Raining Dragons and Trolls

One of our Dragons

One of my 'day jobs' is working on Prism Arts Studio Theatre project and we are about to start touring our latest production 'Raining Dragons and Trolls' which is linked to the national Family Arts Festival. We will be performing in a variety of venues, including Keswick's Theatre by the Lake, and we are all really excited about the tour. Since we began Studio Theatre back in 2012 we have come a long way and I never cease to be impressed by the ideas, work and commitment that the group shows.

Initial designs

Developing characters with drawing

Set design ideas

Our starting point for this production was the BBC 10 Pieces, ten pieces of classical music selected to encourage and inspire creative responses. The project was mainly aimed at schools but we thought it would be an interesting starting point and this proved to be the case. From the music a story grew, we use a lot of drawing to help develop our ideas and it is often not until very near the end of the production process that we have anything solid written up.

Mecamecal (mechanical camel)

Castle

A lot of things change over the course of making a production, characters come and go (sadly, the mecamecal or mechanical camel did not make the grade this show) story lines change and evolve but eventually a piece of theatre emerges. The constant changing can be difficult for some people but overall it is a positive thing, keeping the group inspired and fired up and allowing new and better ideas to come through.

Felt making: in our productions we use a wide range of techniques and materials. 

Felt making

This production has a strong environmental message, something we all feel very strongly about and which is an important issue. Although there are a lot of fantasy elements in our productions (dragons, trolls, a friendly minotaur) the story is very much about humans and how we interact with each other and the world around us. The main characters in the show have to convince people that unless they change their ways and live in a more sustainable way the world will be in serious trouble.

Making prayer flags for one of the scenes

Prayer flags

I work on the backstage elements of the show, the drawings, props, scenery and costumes. Theatre Skills runs two days a week, one day being focused on production (the day I lead) and the other day focused on performance (led by Vicki Maxfield.) Obviously the performance day leads what we make on the production day but there is a constant flow of ideas back and forth, the two days are very much connected.

We make and use a lot of puppets. Here are the Trolls!

And two mini dragons in a boat

And one of the main dragons (detail)

And we use a lot of shadow puppetry as well

One of my favourite pieces that we have made for this performance is the Sea Guardians cloak. In the story the sea guardian has become trapped in discarded plastic waste and fishing nets and in struggling to escape he is creating huge waves and terrifying the fisherman. To represent the waste he is trapped in we used my favourite technique of crocheting and melting plastic bags to create a large net like cloak that the actor wears. We added further strings of crocheted plastic to give a really tangled up look and add movement. I think this piece of costume works really well and I'm looking forward to seeing it in action.

The Sea Guardians Rubbish Cloak

Crocheted cellophane

Melted plastic

I'm not going to write any more about the production but I hope that if you're near where we're performing you will come and see us and be transported to another world!

Summer School: Carlisle Puppet Pageant 2014

Lady Margaret Balfour Puppet ready to parade 

Those of you who have been following me for a while will know that the beginning of August can mean only one thing; the insanity of a summer project. This year was a little bit different (don't worry, there was plenty of insanity) as rather than a full on everyone we can think of doing everything we can think of two weeks of madness leading to an extravaganza event kind of affair Prism Arts ran a two week summer school. The summer school focused specifically on the making of several puppets, including two giants, and a small musical and theatrical performance that formed part of Carlisle's Pageant Parade. Last year our summer project focused on a large puppet parade to celebrate the start of Carlisle's pageant week. As the parade was a success the council wanted it to happen again this year and were one of the funders for the summer school.

Making appliqué fish for umbrellas (props for dancers)

Making appliqué fish for umbrellas (props for dancers)

Making appliqué panels for fire serpents

It was a full on and very busy two weeks but was also a lot of fun with everyone working hard and producing some fantastic work. We made giant puppets complete with costume, costumes for quadrille dancers and fire serpents, fire serpents, fish umbrellas and hats and a greyhound puppet called Elvis (complete with blue suede shoes.) We sewed, printed, constructed, decorated, rehearsed and generally worked very hard to produce our puppets and performance and then we took to the streets. Despite it being a bit chilly and somewhat breezy (something of a challenge when in control of a ten foot giant) the parade went really well and everyone had a great time.

I ran some free machine embroidery sessions

Free machine embroidery on one of the hat fish

Detail of embroidery

The theme of the parade was the Tudors so we started with the Salkeld Screen in Carlisle Cathedral as our inspiration point. Part of the council commission and funding was to make two giant puppets so we chose to make Lady Margaret Balfour (Henry VIII's grandmother and local mover and shaker) and Septimus Severus. Now, a couple of things about Septic, as we affectionately named him, that you should know; he's the only known black Roman Emperor and he was the original instigator of Hadrian's Wall, up until the 1800's the wall was known locally as Severus's wall. The more astute amongst you will have picked up that being a Roman Emperor he can't, really, have been a Tudor. However, the council specifically requested him and he does feature on the Salkeld Screen, which was good enough for us.

I also ran some printing sessions, preparing fabric for the giant puppets costumes

Printing using stencils

Block printing

Detail of block print

Block printed fabric for Lady M's skirt

We also put together a small musical and dance piece featuring the 'pramelan' (which is essentially the Gamelan, a beautiful Javanese percussive orchestra, mounted on prams) and a quadrille dance. All the dancers and musicians were costumed and were accompanied by fire serpents, inspired by the carvings on the Salkeld Screen.

Lady Margaret and Elvis Puppets

Elvis detail

Lady Margaret's Costume

My main involvement was working on the costumes for both the performers and for the giant Lady Margaret puppet. Both had their own challenges but I think that making a dress for a ten foot woman is probably one of the more difficult pieces of costuming that I've undertaken. However, I'm really pleased with how it's all worked out. I actually took over Lady Margaret's costume after the end of the first week as the artist who had started it and drafted most the pattern pieces could only be with us for one week. I had to alter her designs quite a bit but I think that between us we made a pretty good job.

Another of our crazy puppet creations

Severus's Head

Attached to his body

Doris

Doris the Pangolin

From the front

From the side

One of my regular jobs is leading the Monday session of Prism Arts Studio Theatre Skills course. This a course for adults with disabilities and we cover a whole range of disciplines connected to theatre including writing, music, costume, puppetry and prop making. The course is led by the participants, they devise and produce performances supported by myself and Prism's lead artist and a range of professional artists who come in to help develop specific areas (for example, at the moment we are working with Haltwhistle Film Project to produce a film of the story we have written.)

Head shot

Scales detail

Our current production, which will be developed as a street theatre piece as well as a film, is called The Morphers and the Dream Vortex. It is set in two parallel worlds and as I don't want to give too much away I will simply tell you that it involves the Morphers (people who turn into animals,) the Dreamcatcher and Mr. Nightmare. Doris is one of the Morphers; as a human she is a helpful caretaker with a curtain obsession, she morphs into a practical pangolin...and that's all I'm going to tell you! In the theatre piece the Morphers will be played by the participants when they are human and will be puppets when they morph into animals.

Basic pangolin shape

Sewing on the scales

Fully scaled

Anyway, this week I have been busy making Doris and here she is. I began by making a simple pattern which I cut out of plain fabric. I then cut out and stitched rows of scales onto the base shape in a mixture of fabrics. I added a gusset underneath so that she would stand nicely and sewed wire into the tail so that it can be coiled up (like a real pangolin) and added buttons for her eyes. She's a little rough around the edges but I'm quite pleased with her.

With the gusset sewn in

Ready to be stuffed

Completed