New paintings and regular art updates.
Or will my hat fit over that?
Prop to act as the top of the witches head in the Mystery Play. When she takes her hat off to go to bed it reveals a scary bald head covered in witchy symbols, stars, comets and crescent moons.
We just wanted to give the idea that the hat is pointed because the witches head is also pointed. Silly but fun!
Two of our (literal) stars of the Mystery Play at rehearsal today. They are only young but they have some acting knowledge, I hope they will enjoy the experience, they certainly had the enthusiasm! Things are gathering slowly but it is getting there and I hope the audience will enjoy the play. Not long to go!
The props for the penkhull mystery plays were made using willow withies tied and glued and then covered in paper and glue and painted white, then volunteers decorated them. I had fun giving a couple of horses a Picasso feel. I don’t remember if it was me or another volunteer that painted this one. There were four horses for an apocalyptic scene! I think we made a monster too but these are the photos from 9 years ago off Facebook memories.
Now the panto is over I can share the scenery paintings I did. The market scene was painted with the help of John who started it, (he’s one of the stage cew) and he helped me with the sky on the desert scene. The flat figure came back out of the “mangle” after the character playing a policeman crawled through it in search of Aladdin. I also added clothes to the front of the “washing machine”, the man playing a second policeman crawled into it, and after a few seconds a child climbed out, as if shrunken, but with a full sized uniform!
I had a lot of fun doing these, and I may be painting a mural in Wales now I’ve finished doing this.
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I couldn’t take photos myself of the mystery play as I was busy setting up, then performing and finally taking down the show. These photos are courtesy of my friends Lorraine and Dean.
We started at 9am and finished around 6pm. You have to take props down to the green from the village hall. The volunteers then built three scaffolding towers to hang my backdrops off and to attach the wheel that had been made. Also to rest props on. Then the stools and tables had to come over. The chairs for the audience and choir and seating for fifty children from the drama school. In addition there were 18 stalls for crafts and food, gazebos for the various volunteers and changing room. A pa system, other things I can’t remember, and the roads had to be closed with barriers. After the play there were other performances including the titchy theatre. By the time we had taken everything down afterwards it was 6pm and everyone was exhausted, hence going out for a Thai meal rather than cooking. I’m shattered.
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Started with a large flowerpot covered in glue and paper (Papier-mache). Then painted it with a base coat of pale orange / brown acrylic paint when it was dry. I had put a slightly smaller pot inside to bulk up the sides and it gives a nice ridge around the top as if the Potter was starting to thin out the sides. I’ve painted light and dark bands as I wanted to give it texture, partly to hide the crinkly nature of the paper and also to make it look like he is putting ridges around it.
I’m not 100% sure of the colour, perhaps it should be darker, it’s like a pale terracotta I think.
It takes a lot to put a play on. Not just scenery but props and costumes. We couldn’t do it without the efforts of people making things, painting things white, gluing tea pots to boards, finding jugs and tankards, the infinite number of things that just help. So instead of pretending you can have something physical, like a coin to pay someone. Props make acting easier.
Then there is costume. Lots of things get re used, cut down to size, have material let in to make it bigger. Hats are made or sometimes built. Members of the cast bring in their own clothes to enhance the look of the play.
We might only be doing something that lasts 40 minutes but it’s taken a few months of hard work and planning to bring it all together.
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Mallaband-Brown