Diary of a Madman (1971)

The National Arts Centre staged Nikolai Gogol's The Diary of a Madman in 1979. Under the direction of David Hemlen and adapted by and starring Ray Jewers, this classic of Russian theatre brings the audience through three months in the life of a humble servant in 1833 St. Petersburg, Russia. As the programme notes indicate, Diary of a Madman champions the "little man" and "reflects the ignorance, the prejudices, the stifling bureaucracy and the pernicious class structure of the time." The June 1979 performances were held at Academic Hall at the University of Ottawa.

The set design for Diary of a Madman was created by Roy Robitschek, who worked at the NAC during this era. The smallest maquette of all those worked on this term, the maquette for this production is just 21 cm (length) by 15 cm (depth) by 16.5 cm (height). 

This maquette depicts a small room – the living space of the main character. The room is grey, dirty, and features a small, slanted window in the back. The walls have exposed support beams, and the floor is unfinished wood. The room contains a bed, a writing desk with writing materials and chair, a fireplace, a bookshelf, a (possibly Orthodox Christian) religious icon placed on a small table with a stool, some curtains, a screen or room divider, and a wooden person painted black. The materials used consist of poster board, plastic, wood, textile (possibly cotton), paper, and paint. There is a high level of detail especially in the finishing touches, with the religious icon being carefully painted, the bookshelf being populated with a variety of objects, and the book on the writing desk having representative squiggles.

Conservation work on this small maquette was minimal but presented some challenges due to its small size! The three students that worked on this project took turns gently cleaning the exterior with cheese cloth and cotton swabs, beginning with the top and working down the sides. When then moved to the interior, they began with the ceiling and then moved down the walls, sticking with cotton swabs to allow for a gentle and precise touch for such a small structure.