Telling a Myth Without Words: Patrick Larsen's Petra
Patrick Larsen's 2004 set design for Petra at the Strovolos Theatre Festival in Nicosia, Cyprus — a wordless mythological dance-theatre piece staged around tall copper-plated rotating doors.
Petra (2004), Strovolos Theatre Festival, Nicosia, Cyprus — an epic mythological tale told entirely through dance. Set design by Patrick Larsen.
Before any of the expos or Vegas work, there was Cyprus. In 2004 I designed the set for Petra at the Strovolos Theatre Festival in Nicosia — a mythological piece told entirely through dance, no spoken words.
When there's no dialogue
If there's no script carrying the story, the space has to do it. My answer was a set of tall, copper-plated rotating doors. Light and texture on one side, negative space on the other. Open them, close them, turn them — the stage reshapes around the myth. A few strong elements doing the work.
Petra (2004), Strovolos Theatre Festival, Nicosia, Cyprus — ensemble scene with copper-plated rotating doors. Set design by Patrick Larsen.
The same instinct, smaller
Looking back, the instincts I still use were already here. One strong sculptural move. Scenery that transforms. A set built to carry feeling, not to decorate it. Two decades later I was doing the same thing under a 130-metre dome at Expo. The venues changed completely. The craft didn't, really.
