Year: 2017

A Cape Fit for a Queen

Emma Jane Haigh Costume Designer , , , , , ,

Beth is a very self-assured character, she is good at her job but she knows it. She works extremely hard to gain sales and eventually it all pays off when she wins the promotion for the role at head office.

We decided that Beth’s delusion needed to show how she sees herself. We initially had the idea of having Beth’s delusion showing her as the president of the United States. We wanted to get her high self-confidence across to the audience and also her big ambitions.

We really struggled to imagine how we could make the president delusion visually interesting for the audience, so we started again. We knew we wanted the delusion to show Beth achieving greatness, so we started looking up powerful women throughout history and it was decided…

Queen Elizabeth I was our lady.

We watched a Youtube clip of Cate Blanchett as Queen Elizabeth I on horseback. We were inspired to use a Queen Elizabeth I speech as Beth’s words of acceptance and delusion after winning the promotion.

I began thinking about the costume for Beth’s delusion. I was inspired by images of Queen Elizabeth I and decided that a cape with some form of Elizabethan ruff would be suitable and easy to put on in front of the audience. It was this specific picture of Elizabeth which inspired me to begin designing the cape.

elizabeth

 

I loved the height of the cape behind Elizabeth I’s head and stated thinking about how I could design something similar.

After finding a long satin skirt which had already been used as a cape, I was able to think about how I would apply a high lace collar to the material. I looked at Pinterest for inspiration, it helped me think about the design of the lace collar and how I would get it to stand up by itself.pinterest

 

Pencil to paper…

I drew out how I wanted the cape to look and though about how I was going to get each element of the cape to work on the stage. I wanted it to be possible for the cape to be put on in front of the audience, so I took into account that Emily would have to wear her office costume underneath. My design ended up looking like this:

design elizabeth

 

With the beginnings of the cape already donated from a local theatre’s costume store, I was able to start creating the lace collar.

I began with two wire coat hangers, an old lace curtain and a few broken pieces of jewellery.

cape beginning

From here, I shaped the wire into the shape I wanted and then stitched the wire onto the cape.

    IMG_8578  IMG_8575

After a lot of sewing, the cape was beginning to take shape. (With a little help from my feline friends)

           IMG_8584              IMG_8616

 

I sewed on individual pieces of jewellery and reinforced the lace collar to ensure that the cape would stay in place during the speech.

I’m very pleased with how the cape turned out, it was very simple and quick to put on. I’m pleased the design worked and resembled Queen Elizabeth I’s fashion.

 IMG_8694

Kowkshsee (2011) Queen Elizabeth I (Cate Blanchett), Tilbury Speech [online video] Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3Bq1h728X0 [Accessed 6 May 2017].

Howard Rees-Jones, G. (2017) Kalopsia. Lincoln: George Howard Rees-Jones Media.

Black Light Theatre

Holly Margaret Lomas Choreographer , , , ,

Outer space offers up visually incredible scenery. Our company believe that the best way to represent such beauty is to use Black Light Theatre, a form that originated in Asia and is now famously performed in Prague and other parts of the world, as a depiction of space during the Handyman’s delusion. The use of UV lighting in this style of performance allows for the possible illusion for objects and people to float in darkness. Along with the Handyman, I also want the space helmet to float across the stage, and have the ensemble actors use gloves and UV paint to represent shining stars that move and whizz around the stage. Black Light Theatre seems the most effective and appropriate way to achieve these aims.

Here are some examples from Jiri Srnec Theatre, the founder and first ever company of Black Light Theatre. This video displays the sense of magic that this type of theatre can create, and the creative imagery that we want to capture in our performance.

Despite the goal to use UV light in this way, we have to be conscious of the limitations of the Lincoln Performing Arts Centre’s stage lighting. If UV lighting is not possible to use, an alternative is to use LED lights to represent stars, and allow for more visible ensemble work such as puppetry theatre, seen in War Horse – choreographed by Tony Sedgwick and puppets created by Handspring Puppet Company.

WAR HORSE London Cast 2014
War Horse from warhorseonstage.com

By encompassing the puppetry type methods that are used in War Horse, the emphasis is placed on the stars, and not the actors embodying the stars. Just as Poppiti states of the puppetry in War Horse: “[t]he animation and voices of the horse puppets must be believable, or the entire illusion is shattered” (Poppiti, 2011, 47), so must be the case in our performance, else the audience will not be captivated by the illusion of space and stars.

 

BlackLightTheatre (2009) The Best of Black Light Theatre – Black Light Theatre of Jiri Srnec. [online video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6L7-cLP9AOc&feature=youtu.be [Accessed 28 April 2017].

Poppiti, K. (2011) War Horse. Theatre Design & Technology, 47 (4) 42-53.

War Horse on Stage (2017) London: warhorseonstage.com.

Budget & Fundraising

Jay Charles Petherick Producer

One of my key responsibilities as the Producer is to handle the company’s finances. This means taking charge of a few different jobs. Firstly, I must ensure that we have the right amount of funds needed to carry out the project. If not, then it is my obligation to find a way to raise them. Once I have done this, I must distribute the money between the different departments giving them a budget to spend. From then on, I must take care to safeguard that no one over spends and causes issues with the budget.

We began this project with £166 which the Lincoln Performing Arts Centre had given us to help us create the show. This was our commissioned money as shown on the budget doc. I knew from the start that this would probably not be enough money to source all the props, set and costume we may want. Consequently, I began creating ways that we could raise more money.

The first involved me organising a quiz night at ‘The Swan’, a local University pub. We themed the quiz around the topic of ‘love’ keeping with the ethos of our company and show. We managed to raise a total of £200.

Our social media banner advertising our quiz night
Our social media banner advertising our quiz night

I also organised a second fundraising event which took the form of a raffle. Its first prize offered people the chance to win a luxury stay for two at a local B&B. This event also helped us to raise a further £130.

Fundraising - Our Raffle Poster
Fundraising – Our Raffle Poster

Having raised a lot more funds I was able to re-evaluate our budget and finances. This meant that each department within the company had more opportunity to source and buy the things they needed. To maximise the budget, I asked that each head of department (costume, set, props, marketing) provided me with a list of items they wish to buy before going ahead and buying them. I stated that the list should include the price of the item, place of purchase and any additional costs such as postage. I would then evaluate their lists and confirm whether they could go ahead and make a purchase. When evaluating their lists, I was checking for a number of things; the cost wasn’t to high, whether or not we definitely needed the item, whether I thought it could be sourced cheaper elsewhere and if there were any hidden charges. Once I had given the ‘ok’, they were free to go ahead and make the purchase. I would then immediately reimburse the team member upon presentation of a receipt. In my opinion, this method was a great way of keeping track of our expenditure and ensuring we did not overspend on the budget. If I had just given each head of department their own budget, it may have resulted in the funds depleting much easier.

All receipts from the companies purchases
All receipts from the companies purchases
Finance Sheet - Income
Finance Sheet – Income
Finance Sheet - Expenses 1
Finance Sheet – Expenses 1
Finance Sheet - Expenses 2
Finance Sheet – Expenses 2
Finance Sheet - Expenses 3 and Totals
Finance Sheet – Expenses 3 and Totals

The finishing touches

Emily Claire Bickerdike Marketing Manager , , , , , ,

It’s just 2 weeks away from our performance now, and our print has been finalised and is being distributed!

Processed with VSCO with c1 preset

In regards to our flyers, I made the decision to have our design printed in different colours. I did this to ensure they were eye-catching and appealing to different people,  as whilst it is widely known that red reaches the back of the retina first (hence why I chose it for our poster design), different people are drawn to different colours based on their personality. This is in-keeping with the theme of individuality and expression running through our show, reflecting the idea that different people view the world very differently. I believe these colours all complement each other and stand out both on their own and in a set, and I hope to test this theory when we distribute them in town and around the university campus.

Our posters are beginning to pop up around the city; I have made sure that they are put in places relative to our target audience to ensure maximum reach and that this correlates with ticket sales – there’s no point putting them in places our audience will not visit! A prime location for our type of audience is independent coffee shops, and many owners have been very keen to put up posters and flyers as they are driven to help promote emerging companies/the arts!

 

A Clear Picture and a Notebook

Emma Jane Haigh Costume Designer , ,

With the script written, characters established and delusions sorted, it was time for costume creativity to commence.

It all began with a glossy new notebook…

After creating a table to record everybody’s clothing and shoe sizes, I was ready to start getting ideas for office wear and delusion costumes down on paper.

notebook

 

I wrote down what I needed to source for each character’s office wear and delusion costumes. I began to find out which items we had already and what items we could source as in kind donations. I have started searching online for the items that had to be bought, looking for the best possible prices to keep costs at a minimum.

Now I have begun to think about what I will need, I will be able to think more closely about what each specific character will wear in the office based on their personality.