Production Design & Stage/Theatre motif
The importance of theatre to the characters’ lives is reinforced by the production design or art direction. All About Eve was primarily filmed at the Twentieth Century Fox studio with the exception of the scenes set inside and outside the theatre. It is appropriate, considering the centrality of the theatre in the lives of all the characters in All About Eve, that the theatre setting should be the most substantial, authentic, glamorous and complex space in the film. In scenes like the one in which Margo enters the empty theatre after Eve’s audition, the genuineness of this space is underlined by the diegetic soundscape (the sounds that emanate from the world of the story), as, for instance, Margo’s furious footsteps can be heard making their way through the space and everything the actors says echoes as it fills the cavernous expanse of the empty theatre.
In contrast to the distinctiveness of the theatre, the characters’ homes are conventional and forgettable spaces. Margo’s house is distinguished by its size and quantity of artworks and the furnishings. Because we know the portrait of Sarah Siddons is a copy, we are led to assume that most of the elaborately framed artwork is there to create effect, rather than having any intrinsic worth. Margo’s house is a bit like a stage set and the many stairs accentuate the possibilities of the house as a personal performance space for Margo. The spaces in Margo’s house are used to great effect in the party scene. Margo conducts her private business off stage in the kitchen, as she does a deal with Max to get Eve out of her house and bares her soul to Lloyd. While Margi’s self-pitying performance takes place in the large reception room, the staircase become an alternative, intimate space from which Margo is excluded.
Margo’s house is in stark contrast to Lloyd and Karen’s home which is small, and furnished much more quietly in a more modern style. In contrast to Margo’s gilt-framed portraits, Karen and Lloyd have just a few pieces on display.
While the empty side of Margo’s double bed attests to Bill’s absence, we have no doubt where he sleeps when he is in town. In contrast, Karen and Bill’s bedroom reached by a rather creepy spiral staircase does not indicate a loving relationship. With their twin beds at an angle, the scene is set for Lloyd to turn away from Karen and go off to see Eve.
Staggs, Sam, All About Eve, St Martain’s Press, New York, 2001, p186
“Nowhere in the various dwellings – Margo’s house, Karen and Lloyd’s apartment, Eve’s seedy boarding house…do we observe personal items such as books, family photos, a childhood toy or momento, much less a live pet. Their homes are impersonal. What ever domestic warmth these characters enjoy is in the theatre.
Throughout the film Characters speak not only of the significance of the theatre, but characterise their lives as theatre (Lloyd says at Margo’s party that the atmosphere is “Macbethish” and Margo says, at one point “certain drop” after a fiery speech to Bill). Consider the quotes in the section titled “Life Is a Performance”.
The importance of theatre to the characters’ lives is reinforced by the production design or art direction. All About Eve was primarily filmed at the Twentieth Century Fox studio with the exception of the scenes set inside and outside the theatre. It is appropriate, considering the centrality of the theatre in the lives of all the characters in All About Eve, that the theatre setting should be the most substantial, authentic, glamorous and complex space in the film. In scenes like the one in which Margo enters the empty theatre after Eve’s audition, the genuineness of this space is underlined by the diegetic soundscape (the sounds that emanate from the world of the story), as, for instance, Margo’s furious footsteps can be heard making their way through the space and everything the actors says echoes as it fills the cavernous expanse of the empty theatre.
In contrast to the distinctiveness of the theatre, the characters’ homes are conventional and forgettable spaces. Margo’s house is distinguished by its size and quantity of artworks and the furnishings. Because we know the portrait of Sarah Siddons is a copy, we are led to assume that most of the elaborately framed artwork is there to create effect, rather than having any intrinsic worth. Margo’s house is a bit like a stage set and the many stairs accentuate the possibilities of the house as a personal performance space for Margo. The spaces in Margo’s house are used to great effect in the party scene. Margo conducts her private business off stage in the kitchen, as she does a deal with Max to get Eve out of her house and bares her soul to Lloyd. While Margi’s self-pitying performance takes place in the large reception room, the staircase become an alternative, intimate space from which Margo is excluded.
Margo’s house is in stark contrast to Lloyd and Karen’s home which is small, and furnished much more quietly in a more modern style. In contrast to Margo’s gilt-framed portraits, Karen and Lloyd have just a few pieces on display.
While the empty side of Margo’s double bed attests to Bill’s absence, we have no doubt where he sleeps when he is in town. In contrast, Karen and Bill’s bedroom reached by a rather creepy spiral staircase does not indicate a loving relationship. With their twin beds at an angle, the scene is set for Lloyd to turn away from Karen and go off to see Eve.
Staggs, Sam, All About Eve, St Martain’s Press, New York, 2001, p186
“Nowhere in the various dwellings – Margo’s house, Karen and Lloyd’s apartment, Eve’s seedy boarding house…do we observe personal items such as books, family photos, a childhood toy or momento, much less a live pet. Their homes are impersonal. What ever domestic warmth these characters enjoy is in the theatre.
Throughout the film Characters speak not only of the significance of the theatre, but characterise their lives as theatre (Lloyd says at Margo’s party that the atmosphere is “Macbethish” and Margo says, at one point “certain drop” after a fiery speech to Bill). Consider the quotes in the section titled “Life Is a Performance”.