Maddie Keil - The Moors Scenic Design

Jen Silverman's The Moors is a dark, queer, and feminist gothic comedy that subverts Victorian literary tropes, primarily those associated with the Brontë sisters. The plot follows Emilie, a governess who arrives at a remote, isolated manor on the English moors to find two strange spinster sisters, a philosophical Mastiff, and a crash-prone Moor-Hen, but no child to teach. The manor’s interior is key: it is explicitly staged so that all rooms—parlor, bedrooms, and scullery—appear identical, highlighting the characters' emotional imprisonment and the claustrophobia of their domestic existence. This stifling interior is contrasted with the vast, wild, and savage moors, which serve as a powerful metaphor for untamed desire, isolation, and the potential for transformation and violence outside societal constraints. Scenic designer Maddie Keil created a single unit set to represent both the manor's identical interior rooms and the bleak exterior moors. The design was abstract and emblematic, featuring realistic Victorian details, but its architectural lines dissolved into fractured shapes, creating an uncanny feeling. This dread was heightened by doorways that opened onto empty, dark voids instead of traditional masking, making them appear as ominous portals. Exterior moor scenes were established using dense, low-lying fog that transformed the interior into a shadowy and menacing background presence, allowing for smooth, quick transitions between indoor and outdoor action.