters in the Oresteia. Create the same designs using different materials. What difference does it make?
Masks:
Try to make one of the masks – using papier-mâché or other materials. Remember that the performers had to see out of the mask and speak the lines through it.
Try the mask on yourself or ask someone else to try it on. Does it suggest certain kinds of movement or behaviour? Can you record this through drawings and sketches? Can you develop the movement/behaviour into a short movement/dance piece or use it as starting point for a performance idea?
Set:
Try to make a scale model from the designs. Does making the model help you to understand how the space could be used in performance?
Place scale figures in the model, perhaps contrastingly costumed figures. Does the design work with the contrasting figures? Could it be used for the same play? Can you imagine how the performance might come across differently and why?
If you have access to a studio space, try creating Herbert’s set design in that space using whatever materials you can get hold of. Decide which are the most important elements of the design that you need to place there; such as outlines, entrances and exits, textures, levels etc.