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In 2017 Myself & my then partner, Gemini (plus the kids Janet & Jasmine), were roped in to producing the sets for the RBL Theatre Players - it's something I never thought I would ever get to do - but after a long hot sticky & sometimes very tense Summer through Autumn & Winter - I had designed and helped construct sets for 2 plays. I got a hell of a lot out of the experience - and am very grateful to the director & cast, especially Gordon the Scottish sweary set builder, for the opportunity to learn a lot about it all. Especially patience & making a little money go a long, long way...
In the summer of 2017 I started putting together the designs & hitting meetings for a deadline of September 6th for a three night run of The Three Musketeers.
The Venue was called The Wild Duck - and it was to be an outside performance, utilising the childrens play area and the contruct of the play / Slide area
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an early test painting for the stone effect
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(Myself, John & Jules Gemini & Janet)
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Painting of Cardinal Richeleux (for top of stairs; to be lit for dramatic evil entrance)
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right; performance...yup..i had a little part being silly too!
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Gemini helped on the nights with scritped SFX - (phew!)
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And so, as soon as we were all finished gnashing our teeth and making the best of a crap old set of radio mics that failed all the time...we were to use the same equipment and what was left of the paint & old bits of set, to try and present a fully painted & constructed set for an ACTUAL theater. eek!
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A frontispiece heads the front of stage, with 2 pillars of canvas each side of stage and like the 3 musketeers a top cross piece, other stage peices were developed in future meetings.
Luckily there was planty of room at Geminis House for the construction of the sets...so I got to work, drawing ideas & then painting large scale set pieces for what felt like for me, the first time in a very long time...
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transitioning between Forest to Sheriffs castle interior
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| Frontispiece development:
The Frontispiece is a crucial part of the design as it's the head of the stage & needed to be fun & engaging with lots of little creatures & fun details for the kids in the audience to pick out.
I had fun initially mixing up paints and starting to cover the area of the boards - i inadvertantly painted an abstract!
i felt bad having to paint over it...but once i got going - it got pretty wierd & wonderful.
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Hobby Horses!
What would a pantomime set in medievel days be without a Hobby Horse scene?
looking at old found footage of traditional Hobby horses i found one that i thought would be just combersome enough to possibly be hilarious!
A flat bed with hole cut out, and a head piece with dressage to flow and straps to hold an actor in place, seemed simple enough.
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The Pig Pen/Fairy Godmothers House
A small standalone set piece was required onstage so i got to work - rehashing an old bit of set found in the stores.
I got quite attached to this little piggy!
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