Sneak preview...

We will be entering tech week next for Oliver Twist. Although I can't believe the festive show has come about so quickly, I am more than a little excited for one of several reasons. I loved A Christmas Carol (also Dickens of course), the cast are a bunch of super nice people, Josette, the Director, is one of the most enthusiastic people I have ever met and I admire her immensely and then there is Dawn Allsopp's set.

It never ceases to amaze me how changeable the auditorium is and there is always something marvellous and magical about the set for the festive show. So without futher ado here is a sneak preview...now I don't want to ruin it for you so I have just included images of a few areas rather than it in its entirety but if you would rather wait for the show to open then close you eyes now...

Amazingly, these are images taken of the model for the set not the actually thing that is in the process of being constructed in our workshop but what a wonderful model. So detailed, so life like. Loving your work Dawn!

And next week perhaps some costumes...

An Interview With Libby Watson - Designer

It's all go in the auditorium at the moment as Up Against the Wall opens tonight. It's looking smashing and once again the space has been transformed. I have included a few sneak preview shots of the set but only enough to keep you guessing. (Set photography once again courtesy of Ian Tilton). The lady responsible for creating this funky 70s look is Libby Watson. Despite her overseeing many a costume (and believe me there are a fair few), towering platforms and afros a-gogo she took the time to answer a few questions for your reading pleasure...

How did you get into Theatre Design? And what advice would you have for people looking to work in this field?

I started as a student at the Bristol Old Vic theatre where I concentrated on carpentry and lighting design. I worked as a carpenter for a couple of years and then did a degree in theatre and film design at Wimbledon School of Art. I then assisted some big name designers on West End, Opera and Broadway. My first professional work was at Theatre Royal Stratford East and I have now designed over 80 shows.

My advice for people looking to work in this field is to get as much first hand experience as possible in all departments, from stage management to wardrobe etc.. A degree is the most formal way to train and gives you access to directors and designers. It is then a good idea to assist. At first you may be expected to work for free but if you have good skills in CAD (computer aided design) or technical drawing and high quality model making, it is possible to be in constant work and to be paid well. The other route is to try and work in fringe theatre, this can be challenging as the budgets tend to be tiny and designers are paid very little if at all.

Which project, that you have undertaken, are you most proud of?

I have worked many times with Paulette Randall (Director of Up Against the Wall). A couple of productions that stand out are Three Sisters for Birmingham Rep and Eclipse tour and Gem of the Ocean by August Wilson at the Tricycle. Both relied heavily on good visual research and a static set that was instantly evocative. Three Sisters was set in 1940’s Trinidad and Gem of the Ocean late 19th century Pittsburgh.


If you could produce designs for any production, what would that production be?

I like to work in all fields, but in the future I would like the challenge of designing more opera.

Can you describe a bit about the process you went through to design the set and costumes for Up Against the Wall and what you used for inspiration?

The process for this show is pretty much like any other. There are elements that need to be there, ie space for a band, enough floor space for choreography etc.. I worked with the Director, the MD and the choreographer and showed them ideas and possible solutions along with visual elements that I thought would contribute to a visual style.

A lot of the research came from blaxploitation films and books of the period. I used this material for both the set and for the costumes. I worked with a 1:25 model and produced a rough sketch model and then refined this to a completed model, which is identical to what you see on stage. I sketched costume ideas, which were then completed into full colour drawings after consultation with the choreographer and the Director.


What were the biggest challenges of designing for Up Against the Wall and what was most enjoyable about working on this production?

One of the biggest challenges for this show is to design something that is dynamic, but can accommodate the complications of the piece. The thrust space of the Octagon makes it more difficult to design a set that has moving parts, as there is little backstage space, no wings and no flying.

The play is very fast moving and we felt that a static set would be more appropriate. The costume changes were also a challenge, as with only 5 actors it leaves little time for anyone to go offstage and change. The most enjoyable part of the design process has been the hours of research and of course the music.

A sneak preview....

The countdown to curtain up. Set design: Helen Goddard

I managed to grab a few pictures of the Danny set today. Now, if you are anything like me you would rather wait to see it yourself. In it's entirety, the set is really impressive and because I don't ruin it for you I have taken a few close ups....

Drum roll please.... Set design: Helen Goddard

It's tech week and the heat is on! Set design: Helen Goddard

Okay I have run out of photo related puns. Set design: Helen Goddard

Although these snippets might make it look a bit industrial (Danny and his dad run a garage but already I have said too much!) when you see it all together it looks magic.

I Design for Life!

Apologies for the rather bad corruption of the Manic Street Preachers lyrics for the title. Forgive me, it's Friday!

This post is about a brand new designer, Tom Scutt (he designs for his livelihood - does the post title make sense now!?) Not only is he brand spanking new, he is also award-winning! Tom was not only a prize winner at the 2007 Linbury Biennial for his work at Headlong Theatre, he also picked up the Jocelyn Herbert award. So pretty talented, I'd say! And nice. So nice that he has agreed to answer a few questions and has also sent some of his sketches for the costume for Merchant of Venice. A sneak preview if you will.



Which project, that you have undertaken, are you most proud of?


I guess ‘proud’ is the wrong word, but every project gives a sense of fulfilment in at least one area – hopefully! I’ve just finished Metropolis with 60 children for Theatre Royal Bath which was an immense physical challenge, but then a tiny show for two in a London pub theatre offers up great mental challenges which are equally fulfilling when solved.


I think the achievement I’m most proud of is not actually a realised show: Winning one of four awards for the Linbury Biennial Prize for Stage Design last year, and its sister award The Jocelyn Herbert Prize, was extraordinary. It’s a beacon I’ve always looked toward with excitement and fear! Winning it has opened up so many doors and changed so much for me that I don’t really know what I’d be doing right now without it!


If you could produce designs for any production, what would that production be?
The eternal question! Luckily – it’s rare that a designer gets to choose what’s put on stage so the weight of that question is placed squarely on the shoulders of the producer and director! If I had to choose, I guess I’d have to say ‘Macbeth’. Greg Doran’s RSC production in 1999 with Anthony Sher and Harriet Walter was truly inspiring and the reason why I decided to go into Theatre Design. That, and in 1998 at the Worcester Swan a certain Mark Babych directed a very gawky 14 year old Tom Scutt as Fleance in the same play. I’ve come back to haunt him like Banquo’s ghost! It’s a play that’s been with me all my life and for that more than anything I’d love to create the world for it.


Can you describe a bit about the process you went through to design the set and costumes for The Merchant of Venice?
Mark and myself both came with our own initial concerns. His was how we move fluidly from Venice to Belmont, mine was about the colour and the texture of these worlds. We discovered a surface that allows for the both the watery, harsh, steely world of Venice and the vain, opulent, glowing palace of Belmont. This discovery started to dictate the rest of the process. Sliding doors allowed the set to be permeated or sealed off completely in what started to look increasingly like one of Portia’s caskets – a set than can at once appear alluring and deadly. We also found that it began to resemble what has become known as ‘the corporate bombsite’. A kind of decimated skyscraper that has sinister overtones of Ground Zero - a warning in itself of what might happen if money is allowed to come higher than God.


And so the process went on, one problem answering the next, moving progressively forward towards a complete world – one in which all faiths find themselves up against the biggest religion of all: money. It’s the one thing all characters have in common and both Mark and I felt that the idea of wearing one’s wealth on one’s sleeve was exactly right for the costuming of a masculine Venice driven by highly-pressured money-makers and a feminine Belmont inhabited in particular by one super-rich, appearance obsessed Portia. Some design decisions like this were made after weeks of wrangling, others, such as “what if the Prince of Arragon were an ageing Flamenco dancer??” were just great one liners over a cup of coffee!

What were the biggest challenges of designing for Merchant and what was most enjoyable about working on this production?
I think the biggest challenge and the most enjoyable element are one and the same for me. The issue of race within the play is such a difficult one. It is essential when approaching the design – the direction, and the performance for that matter – that one treads very carefully. Coming from a generation that is, one the whole, much more tolerant of race, sexuality and class, it can often be hard to enter into the mind of an individual who has the ability to spit at a stranger in the street, simply because they are a Jew. Both myself, Mark and David Fielder (Shylock) were keen to raise questions, not answer them, but also to treat Shylock first and foremost as a man. Not a religion. We were keen that he look very much like everybody else in the play.


I was also particularly interested in how, when backed into a corner, religion can all too often be used as a sword to defend oneself from harm rather than an arm to reach out – as ongoing world events never fail to demonstrate. If the first part of the play is about the people that are Shylock and Antonio, the court scene distils them simply to the religious symbols they stand for. This issue is not one to be taken lightly, nor one to be solved here with this production but it has given us all big challenges and immense pleasure in discovering more and more about as we continue through the process.

An Interview with Dawn Allsopp (Designer)

Dawn Allsopp has worked with us, as a Designer, on a few productions over the years including Shining City and Kindertransport for which she was nominated for a Manchester Evening News award in 2004. I managed to grab a few minutes with her to ask a few questions and have included some of her rather lovely designs for A Christmas Carol.

If you could produce designs for any production, what would that production be?

I am not someone who has a great yearning to do something that has so far eluded me. I accept projects which fire up my imagination and instinctively I know will be fun and challenging to work on.

Can you describe a bit about the process you went through to design the set and costumes for A Christmas Carol.

Conrad Nelson (Director) and I met and discussed various ideas before beginning the design process. We talked in general terms about the pile of cash boxes leading from stage level and up to the shelf and specifically about the various locations we would need to include.

I then went away, gathered visual reference material and put together a rough model (see finished model below) and costume thoughts. At our next meeting with this model, we solidified some ideas, chucked out others and introduced new ones.

Photo of the set model of A Christmas Carol.
Designed by Dawn Allsopp

The process continued in that way, with each meeting the design becoming more refined until it arrived at what you see on the stage.

What were the biggest challenges of designing A Christmas Carol and what was most enjoyable about working on the production?

The biggest challenge within the play is to create a sense of flying, without anyone actually leaving the floor.

During the design process, the pile of cash boxes grew out of the stage floor and as they reached the shelf had become a jumble of small houses. These houses hem in Scrooge's bedroom area and help create a sense of an overcrowded city in which he works and lives.

In addition Scrooge's four poster bed moves when the down stage bed post is pushed. This sets the canopy swaying and creates a great sense of movement. With the bed swaying and specific lighting effects we get a fantastic sense of Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Present soaring high over a cityscape. All without ever leaving the ground!

It has been a great challenge and hugely enjoyable to work on an adaptation of a Dickens classic here at the Octagon.

Tell us about how you got into theatre design and do you have any advice you would offer to those interested in this type of career?

I trained in fashion and textile design and then did a post graduate year at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School on The Wardrobe course. I realised by the end of that year I wanted to design scenery as well as costumes, so spent two years working on small fringe projects in London, while earning a living working as a dresser on West End Musicals.

I was then lucky enough to get an assistant design job at The Palace Theatre in Westcliff on Sea, where I designed various main house shows and painted on all the shows. This job gave me a fantastic foundation on which to build.

Clearly my degree choice was in a different design discipline and I had to learn aspects of my job as I went through my career. I think now, if you want to go into theatre design then theatre design training is advisable as it is a very competitive market. There are a lot of courses to chose from and with most things you will need to do some research and pick the course that most suits your needs and expectations.

Which project have you undertaken that you are most proud of?

I designed a show in August 2005 for the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich called Sugar. This is a fantastic musical version of the film Some Like It Hot.

You've got a great period setting of the late 1920's and a terrific comic story of boys dressing as female musicians to escape the mob and a girl running away with the same band to find a millionaire husband in Miami.

With its great score and performed by a hugely talented company of actor/musicians this was an exceptional show and one I am really proud to have worked on.