Performance Week Jack the Ripper

Running from Tuesday through until Saturday(plus matinee) there performances of Jack the Ripper at which I was in charge of props organisation and quick repair with help from Claire on sum nights and other nights I was on my own.

My list of props consisted of, 24 tankards needed to be filled with water before every performance (15 were from haselmere players). 6 bibles, 8 hymn books, 4 knives of various sizes( one meat cleaver, one retractable blade, one rubber knife and one that turns into flowers for a magic trick), one tea chest one jesus saves sign, a tuba, a trumpet and a tamberine for the salvation army. A hobby horse, a wagon of veg a bag with 4 pence, a sword magic trick a magic box, fake blood, two hats one broken, a gin bottle, a dressing table, a screen, a desk, with a lectern and a port decanter. 5 top hats a judges wid and a policemans helmet. a pair of handcuffs, 4 whistles, a telescope, a cabage and a leek, a cloak and a colender, amongst many others.

Process through every performance

before act one.... I had to fill a vile with blood and hide it inside the secret compartment of the magic box (poly ann nichols murder).

then I has to fill all the tankards with water and arrange them on the pub tables. Repair any candles by hot gluing them to sausers then melting wax around the base. pour some port out into a glass on the desk. give the necessary characters the 4 pence and bags and baskets and the police man his handcuffs whistles and helmet.

During act one... collect bag, four pence, hand out bibles and books to sally army, and also make sure they have their instruments (being very careful with them) After the magic tricks I had to retrieve the vile of blood and refill it for act two and leave it on the props table. I also had to reapply the swords to the magic tricks (carefully because they are very fragile and expensive!) also at the end of act one I had to hand out the 5 top hats.

Interval I had to put the teachest centre stage with the "No Help Wanted" sign behind it. The hobby horse positioned down by the desk (out of sight). The dressing table and screen had to be put on far stage left and the screen was used to hide everything until needed. Then the veg barrow was brought off stage.

Act Two The dressing table had to be positioned between the first and second song ready for the next scene and then taken back again after. Another vile of blood was filled for Dan to write his letter with. The tea chest needed to be collected and various suit cases handed out.

Lara who played Marie Kelly (lead) had an extreamy quick change to do which I had to help with before the final scene.

After the shows I had to make sure every prop down to the last penny was off stage and positioned back on the table exactly where is was and make sure all the actors did not have any props. The glasses and cups had to be taken home and washed before the next show and the tuba had to be taken home overnight every night as it was too valuable to leave at te Maltings.

On the final show I stayed until past midnight helping to organise the pros into boxes and load then onto a truck along with the deconstructed set.

Preperations for Performance week and Final Rehearsals

On the 11th and 12th of June I spent two full 14 hour days at the Maltings Theatre in Farnham Surrey helping to organise dressing rooms, props and help build the set then test the lighting plan.

My specific roles started in the morning of Saturday at 9 o'clock raiding the loft space at the Maltings to locate the collections of props, furiture and costume that FAOs store there. Much work was then done transprting props such as bar chairs and benches, veg waggons and costume rails down from the loft through to the main stage hall or the main dressing room. Carpets had to be laid in the green room and taped down then all the necessary props were positioned in there on tables.

The first part of the set to be erected was the painted back screen canvas then the layers of flats stood up and weighted to the stage right and left wings. The flats were all arranged on the floor to begin with and screwed together. Various smaller details were then added like street signs and an bracket for the pub sign which I constructed. Some last minute props had to be made such as a large map of the Whitechapel district and some newspapers.

The next day involved more technicals and dress rehearsals so the actors could get a feel for the stage space and the use of their props and costumes. I was used regularly as a model for the lighting guys to test the levels of various settings while the actors were up in orchestral rehearsals. I had to make a few trips out to town hunting down other props such as jugs and tankards also getting practical things like string safety pins and tape.

Home Guard Mounted Parade Reconstruction

On the first June weekend I went to the weald and Downland Heavy Horse show. This is a pasttime I take part in a lot and it is also very good to see historical reconstructions of victorian or wartime land workers and in this case the Home Guard Mounted demonstration. All the members wore authentic or very well replicated costume of Army/home guard uniforms, Gentry and land army girl costume. On horseback they were demonstrating the weapon techniques used during the 1940's. Again some of these weapons were authentic and others were replicated. But in taking these photos it adds to my bank of reference material. The uniforms were very well put together with various belts, rifles and gas mask bags. It is also very important to remember that horses through history and the early part of the 20th century were vital to the running of everyday life, vital in military, farming, sport, and general transport, their tack and dress appearance changes as well as the humans upon them. In films a knowledge of leather work and tack is always useful to consider.

Another historical demonstration was of the 1908 St Giles Horse drawn fire engine. This piece of equipment and the uniforms worn by the firemen were completely authentic (apart from some hose repears) In filming if something like this was needed the authentic one can possibly be hired out but again it is always useful to log these photos to show me what the equipment and uniforms of the time were like.

5th June London Film Museum

On the 5th of June I went up to London to The London Museum of Film and Moving Image. Based in the old council building on the southbank it houses many important relics from various major productions throughout the last century. This included many costumes, props, set pieces, prosthetics, cameras, scripts and photos. I was able to view many of the costumes from older films and some from films not yet released like 'Conan'.

Below are some examples of costumes exhibited from 'Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone', 'Conan' and the 'Borrowers'.

The close up observations of these costumes revealed the simpicity of some of the constructions. The Conan armour to enable the actor ease of movement and more comfort was made of a very lightweight layered moulding material, built up and moulded to the correct shape and then painted for the appropriate affect. The Borrowers exhibit was fasinating as there were many normal houshold items such as plug sockets, batteries and cotton reels that had to be replicated to a vastly large size (as a Borrower is very small) all of these were either carved from polystyrene to make them lightweight or mostly hollow constructions made from fibreglass that made them light and strong (doesnt dent like the polystyrene). One piece that was particularly interesting was the large cotton reel. This again was a fibreglass piece painted to look like the cream plastic but long lengths of industrial cord were used in place of the cotton to add the scale. The labels on the side of the reel wheels were all hand painted and the edges were curled and ripped with aging and use.

Other props included small models from films like Star Wars, and in their limited time Ray Harryhausen exhibit of all his small armetured models of dinosaurs, and the iconic skeletons from 'Voyages of Sinbad' even his sculpture of madusa that had over 150 working joints in it for full fluidity of movement during the animation process.

Other items viewed were various artifacts from their Chaplin exhibit (including one of his original hats and canes) as a huge Chaplin Fan I almost fainted. A huge anamatronic T Rex skeleton from 'Night at the Museum' and various grusome examples of prosthetics from generations of horror movies.

After our recent set build project I was interested to see the reconstruction of Baker Street from a medley of Sherlock Holmes productions over the years. Many of the pieces of furniture resembled ones we had made in the last project including the bookcase especially. I took many pictures of this as one day it will be a brilliant reference source.

My Plans for the Summer

Over this long summer period I wish to gain as much experience and practise as possible on the techniques I have learnt over the last year. Because of money restrictions getting work experience in London would be nearly impossible but I will look for any experience that I can commute to. I have contacted the head of FAOS (Farnham Amateur Operatic Society) which is based only a 40 minute drive from my home. I am now taking part in the backstage preperation for their June show of 'Jack the Ripper'. As I came home from University just after they had finished set painting I was unfortunatly un able to help build and paint their set but my duties involve organisation of props during the performances, make up and also help in the preperation and set up of the Maltings Theare for their performance week.

I attended their first full run through on the 6th of June I aquired the props list and the scenes in which all the props were required. I was able to also sit down and follow the performance with the script to gain a last minute knowlege of the running order. I became aquainted with both Claire and Alison, Claire was incharge of props, who I was assisting (and taking over duties of on the performance nights she is not attending). Alison was the hair and makeup designer so later I will have to recreate her ideas on the faces of the cast members.

Other projects I am undertaking over the summer as well as my starting research for the 'Blood sweat and Tears' module in September. I will create myself a project for a cosyume design and construction around a fictional character from a novel I will read. This will hopefully help me in my least confident area, textiles and will give me a chance to practise the art of aging fabrics and decaying them in preperation for 'Blood Sweat and Tears'

I will also continue to develop my puppet designs. Though I have developed my own technique of puppet construction out of plywood rings and metal mesh and fibreglass I wish to see if I can take this further by finding stronger materials, joints with a broader flexibilty and meterials that generally more lightweight. The external appearence of the creature is also important, many of my past pieces have had an animated cartoon like appearance. As I am fasinated by the work of anamatronic designers I want to look into how more realistic surfaces and textures are achieved to create a creature that is as realistic to the eye as possible.

I will use my free time to also travel upto london see some shows, visit exhibitions and museums, historic, reconstructions, anything that centres around the work that I want to achieve in the course I am on. I have already booked tickets to see The Lion King in June and Evita in September before I return.