Shopping Judith Hidden Dragon

Two days of dashing about! Yesterday started with a visit to the picture framers to finalize my order for the two pictures which hang on the walls in the Chinese restaurant set. I went through my specifications, choosing the frame, what size it should be, the colours of the two mounts – red and black- and the type of glass I require. I could see the person assisting me looking puzzled, “Where are the pictures that you want framing?” she asked, looking to see if I had them secreted about my person. “I haven’t painted them yet.” I said.

When we go shopping for the theatre we often have to do a lot of explaining! In this case I have spent several fruitless hours searching the internet for Chinese pictures of scary-looking dragons, tigers or even eagles, any of which would relate to the predatory nature of the salesmen in Glengarry, but I have had no luck. I’ve also been to various Chinese shops and wholesalers but ferocious beasts are obviously not the in thing when it comes to pictures. So I have reluctantly decided that I will have to paint my own menacing creatures and to this end, have bought a book of Chinese pictures to give me some ideas, some rough cream coloured paper and a bottle of black ink. Tomorrow’s job will be to create the works of art!After the picture framers, I dashed into town to the Library for a fitting with Richard, who plays Roma in the play. The tailor, Barry, came over from Leeds bringing with him the stone coloured suit which he is making for us. It is going on extremely well, as you can see in the photo. The trousers were a perfect fit, and the jacket only needs minor alterations: Richard seemed to be very pleased and particularly liked the colour. He also tried on the shirt and shoes that I told you about in my last up-date and they were a perfect fit, so undoubtedly worth the money!

Then I went over to Liverpool to see the set builders and we took a van to collect the office furniture from this huge rotting warehouse where I found some good stuff last week. The proprietor handed over the furniture and I handed over the cash in a brown envelope, Back at the set builders, I talked over the painting of the Glengarry set with the scenic artist who had come up to meet me. It turned out that he had painted a set of mine a few years ago so we had a bit of catching up to do. Back to Manchester then, for a meeting about the Gala with which we plan to celebrate our last night in the theatre at the Central Library.
Today I have been out propping again, finding chairs and 80’s glasses. Not the sort you drink out of but the ones you wear! A few years ago I discovered a marvellous place on Cheetham Hill which stocks a weird selection of old spectacles alongside perfectly normal new ones. I borrowed about 6 pairs, and then I took them back to try on the actors who have requested glasses. Paul, David and Leigh all found a pair they liked, so another successful trip, another problem solved and another day nearer to the first night!

If you like shopping, this is the job for you!

I have been costume shopping today for Glengarry in Manchester. People often express extreme envy that I go shopping for a job and get to spend lots of someone else’s money! Let me just remind you, I am not buying anything for me! I don’t want to pretend that it is a complete chore, despite the fact that my feet are killing me now. Liz, our wardrobe supervisor is very glamorous and I can’t show her up by tramping round the shops with her, wearing my comfy dog-walking shoes and an old anorak. So I have to make an effort and the little patent ankle boots which I chose for today’s jaunt started to hurt when we were at our furthest point from the theatre. It was a long walk back and it reminded me of the Little Mermaid whose every step was like walking on a thousand knives.
But despite all, it is fun going costume shopping! We march around the shops with our list and a sense of purpose looking for a variety of specific items. We have some shops that we hate (Primark) some we love (Kendals) some we dread (Afflecks Palace, all those stairs! With ten bags of shopping!) some which are dull and useful (Clarks) and some which we resort to in desperate circumstances due to the prices (Russell and Bromley). Today we were looking for men’s shoes in an 80’s style, brown trousers, a variety of shirts and possibly a mac, in case the actor playing Levene has to wear one. At the moment he thinks he may only carry it over his arm, so it doesn’t need to fit, and we have a suitable one that is too small for him to actually wear

I started out at our hairdresser, Peter Reagan’s on Deansgate, where I took one of the actors to have an 80’s style cut. I go along with the actors so I can explain the style I want. Sometimes I take period photos along, but Peter is very good, having worked in films, and knows exactly the look we require. If you secretly desire to have a hair-do like James Dean or David Bowie, to name but two recent iconic heads of hair, then Peter is your man! I then visited shoe shops along Kings Street without success and met up with Liz in Kendals. Here we found a suitable pair of shoes for Roma and some shirts with the right sort of collar for the period. Unfortunately they were all expensive, so we went off to see if we could find anything cheaper. ( Production Manager take note!) M&S delivered up a shirt which might be OK for Levene, and we had a few near misses on the 80’s shoes. One pair too warm a brown to go with a stone suit, another not available in the size. Neither Slaters or Wippels had shirts which could possibly have come from the 80’s, but we found the trousers. So, a return trip to Kendals finished off the afternoon; you can see me in the picture about to buy the overpriced shoes and shirt. Tomorrow we are doing a fitting for a suit, so the actor can try these on too. I’ll try and get a picture for my next up-date. Plus one of the Production Manager stretched out on the floor when he sees the receipt.

Wardrobe fittings

Wardrobe fittings have gone really well! We started off with Nick, who is playing Baylen the cop in Glengarry. We tried on a few shirts and pairs of trousers, found the perfect combination then finished off with a belt, tie and chunky pair of shoes. You can see how he looks in the photo, and there is Jeanette too, our wardrobe assistant, holding up the costume design.

Our next fitting was with James who is playing Aronow. He is one of the less successful salesmen in the play, so we were looking for a conventional suit, not very fashionable and in a dark colour. We picked out a few suits from stock and one of them seems to fit the bill, Again, we managed to find shoes and ties from our stores so they are probably from the 80’s and look appropriately worn-in. James is in the other photo, alongside Jeanette holding his costume drawing.

Leigh is playing Linsk, and he is wearing a jacket and trousers rather than a suit, as he is a customer, rather than a salesman. We didn’t do quite so well for him, although we found a good jacket and some well fitting trousers. I’m just not sure that I want him in grey trousers so I may go into town and see if I can find anything I prefer. I think it’s really interesting that I can go shopping tomorrow and find clothes that would pass for as far back as the 50’s. That’s 60 years! People think that fashion changes much more quickly now than it used to and certainly there are lots of small changes like shorter skirts (for some women but not all!) and the fashion for wearing sports clothes for every day. But basically, I think we are in a loop and unless there is a significant social change, fashion will continue to revive the 60’s 70’s and 80’s for the foreseeable future. Good news for costume designers, in the absence of originals, we can pick up a copy.

Fitting Paul, who plays Williamson and John, who plays Moss, was good fun as they came over together and they make a great double act! John looked great in the first suit he tried and we found a shirt and tie to match, but we still need another shirt for scene two. Paul tried loads of suits before we found the winning entry – he just kept on looking too trendy! Some people wear their clothes well and it can be hard to make them look scruffy, with others it’s hard to make them look smart. So at the end of the day we have something for everyone, quite a few alterations to do and only a short shopping list. Next week we will be fitting the two guys who are having suits tailored – I’ll let you know how we get on.

Impossible - never!

We have had a progress meeting, which is when the members of the production team meet together and discuss, well, our progress! And, yes, there has been some. Avril, our chief L.X., has sourced all the practical lights and the Stage Management team has made a good start on the props. People were pretty busy last week, getting ‘I Ought to be in Pictures’ ready for opening last Friday, ( the audience loved it, get your ticket now!) From now on Glengarry will be the top priority, at least, during the day, so progress should be swift. We usually discuss the rehearsal notes, those little messages from the rehearsal room to the rest of us, which so often ask for most inconvenient or indeed impossible things, but always in the most polite language! At panto-time such a note might read “ Mr Smith wonders if Ms Croft could design an extremely large soft frying pan which Mr Green will use to wallop Mr White over the head on several occasions, It will then need to fold up and fit into Miss Scarlet’s pocket.’ (Sorry, no picture of comedy frying pan, this will have to do).This company are proving to be most reasonable in their requests and have made no difficult-to-satisfy demands so far; in fact the only request I have picked up is for an extra chair in the office. I was quite pleased about that because there was a chair in the backstage ladies loo, which I have been hoping to get on-stage for ages, but it has never quite made it, It’s a rather nice Mid-Century modern tubular steel item and could look very good in the office, so I have sent it into the rehearsal room to see if it will be suitable. I expect to hear one way or another via a rehearsal note!
I've just got back from Liverpool, having seen the set in progress - see photo, and I have finally found grey 80's desks! I have put stickers on a few things to reserve them, so next week we will have to return with a van and a wad of cash!

Time to get the props out of the freezer...

Today’s up-date is a bit of a catch up on the things I have been doing which I haven’t yet told you about. I have been out on another propping trip, touring the second-hand furniture shops of Greater Manchester. We had considerable success in Whalley Range where a huge, freezing store offered up 80’s swivel chairs, metal shelving units and some desks which are so near to being right that I bought three.

Two of the chairs are going to be recovered by their in-shed upholsterer, in suitably drab colours. I was assured that he is the best living upholsterer; he certainly must be the coldest living upholsterer – I have rarely been so cold in my life as I was after spending an hour rooting around that place! My hands and feet were frozen numb and I am still working hard to fight off a cold as a result. However, three desks! Two of them will be cut down to size and then I have to decide whether to paint them grey as the model, or to leave them in their existing livery of dark brown wood-effect veneer.

I had a fitting with the actor playing Richard Roma. He tried on a few sharp 80’s suits and although he looked really good in a silver grey double breasted one from stock, we decided to follow the costume drawing and have a light stone coloured suit made for him in the same style .I went off to Leon’s fabric shop in Chorlton for the suit material, then to John Lewis for some posh lining to finish the jacket.

I went into the rehearsal room to look at the arrangement of furniture in the office set; it looks good, but I need to be careful not to choose things which are too big, as the space is quite limited. I made a return trip to the builders in Liverpool to take back the model, and while I was there, had a quick look at progress so far. I commented on the routing of the floor tiles which was more strongly marked than I expected. Builders like designers to come and see progress and then probably wish afterwards that the designer had stayed away! I thought it was cold in the furniture warehouse, but the workshop in Liverpool was sub-zero. How anyone can work in those temperatures is beyond me, but in the world of set building, men are still men! Next up-date will be the progress meeting of the production team – how much progress have we made? I’ll tell you on Wednesday.

Being pinned, hitched and squeezed - all in a days work

It is time to fill you in on what’s going on in the Wardrobe department regarding the costumes for Glengarry Glen Ross. Seven men in suits appears to be a fairly easy brief at first. But then…it has to be the right suit for the character, an appropriate colour, texture and cut. To look as if it has come from the 80’s certainly; maybe up-to-date 80’s for Roma (remember double breasted, wide shoulders and pleat fronted trousers?) but tired and well worn late 70’s for Levene. It can’t be tweedy and English – this is Chicago! And the suit has to look like it belongs to its wearer; we have to believe that he actually chose it from a shop or a tailor at some point.
Fortunately I have some good luck on my side in that the Library Theatre Co has a very good stock of modern day costumes where I can start my search. So Liz, our wardrobe supervisor, Jeanette, our wardrobe assistant and I set to work to drag out any suits, macs or jackets which may be useful. Liz has a great eye for men’s costume and knows at a glance if I am straying into the 1960’s or the 1990’s. She is happy to alter costumes to fit, but you can only go far with tailoring before it loses its shape altogether, so we sort the suits out by size and allocate them to each actor. You can see the costume rail with copies of the costume drawings pinned on in the photo. Later in the week, we will call the actors for costume fittings and try to get a fit not only literally, but also between character and costume.Actors can’t afford to be shy; they have to get their kit off and let us get them into the costumes even if it involves being pinned, hitched up or squeezed into a corset. I have seen some memorable underwear during a long career in theatre, but professional discretion does not allow me to tell you more!

Back to Glengarry! I can’t find a suitable brownish late 70’s suit for Levene in the right size amongst our stock, so we decide to ask our freelance tailor to make us one to fit. The other option would be for me to go down to London to hire one from the big costume hire place, Angels, but the prices are high, there is my train fare to consider and if we get one made it will be available for future shows as part of our stock. Liz and Jeanette find some good fabric and so that job is now on-going. Hopefully, the fittings will go well and we can get most of the rest from stock, which would be great news for the budget. I’ll let you know how we get on.

Read Through - but where's our model?

Today we have had our first rehearsal for Glengarry Glen Ross, which has taken place at the Zion Centre. The rehearsal room at the Library is still being used by the ‘I Ought To Be In Pictures’ company, before they go on stage on Wednesday. This is the day when the actors read through the play together for the first time and I present my model and costume drawings to the company. The stage management team are all there, also the wardrobe department and Mike, our press officer. We all introduce ourselves then Chris, the director, says “Let’s read the play!”

It is a fantastic reading; funny, loud, violent and inventive. The actor sitting next to me is playing Moss, and I nearly jump out of my seat a couple of times with the energy of his reading. The American accents are all there and the play leaps off the page. We read right through without a break and despite the strength of the actor’s portrayal I feel increasingly unsettled. Something is missing. The Model!

Yes, the model which I am about to present is not there! I had my concerns about this happening earlier on, since I hadn’t seen it since we left it at the set builders in Liverpool. I tried to track it down, couldn’t get hold of the production management team who were due to pick it up, and so assumed it was on its way. Alas, it was languishing back at base camp whilst I was getting steadily more nervous at its non-appearance down at the Zion. At the end of the reading, under cover of tea and biscuits Chris, the A.S.M., scooted off to the Library to collect it. We passed the time with discussion of the play, and then I did an in-depth presentation of the costumes, which I described in some detail and passed around the costume drawings. There were approving smiles and comments from the acting company which always bodes well. I practise a certain honourable manipulation in the matter of my costume drawings; I have discovered that people are much more likely to be happy with their costume if they like the drawing, so I usually take the time to make them attractive.

Chris finally returns just as I had given up hope! The company gathers round and I talk them through the two sets. I’m pleased to be able to include the photo of them giving the model the thumbs-up! Actors are always really appreciative of designers and I bask in their approval as the compliments roll in, Guess what? They even give me a round of applause!

It's you or the chair! Hunting for props.

I have been out with Jamie, our company stage manager and Chris, the assistant stage manager, to start the task of furnishing the office for Glengarry in authentic 1980’s American style, on a limited budget of course.I hadn’t thought it would be particularly easy, but now I’m starting to think it is actually going to be quite difficult! The trouble is, the office furniture that we want was thrown out about 10 years ago and is now slowly rotting away in some land-fill site, beyond the reach of the even the keenest of stage managers! Newish desks have no sides and extra little cabinets which sit underneath instead of proper drawers. They might have built in shelves to put your computer monitor on. But the desks I am looking for are more traditional, maybe made of grey laminate or perhaps metal. The salesmen would not have had their own computers so the tops need to be flat and the drawers should be part of the structure. We also need filing cabinets, shelves, desk chairs and notice boards all from the same era; after our first day out hunting, it’s starting to feel a bit daunting!

We have been out to the props store of a friendly theatre in Lancaster where we hit lucky with a filing cabinet, but no desks. I was tempted by the crocodile you can see in this photo. I could imagine it sitting, looking dangerous, on top of a bookcase – could it be a symbol of the sharp practises, tenacity and ferocity of the salesmen in our play? Or would it look like the designer had totally lost it? Come and see the show if you really want to know!

We went on to a huge second-hand furniture centre which had nothing suitable except, yes, a filing cabinet. Our final stop was at a charity furniture place which was stacked out with old office furniture – but the wrong old office furniture. This was light oak laminate and quite definitely from the 90’s and not American by any stretch of the imagination. I did try to stretch my imagination, but it was no good. Next door is a shop which specializes in office furniture, both new and second-hand, and guess what, they had plenty of filing cabinets! But no suitable desks. I found two office chairs which I liked; I’m sitting in one in the photo. Jamie vetoed the other as too expensive. So, a day’s work, a 100 or so miles and our office is not a great deal better off than when we started.

I’ve since been snooping around the offices at work to see if anyone is hiding the perfect desk under a mound of papers, but so far no luck. I have found a couple of possible office chairs, however. Let’s hope their owners can be persuaded to hand them over or they may have to mysteriously disappear. The chairs, that is, not the owners; but then again, designers are notoriously single-minded and it is not good to stand between them and a prop they really, really want!

Trip to see the set builders and their killer robot!

We have been over to Liverpool Scenic Workshop to meet up with the set builder. Like most theatres now, we no longer have our own construction department, and so this work is out-sourced to other workshops which specialize in building sets for theatre. We have good relationships with several such businesses and I am looking forward to working with the people at Liverpool, because I came over to see them last summer and was really impressed with their professionalism. We are met by Bob, who has already seen photos of the set, received a ground plan and has started putting the design onto C.A.D. You may be able to pick out the outline of the revolve on the screen in the photo.

I love it when my designs get transferred onto C.A.D. because I can then be certain that if I have made some ghastly mistake in my drawings, it will be discovered before the set has been built, painted and taken into the theatre! I always used to have a slight nervousness as I made my way to the theatre on the morning of a fit-up, that something wouldn’t fit, the whole thing would be a disaster and it would be all down to me adding or subtracting a few centimetres at the working drawing stage. Since the advent of computer aided design, I can stroll in to work and pick up a coffee with a quieter mind.

The workshop is vast and very cold on a bleak January day, but well equipped with computer controlled cutting machinery besides the usual saws, drills and paint equipment. There is a new laser cutting machine which can carve solid material to a given design, which sits by the wall looking like a malevolent robot. Bob tells us that it moves so quickly that if you were to stray into its area of operations, it would kill you before you could run away! I am only prepared to go anywhere near it once I know that it is not plugged in.

Bob has no concerns about the ceiling of the office and talks about linking it through to the back of the Chinese restaurant set, with some sort of cantilevering going on. It all sounds fine to me, so I agree and try to look knowledgeable. I leave my working drawings and the model so they can get started on putting the design into the computer before they start the build.

On the way out we take a look at the set for I Ought To Be In Pictures which is now being painted and is looking good. Next Monday it will be fitted up at the Library, ready for the show to open later in the week. Meanwhile Glengarry will start rehearsals, and I will need to get the model back, so I can show it to the actors at the read-through. In my next up-date I’ll let you know how if they like it!

Planing and the tricky bits!

Part of the design process involves drawing up plans which describe the set from different angles. The ground plan shows the set from above and marks it’s footprint on the stage floor with a solid line and anything suspended above is shown with a broken line; this is the crucial plan to get right as it is drawn over a copy of the actual theatre space and thus we all know that the set will actually fit onto the stage. Only the other day I heard a story about a time when a set failed to fit, being too big. This is obviously very bad news when the construction team only usually have a day to get the set up. Investigations took place and it turned out that the designer had deliberately enlarged the dimensions of the theatre building in order to accommodate their design! Production management tend to view the average designer with some suspicion at the best of times and when you hear of things like that, you have to concede they have good reason!

In addition to the ground plan, I do a set of working drawings which show the various pieces of scenery from the front and the side. The set is quite small for Glengarry, so the job has only taken me a couple of days or so. Thank Goodness! Because doing these drawings is my least favourite part of the job .I managed to get an O’level in maths sometime in the distant past, but I get easily confused where numbers are concerned, although that wonderful invention, the scale ruler, does most of the hard work. In the photo you can see me, back bent, struggling with those little millimetres over my drawing board.

The other photo shows our Production Manager, Michael, with his colleagues, Gareth and Dave, looking over the plans. Fortunately, they don’t pick up any problems so we can proceed. I had wondered if they might have some concerns about the overhanging ceiling of the office, because since the set is on the revolve and turns around at the interval, the ceiling can’t be suspended from above. But Michael has confidence in the ability of the builders who will be contracted to construct the set, so I put out of mind any vague back-up plan I had been considering, in case the ceiling, in its present form, got the thumbs down.

In my next up-date I will report back on our visit to the set builders, when we take the model over to show them the design.

Biscuits could have made the difference?

We have now had the production meeting for Glengarry!
We all met in the Spotlighters Bar, because the rehearsal room where we usually get together is being used for I Ought to be in Pictures, our next show. Chris, our director, said a bit about the play, then I had to show the model and costume drawings and talk about the design. The assembled company included Production Management, LX, Stage Management and the Wardrobe department and each member of staff is there to consider “what does this mean for me?” People are often amazed at how short a time we have to get everything ready for the first night; but the production departments of a theatre when working in top gear, are a highly effective force. Seeing the model and other design work at the production meeting is the start of the process.
You may remember that my preferred response from people seeing my models is “wow, that’s brilliant!” But I know better than to expect that at a production meeting. They have all seen so many designer’s models that they are inured to its wow-ness and possible brilliance. The painstaking work that goes into creating the minute detail is taken for granted and what the team really want to know is, how do I think it will be made and what material will be used and will it cost too much? Questions which I have to answer or side-step with a certain suave confidence, because it is so important to give the impression that I do really know what I’m doing! Some production meetings are, for the hapless designer, a bit like being the main course for a pride of lions, but our meeting is good natured enough, although there is a distinct shortage of biscuits. But even so the happy team photo didn’t happen.
Biscuits could have made the difference. You will have to make do with a picture of me looking at the model with Jamie, our Company Stage Manager. Everybody soon disappears to deal with more pressing matters such as the Re:Play festival, now playing, or the show which opens in two weeks time. People work very hard during the season and there is very little let-up. Except for me! I award myself the rest of the day off, and go into town to see if there is anything left in the sales.