On Wednesday 12th February 2020, BA Theatre Design students, along with a few Costume Design and Making students, spent the day in Central London where we were lucky enough to be shown the stages of the new west end production of Les Miserables and the west end production of Mary Poppins, visit the Theatre and Performance exhibition at the V&A Museum and visit the Linbury Prize and the Costume exhibitions at the National Theatre. This trip provided me with a great insight into the world of a Theatre Designer, new techniques to employ in my work in the future and about how elements of staging work in a theatrical show.
When we first arrived in London, being on a tight schedule, we went straight to the Sondheim Theatre where we were met by Chris Boone, Theatre Production Manager and Technical Director who showed us the stage for the new production of Les Miserables and went throughout some details about the set and the technical elements of the show. What I really liked about the set was that the box seats that were closest to the stage on both sides had been out taken and turned into chaotic unstable barricades. We were also shown some of the projections that are shown on the back wall and the transitions to new background, such as going from a street in Paris to the sewers, which were all very smooth and well organised. These backgrounds were based on illustrations by the author Victor Hugo. The set, designed by Matt Kinney, had an element of simplicity to it but was very well designed. The floor was cobbled and raked at the edge of the stage and was automated in order to move scenery. We were also shown pictures of the theatre whilst it was having renovation work done last, whilst the concert version of the show took place at the Gielgud Theatre.
We then quickly had to move on, since there was a matinee at Les Miserables that afternoon, and we went to The Prince Edward Theatre to view the stage there with Chris and Mary Poppins's Company Manager Katie. We were lucky enough with Mary Poppins to be allowed on the stage and in the wings. In contrast to the Les Mis set, the Mary Poppins set was very big, bold and elaborate and perfectly created a fantastical world. The Banks's house, which was beautifully hand painted, opened up, like a big doll's house, which I really liked. Another thing I liked about the set was the colour schemes. For example the scenery in the scenes in London, outside the Banks's house and on the rooftops were all in black, white and grey. In contrast, the scenery inside the Bank's House, Jane and Michael's nursery and the 'Jolly Holiday' scene uses bright colours and the borders of the wings can open out to show some fantastic and very colourful fabric flowers. One of my favourite bits was the large version of Mary Poppin's umbrella, which came from the rigging above the stage and opened out and spun, which I thought was brilliant!
Afterwards, we went to visit the Theatre and Performance exhibition at the V&A Museum, which firstly looked at work from a variety of different theatre designers, including Eco-Scenographer Andrea Carr, who recently did a masterclass for Theatre Design students. I really enjoyed seeing a variety of different styles of working and the intricacies in the designs and models. The next section then looked at set and costumes throughout history both in theatre and music concerts. This included costumes and designs from west end shows The Lion King and Wicked as well as costumes worn by Coldplay's Chris Martin and Adam Ant. One of my favourite sections was when you first walked into the exhibition where displayed is the puppet of Joey the horse from War Horse and the costume worn by the character Albert. It was fascinating to see it in real life.
After this we rushed off to the National Theatre to view a costume exhibition, which showed costumes from the National Theatre's collection, and the exhibition of the work of the winners and finalists for the Linbury Prize 2019.
The costume exhibition showed the process of creating costumes for theatre as well as some finished costumes and opinions on the different processes in creating costumes by costume designers, tailors, wig artists and others in the industry. This exhibition made me realise just how much work goes into creating and preserving costumes.
The Linbury Prize is a prize awarded to the best new theatre designer and this year there were designs for four shows for the Birmingham Royal Ballet, Leeds Playhouse, Nuffield Southampton Theatres and the Octagon Theatre Bolton. It was great seeing a variety of costume and set designs and models by up-and-coming theatre designers!
Overall, this trip was very insightful and helped me to get more of a grasp into what it means to be a Theatre Designer and to work in the theatre industry.
Comments