10 Reasons why you should join a local theatre group

In 2008 I joined YAT (Youth Action Theatre) - a local youth theatre group based in Teddington/Hampton Hill, Surrey.  The main reason was because one of my ambitions (an item on my Bucket List, if you like) was to perform in a play, so I Googled 'theatre groups in Teddington' and here I am!  I often tell people it's one of the best things I ever did, and here's why:

1 - I wasn't sure I could do it...

The first play I did with YAT was The Royal Hunt of the Sun and I bagged a great part - Miguel Estete the Royal Veedor - quite a few lines to learn, and I had to move like a man!  Going on stage in front of an audience for the first time and remembering all my lines and not screwing up was an amazing feeling!

2 - I made some amazing friends:

I've kept in touch with more people from YAT than I have with people from Uni!  Sometimes there's a break of 3 months or so in between plays, but when we see each other again it's always good fun!

3 - I've tested my skills to the limit (and beyond...):

When I was asked if I could paint a 16x20 foot painting of Carnaby Street at the back of the stage, I couldn't exactly say no... So I just did it, and now I've done loads of set painting!

4 - There's so much more to theatre than (just) acting:

Acting is fabulous fun - but maybe that's not for you? Depending on which group you join, you can get involved in all sorts, from sourcing props and scenery, painting sets, lighting and costume - and the great thing about amateur theatre is no-one expects you to have 2+ years experience with a known designer - you can just muck in and help, and build up your portfolio in the process!

5 - It's only as amateur/awesome [delete as applicable] as you allow it to be:

I think the words "Amateur Theatre" should be changed to "Low Budget Theatre" or "Hobby Theatre" as the word "Amateur" does put a few people off.  No matter what the budget, you can still put on a great production, you just have to know your limits.  If you have an amazing script and the cast and crew work really hard, there's no reason why you shouldn't move and inspire your audience.

6 - Release your inhibitions!

I've done things on stage I would never dream of doing in normal life - dancing, singing, prancing around like an idiot - being able to switch off the fear of looking stupid is such a useful skill, and can help you in real life situations, such as a job interview or a first date!  Plus, acting is such a confidence booster, because in learning how to be other people, you feel more at home with being yourself.

7 - You never know what it might lead to...

I got some storyboarding work through a friend from my YAT, and got some work experience through another!  Although this shouldn't be a reason for joining, it's definitely an added bonus!

8 - You could get to go somewhere amazing!

If you're lucky your group might go on Tour!  Two years ago YAT went to the Edinburgh Fringe with The Duchess of Malfi!  They're going again this year (although without me this time) and will undoubtedly have an amazing time again!

9 - You might win a shiny award!

Ok - obviously I can't promise anything, but most areas have arts council awards, and if you're very lucky and work very hard, you may get your own very lovely award!  YAT won the Swan Award last year for Best Design, and the Wild Swan.

10 - Watch out for those cast parties!

Now obviously I'm not condoning drinking vast amounts of alcohol, especially if you are under 18 (!), but when a group of people have worked very hard and had no social life or sleep for the past 3 months can finally let loose - well that's a very special time...

Ok - I didn't say it was our most beautiful time now did I?

All of these photos (except the storyboard frame) are from productions or of people in YAT.  If you would like to learn more about YAT or join, visit the website and click on the contact tab.

Theatre Design - Peter Pan: The Musical

Peter Pan: The Musical at the Hampton Hill Playhouse
Teddington Theatre Club
Saturday 3rd to Saturday 10th December
Directed by Dawn Lacey

There was a lot to do in this production - the orignal plan was to paint the whole of Neverland on the flats for some of the scenes, but we just weren't going to have enough time to do it, since there was only one person doing it (ie: me).  So we decided to have Neverland as projections and lighting, and for me to concentrate on only doing the victorian panelling for the house scenes, Nana's kennel, the Wendy-house (which unfortunately I have no decent pictures of), the totem-pole, St Paul's, and the wardrobe/hold.  I like the use of the word only there.  Luckily we had Alan's daughter Laura drafted in to do the crocodile, which was fantastic, and got a big laugh from the audience!  Here's the flyer below, and some pictures of the stuff I worked on.

The flyer

The totem pole - made by Alan Corbett and painted by me.

Peter Pan flies!  I did the scenic painting for this, painting the flats to look like victorian panelling, and painting the wardrobe built by Alan to look real and aged.  I also painted the silhouette of St Paul's that you can just see above the pillars.

Parts of the set opened out or turned around to reveal white flats on the other side, which could be projected onto.

In the Indian scene, gauze came down, onto which was projected a scene of the Indian camp.  I created an image in Photoshop to be projected onto the gauze.  I also painted the totem pole which was brought on stage by the actors and built up (see top).

 Another scene was the pirate ship.  Parts of the victorian panelling remained, whilst other parts were taken away to reveal what looks like the deck of a ship, complete with the wheel at the top (originally covered with St Paul's.  The wardrobe was turned around to reveal the entrance to the hold.

Graphic Design - Forbidden Planet

Among the many things I had to do for YAT's Return to the Forbidden Planet were a few scraps of graphics.

Firstly I had to do a re-design of an original Forbidden Planet poster - the director wanted me to change it just enough to look different, but wanted it basically the same. So I changed the characters to look a bit like the actual actors, changed a few colours and added my own sky. The line-art was done by hand, and then I coloured it in Photoshop. You can see the final poster with the text and details added by Bill Compton at the bottom.

Next task was to design the ship's logo for the characters' costumes. I researched 1950's and 60's car and airline logos, and then spent a few days sketching things down until I had something I liked the look of. It is loosely based on the NASA logo. To make it extra-special, I included the YAT logo on the design of the rocket - maybe we'll use this again in the future!

Finally, I had to design some space-age holiday posters, the type of which might be hung in a space-shuttle departure lounge. I used a found image from the internet for each one, changing the colours on Photoshop and adding text, graphics, and of course my logo design. Click on each picture to see the original.

Theatre Design - Return to the Forbidden Planet

Return to the Forbidden Planet at the Hampton Hill Playhouse

Youth Action Theatre

Wednesday 9th - Saturday 12th November

Directed by Bill Compton

Photography by Jon Constant

Ariel enters the airlock

Return to the Forbidden Planet is a fun-filled rock musical with a live band right on stage! The basic story is The Tempest, but re-set in a 1950's/60's sci-fi movie, where a space-ship and its crew crash land on an unknown planet, to find a misguided scientist and his daughter have been living in exile.

Lighting and Set-wise, this is probably the most ambitious project that YAT have ever undertaken! The stage had to become the bridge of a space-ship, complete with control panels, airlock, view-screen, Klystron Generator and a live band!

The Damage Control Crew

Wide Shot from stage left

The Control Panels

The Control Panels were on of the biggest jobs. My original design involved sticking all sorts of buttons, knobs and other junk onto panels in various patterns and arrangements to look as though it made sense when the actors interacted with them. However, this was both time-consuming, and was in danger of looking "naff" (thank you Kath, my old A-level Art & Design teacher, I will forever use that word!) if we didn't find enough of the right stuff.

So what we ended up doing was cutting shapes out of pieces of cardboard which would go behind panels with three rectangular holes cut in each. In between there would be a sheet of tracing paper to diffuse the light, and on top a rectangular piece of acrylic. Underneath, christmas-tree lights were positioned and set to a slow random phase, making it look as though something was happening. And there we are - we had nine touchscreens! Very fancy. They looked really effective, and really tied in with the lighting too and the minimalism of the rest of the set.

I also designed and made the Ariel (robot) costume for Asha pretty much from scratch. My original drawings were based on the robot from Metropolis, and you may see a slight resemblance in the final costume (see top). I made silver shaped panels out of a shiny silver fabric which was surprisingly cheap, and I sewed them onto a black polo-neck top and a pair of black leggings. Then, to cover up the red and blue roller skates, I cut the bottom off a pair of wellies that a cast member luckily happened to not want any more, spray painted them silver, and the size 8 wellies just happened to fit perfectly over the size 5 roller skates! Would you believe it? I also created a pipe-work structure to attach to the shoulders and head - you can just see it in this photo, but this ended up being too cumbersome on the dress rehearsal night, so for the opening night I made a fitted silver cap that worked really well.

YAT (or Youth Action Theatre) are a free theatre group for young people aged 16-25 based in Teddington, Surrey. Click here to find out more about past and future productions and how to join!

The Armoury and Creature Shop

..At Camp Silver Beach Summer 2010

It works like this:

1) Ross Barnes has a vision of the most amazing Evening Programme (basically evening game/activity for the kids) ever at Camp Silver Beach.

2) We both work on the principle of if you're going to do a thing you might as well do it properly.

3) Most of our evenings and weekends (in fact pretty much all) are spent in making costumes for one night. (Well two nights really, because we had a Harry Potter EP which is what the Dementors were for, and then the medieval fantasy EP which is what all the armour and stuff was for...)

Enjoy.

Dementor Masks for the Harry Potter EP:

The Dementors are described in the books as being clammy things made of rotting flesh and not really having a face - although a mouth is needed to suck out a person's soul. So the vision I had in my head started from the mouth and worked backwards.
These masks are made by first covering a load of balloons in papier mache, using tissue instead of newspaper to achieve the wrinkled, rotting skin effect. The balloons deflated slightly in the drying process, which actually added to the effect. I had to put eyes in so that the person wearing them could see, but I used gauze so that once they were painted they would be as invisible as possible. I then used lumps of glue-soaked tissue to build the features of the face, starting with the round area for the mouth and working backwards with cheekbones etc.
I finally used my drybrushing method of painting them to enhance the wrinkled texture, and varnished them to make them look wet and clammy. I also made hooded cloaks from black sheets, and made them tatty, and dragged them through dust outside to weather them.

Here are the different variety of hats we made!

To paint them up we mostly used spray paint and then I dry-brushed with a darker colour and used a cloth to rub the paint off in order to get that tarnished metal feel.

The helmets, swords, and shields for the Templar Knights - there were four in total.

They also wore 'chainmail' (large knitted jumpers spray painted silver) and white tabards with the red cross on the front.

Ross's own special helmet!

The "Claymore" - A 5ft Broadsword

I used string wound around the handle for added realism, and gems for decoration. The spray paint on slightly wet glue produced an interesting 'patination' effect.

The Dark knight's helmets and Shields - there were four in total. They also wore dark cloaks.

We realised at the very last minute that we needed a crown - I didn't have time to make a real looking one so I made a fairy-tale one - It was only seen from quite far away anyway.

A small dagger made for one of the characters:

A piece of armour made for the character of the 'Golden Angel' - the costume also included gold shin pads, gold arm pads, and a gold jewelled leather-effect 'skirt' made from pointed strips of foam-board bent to make them more flexible and stapled to a fabric belt.

My costume for the EP - made even more at the last minute than the crown (literally about 5 minutes before we started!) It consisted of a large beige sheet with a hole in the middle for my head, a piece of white sheet made tatty with scissors and dragged through mud and dust, a piece of white sheet for the bandage around my eyes, a stick with some rags tied to it, and lots of white and black face paint.