Terro Season 2010 show pics

Here are some more pics of the Reanimator performance.

Terror Season at Southwark Playhouse

The show runs until October 31st

Terror Season at Southwark Playhouse

Here is my initial scale model for the Terror Season set, the design will be used for all four plays, with different configurations and props/set added/removed from the design to create the different settings.

Terror Season at Southwark Playhouse

Here is the next project I am designing:

Click here for link to more information on the Southwark Playhouse website

The Great British Weekend

Whilst working at the Pleasance in Edinburgh I also worked designing on a show called The Great British Weekend, a site specific promenade show performed across the Mound, ending the the entire set being packed into the car and driven away!

Below are some initial costume and set sketches for the show.

 The performance began in the 1920's at a badminton game in a grand country house garden, then moved into the 1950's at the beach, a 1960's protest rally, 1980's consumer hell, ending in the present day packing the car to leave to go on holiday.

Looking for the Rainbow..

I have been working on new costume drawings for the SBTD exhibition next year, here is the first of two drawings, showing Kirsty!

Looking for the Rainbow..

Today was the last show of Looking for a Rainbow, at Lakeside Arts Center. This was my first and last opportunity to get some good images to display at the SBTD exhibition in January, I hope some of these will be good enough!

Bittersweet Sunshine..

Bittersweet Sunshine opened at the Carriageworks in Leeds on the 17th June. The set looked really nice in the venue, here are some images I took during the dress rehearsal.

Bittersweet Sunshine..

This is the hat I have made for the character of the air hostess, I found her a very similar suit to the drawing and I and altering it this week, I still need to find the shoes!

Bittersweet Sunshine..

Last week I went to Leeds to see the set, the projection screen is still to come, but all the paint work is finished. The set was built by a company called Q division. I was really impressed by the quality and the price of the set. We are still sourcing some furniture and altering some costumes ready for the performances starting on the 21st June, at the Carriage works, Leeds.

Under Milk Wood..

Under Milk Wood opened last week, here are some images from the dress rehearsal.

Dream Play modelbox..

I have been developing the design in the model box for A dream Play,  working on a back wall structure, combining some elements of the different location and ideas that become more obvious and prominent throughout the play. The back wall also combines the door that is referred to throughout the play.  I'm currently developing the relationship between the tower and other areas with the idea of a montaged back wall.

A Dream Play..

The initial model for a dream play, at Lakeside arts center

Looking for the Rainbow..

The finished set, and the model!

Looking for the Rainbow..

This is a link to a video of the Rainbow!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9iUn6OwNg4

Looking for the Rainbow..

These are the cushions for the children to sit on to watch the show.

Under Milk Wood..

My Illustrated poster is up at Mansfield Palace!

Looking for the Rainbow..

This is the finished set for Looking for the Rainbow, the first show is on Friday in Derby, then it goes on tour around the U.K.

Looking for the Rainbow..

The Set arrived on Monday and last night we painted all the metal primer, base coats and the first layer of colour.

Looking for the Rainbow..

I have designed this image for stickers that will be handed out to the children at the end of the show!

Bittersweet Sunshine..

I have finished the model, technical drawings and costume drawings for Bittersweet Sunshine. I have the final design presentation meeting tomorrow and I will also be going to see the venue that the show will be performed at.

Here are the costume drawings...

Here  is the model..

Looking for the Rainbow..

The 'Looking for the Rainbow' set has now been built, by Set One and it will be painted next week in rehearsals.

I will be exhibiting my model box, performance pictures, illustrations  and costume drawings at the SBTD exhibition in January 2011. With the possibility of it moving to the V and A, and the Prague quadrennial. (Though very unlikely!)

Bittersweet Sunshine..

I have worked on the projection screen at the back of the set, this will be used for flash back scenes, where Solomon (who was a child soldier in Sierra Leone) imagines huge shadows from his former life taking over his surroundings.

Bittersweet Sunshine..

This design is for a play that I am doing with Red Ladder/Red Grit, for the emerge festival in Leeds.

The play is based on a guy called Terry who runs and English bar in the Costa Brava, his neice comes to visit him to ask questions about her Father and find out about his past.

During my research I have been looking at the photographer Martin Parr, who over saturates images of the stereotypical tourist on holiday. I also liked the idea of the Costa Brava/the bar/ their lives being very gray and dull, old and worn but having a facade that is all flashing bright over saturated, as Ben put it "hyper real". Another thing that stood out to me when researching into the bars in tacky holiday resorts is the bombardment of hand written black board sign advertising all the home comforts from England. They almost tessellate the walls of the clubs and bars.  I liked the idea of having lots of these signs, either advertising the usual fish n chips, pukka pies etc..or maybe some of the things that the hostess/rep talks about during her odd speeches!  For example "casual sex", "extreme alcohol intake" etc etc!

Under Milk Wood model box..

I have been developing the design for Under Milk Wood. Adding texture and colour to the floor and adding set dressing to show different locations and scenes.  For example currently you can see the washing that is hung up by Polly Garter. 

The floor is split into different section also mirroring the hands of a clock face and sections of a clock.

Under Milk Wood model box

This is the first stages of the Under Milk Wood model box, the reverend Eli Jenkins writing desk is upstage right on the raised floor. There are lots of suspended props and costume surrounding the central set.

Under Milk Wood promotional posters and flyers...

Here are the finished posters and flyers for Under Milk Wood, at Mansfield Palace.

Looking for the Rainbow..

 

This is the very almost finished design!

Looking for the Rainbow..

I have reworked the floor, though may change it back to yellow, the model shows all scene changes, I have changed the river so it comes from up stage rather than down stage right. I have also added circular coloured mats for the children to sit on.

Opening scene, ironing in the house

The cave

The hook a duck fairground game

The River

Back at home..the Rainbow

 

Under Milk Wood..

I am working with the Mansfield Palace Theatre, designing Under Milk Wood, which is on in June, here is the first stages of the scale model.
The play centers around a small welsh village, we see the comings and going of the villages occupants over a 24 hour period, from their private dreams to their daily routines.

Dream Play

I am designing the set and costume for a play called Dream play, originally by John Steinbeck but adapted by Carol Churchill, it will be on at Lakeside in July.

The play is quite surreal and disjointed, it has many locations and a lot of theatrical challenges, for example flying children, two lovers sailing on a boat, a tower that grows throughout the play and then burns down at the end!

Here are two possible solutions for the flying children and boat scene.I think the play would work well being told in a storyteller style, with characters obviously creating small scale locations and manipulating props. Some of the locations include a cave, a seaside cholera quarantine station, stage door, solicitors room, class room, ballroom etc etc
The play is set in a dream and I would like the set to reflect the fragmented and blurred quality of dreams. Elements of each scene/location will be incorporated into many suspended square windows, stretching back into the distance. some will be practical, for example in the class room, one of these windows with have a chalk board within the frame that can be written on.

I really like the style of writing on the play, it has many great lines, here a a few of my favorites!

"Time flies while we speak. so time is something that flies while I'm speaking"

"I once asked a child whose Father was at sea why the sea was salty, and he said because sailors cry. Why do they cry? Because they are so far away. And they put there handkerchiefs on the masts to dry. So then I asked him why do people cry when they're sad? And he said because they have to wash their eyes so they can see better."

"What's poetry? It's not real but maybe it's more than real. It's dreaming while you're awake."

Looking for the Rainbow..

I am designing the set and costume for a show called Looking for the Rainbow, with the 'Big Window Theatre Company'.

Here are some initial sketches I have drawn, this image shows Mum revealing the Rainbow to Kirsty at the end of the play! It is rolled up in her laundry bag and she pegs it on the washing line, as she lets go it unrolls to the floor and a rainbow appears!

Here are some characters we meet along the way, the purple rabbit and blue fish drying on the rack! and the duck, he is a character in the story, his yellow t-shirt is collected to represent yellow in the rainbow, along with six other coloured t-shirts, one for each colour of the rainbow.
Here is the scale model I made for the research and development week, this helped the actors to understand the space they are working in and helped the creative and production team to work through ideas and how the space can be used. The design is still evolving and I will re make the model soon more accurately and with the changes and ideas that we developed during the R and D week.
The images show three of the set changes, the river, the cave and the rainbow finale!

Those magnificent men

Here are some images of the finished set during a performance.