Commission, Community, Collaboration. (CCC) March- May 2015

Aladdin pantomime for Walk Tall.

Context.

Walk tall has commissioned us at UCA: Rochester to make a a range of flats for their pantomime production of Aladdin in December 2015. As I was part of a similar commission for Walk Tall this time last year, I jumped at the opportunity to be part is this build. 

Walk tall is a charity organisation that provides support and creative ways to build confidence in children and adults "It is recognized that counselling and arts can often complement each other well. "(walk tall).As well as this, they also provide numerous professional theatre, music and arts services, putting on plays, shows and other entertainment in their theatre The Old Metal Refinery Theatre. 

 Click to enlarge.

These are the designs Walk Tall sent us, as per the pantomime style, they use bright primary and secondary colours within this simple design. 

(unless otherwise stated, all images belong to me)

Tuesday 17th March- Kitty and Amy.

At Walk Tall's request, we are to make two sets of reversible boards. the picture above shows the layout.

|First off is making the frame, Our original plan in creating our 8ft by 4ft was to make the two side pieces 8ft tall However the wood bought (advertised as 8ft tall) was over an inch too short. Simple solve was to switch it around so that the long edge was the top and bottom 4 ft pieces and the side pieces making up 8ft.

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Here is the finished frame,(1) First we used to other pieces of wood to minus the thickness of each end and measured up the top and middle support beams (2). (3) We used an engineers square to make sure the lines and corners were at 90 degrees. (4) A Two screws each corner. Using pilot holes, 2 and a half inch screws, counter sink drill bit to make the screw heads flush with the wood. (5) The support beams are 3ft from the top and bottom of the frame.

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 (6-8) These are the drill bits we used to construct the frame, (8) Drill bit for the pilot holes to avoid splitting the wood, the counter sink (7) to create a little dip for the screw head to fit in snugly into the wood, and the bit to screw the screw in( 6).

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After the frames were completed we attached (ply) board to each side (9) (for the reversible flats) and used a nail gun to pin it to the frame and supports (10).

Afternoon 17th March - Amy.

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To remove any rough or over hanging edges I used the router(11), this two blades on a rotating arm that is stabilised by the silver platform and allows only the overhanding wood to be cut. After sweeping the sawdust from the board it was time to start painting (12), using a white emulsion (13) and roller I did one coat of paint to each side waiting for the top half to dry before flipping the flat over to do the back.

Wednesday 18th March- Amy

Board gridded up by pinning charcoaled string at 1ft intervals square and pulling and releasing the taut string and transferring the charcoal to the board.

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Wednesday 18th March afternoon - Amy & Kitty. 

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(15) We started to draw out two of four boards.

Thursday 19th March - Off work due to injury. 

Kitty continued to draw out the boards

Friday 20th March - Amy, Kitty Cooke, Charlie Bucknole, Kristina Bate, Jess Wild.

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 A joint effort of completing drawing out (16-17) of two boards and starting painting(18-22).

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See my Colours basic guide HERE

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Monday 23rd - Friday 27th -  Kitty & Amy.

This week we simply continued painting. We also got the other sides of the flats drawn out and 80% painted.

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This first image (23) shows the french brace created for the pyramid flat, it is attached via two detachable hinged. There is one brace for two sets of hidden hinge halves on both the front and back of the flat, this makes each of these first four flats reversible. Image (24) is the first blocks of paint going on the outside of Widow Twanky's Laundrette.

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(25) Continued painting on the flats, (26) Fiona giving a tutorial on painting cloud effects on the pyramid flats. The trick to painting clouds is to have the sky colour and cloud colour (normally white) and a sponge or a brush and use both alternately using circular motions to create a sense of depth and a lightness.

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getting a large collection of paint, and it's only going to get bigger.

Monday 30th March - Tuesday 31st March - Kitty Cooke, Amy Akerman.

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28-30 shows the progression of the outside of Widow Twanky's Laundrette, on

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Monday 13th April- Amy Akerman, Kitty Cooke, Kristina Bate, Georgia Haddock.

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Monday was one of our most productive days, with the extra help we managed to get the first two reversible flats completely finished including black lines (33-36). We also started drawing out and painting the next two reversible flats (31 & 32).

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Note: Aforementioned dates up to Friday 24th (images 37-41) was a mixture of finishing off these four reversible boards, waiting for a van to be fixed, and waiting for the materials for the platforms. This was a little bit of a blessing in disguise because, as there was nothing to do on some days, I got a great portion of my Dissertation essay done! Whoop!

 

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We got the boards painted and shaded to perfection (37-38). However we noticed whenever the boards were manoeuvred little bits of the board would  chip away and in some cases break off completely, so it was decided that a calico strip (39-40) would be glued to each board on the bottom edge to avoid this happening more, We also took the time to paint over each hinge so they were less visible (41).

 Friday 24th April  -  Kitty Cooke, Amy Akerman. - 

The wood arrived today, the afternoon was spent measuring and cutting the wood for the platforms. For the platforms there was two sizes, three lots of 6 by 4 ft and one of 4 by 4 ft.

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Monday 27th - Amy Akerman. 

Today was the start of the construction of the stage pieces, I made the frames, with help from Andy and Fiona (tutors). (44-47)

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For the top of the stage, (with help manouvering) I wood glued and screwed 18mm MDF to each platform. The hardest part of this was making sure to leave a 12mm overhang equally on each side(for the sides). (48-51)

 Tuesday 28th April- Amy Akerman

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Today I attached the legs to each platform using wood glue and two screws, slightly apart from each other for the strongest fix. (52-54)

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Using a G clamp was very helpful to keep the wood still and in the right place (55). It was very rewarding having the platforms on the floor, there was some dancing (and it didn't break! Job done!)

Wednesday 29th and Thursday 30th April - Amy Akerman

Apologies for the distinct lack of pictures for these two days, I deleted them because I am a fool.

On these two days I got the cladding done on the 4ft x 4ft stage using 12mm MDF painted it black and glazed it with matt glaze. I also but all the support blocks on each leg of all the 6ft x 4ft stages.

Friday 1st May- Amy Akerman

My last scheduled day before the deadline. I got all necessary sides put on the 6x4's all painted black but only 1/3 glossed.

Thank you to Emily Durrant who helped me in the afternoon,

Thank you to Fiona Williams and Andy Stead for all the help and advice.

and finaly thank you to Oliver Watts and Rebecca Dunnage for being the all singing all dancing highlight of this week.

Evaluation

Went to see the Walk tall Christmas Pantomime of Aladdin this evening, it was ridiculous amounts of fun and laughter, I really couldn't have hoped for anything better! I was so happy and proud to see my hard work on stage being used and soaking up the atmosphere like it deserved to. My wonderful grandparents were able to share this evening with me and boasted my talents to other audience members, much to my embarrassment. After the show I waited for everyone to leave so I could get a cheeky picture with  the set and they put the full beam lights on me. Robbie from Walk Tall came up to me and shook my hand, and even kissed it!! Was not expecting that! We were both so excited and pleased it was a wonderful moment of gratitude and smiles.

Hats off to the cast and crew who did a spectacular job!! Thank you for allowing me to be involved and thank you for a fantastic show!!