Design Concept

Ah, Wilderness! by playwright Eugene O’Neill explores the naïveté of middle-class society in turn-of-the-century America by placing a series of relationships between family members and lovers in an idyllic Victorian world of propriety. Instead of dealing with and talking about the issues of drunkenness, gambling and rebellion, the family chooses to ignore their problems and believe in the best in everybody. When the young lovers experience their first major altercation, the young man turns to alcohol and loose women to deal with his rejection, leading to his temporary fall from grace.

The costumes reflect turn-of-the-century Victorian ideals of innocence and propriety. The men, stoic and impassive in their somber black suits, rest on the fixed society of Victorian culture while the older women reflect their bond with the household by wearing browns and rust colors that blend with the colors of the set. The younger women flutter around their respective loves in white linen dresses with light blue and pink accents. The young protagonist Richard, dressed in lighter colored collegiate fashion, experiences a transformation as he comes of age in the play, going from light colors to the darker, more sedate dark suit of the older men. The costumes should mirror the characters’ emotional ties to each other and their surroundings, as well as the transformations they experience throughout the duration of the play.