Out of the woods and in to the budget ...

I have now finished the model, but I'm not out of the woods yet - I've still got to finish the costume drawings and the groundplan before the production meeting, then the production team can see all the aspects of this particular design and so be able to cost it. Inevitably it will cost more than the budget and the various departments will scrap over how the money is shared out. The usual pecking order is that construction gets the lion's share, wardrobe appropriates most of what's left, leaving electrics (LX) and stage management to pick over the bones. Everybody is fairly happy with this system, as most departments get what they need and LX are used being left with hardly anything and are resigned to hardship. So it's really only stage management who have the task of, say, trying to fill the stage with antique furniture including a dinner table with a three course meal, for about £100! And they do it so well!

Anyway, costing for Glengarry is a problem that I don't need to worry about today. It will probably creep up on me in a couple of week’s time, necessitating compromises and negotiation or maybe exchange and barter!

Here are pictures of the finished model so you can see the considerable level of detail that we theatre designers put into our work. People tend to make the same few comments when they see designer’s models. "Wow, that's amazing" is always a welcome response and makes up in part for the long hours and the paint covered hands. " It's just like a doll's house" is another thing people often say, Less easily impressed folk say "Why do you have to make all the little bits of furniture and the files and books and lamps?" I sometimes think what they really mean is that sitting around making tiny 1/25 scale telephones is not making a proper contribution to the work of the world! They may have a point, but there is no doubt that making a detailed model helps everyone to understand what we are working towards as a production team; to make it look like the model is the goal we are all aiming at. And then once the show goes into rehearsal, the acting company and director also use the model to help them understand the space, see the positions of furniture and get a feel for the atmosphere.

My next up-date will tell you how the production meeting goes and hopefully include pictures of the team looking really happy!

How it all started ...

I have been working on the design for a while now and have had meetings with Chris, the director, to talk through our ideas. Glengarry Glen Ross is set in the 1980's, in a big city in America,which we imagine could be Chicago. It's a story about a group of real estate salesmen who are being pushed to the limit and have to use every trick to survive. There are two sets, a chinese restaurant where the salesmen go to relax, pick up custom and make their plots with or against each other, and an office , where there has been a break-in. So the first thing I had to think about was how to manage the change between the two sets, although it's an easier change than many, in that the scene change happens in the interval. I also set about some research; films from the period, internet pictures of American China-towns, my local chinese restaurant! A fact-finding trip to Chicago wasn't in the budget, unfortunately!
To start with I persued an idea of a kind of city-scape with city lights, advertising signs and so on, with scenery for each set brought on from the wings to create the office and restaurant. It had it's advantages but in the end we decided to go for a more focussed design, with no distraction from the intensity of the action of the play. Each set being smaller, I was then able to fit everything onto the revolving stage which will make the scene changes a whole lot easier and therefore me much more popular with the backstage gang! So that's where I'm up to now,working late to get the scale model finished for the production meeting later this week. Somehow this always seems to happen, no matter how much time I start off with - working late at the last minute! It's 9pm and I've still got lots of tiny bits of office furniture to finish off. You can see the little filing cabinets in the photo. I'll put some pictures of the finished model in with my next up-date so you can see a scale version of the set you will see when you come to see the show in a few weeks time!