The Mother Ship - amphicar artwork

A project that I am designing at the moment, The Mother Ship by Douglas Maxwell at the Birmingham Rep Theatre is really fun to design. The play is set around a wild and epic adventure involving an amphibious car - an amphicar - these little cars are amazing, part 60's convertible, part boat. Well actually, both car and convertible. I have had to find a way of staging scenes that take place in a car. As it is a touring show, this means no life size replicas, and I had to find an inventive way of creating the car - I have ended up with a life size cut-out "drawing" on a frame that the actors can wheel around and stand behind to create the semblance of a car... here goes....

Amphicars. There are only a few left in the UK. My collage and cut-out version pales in comparison to the real thing - I have to say that I am a little obsessed with them at the moment.

amphicar webiste

light

I am trying look at photos I have taken, drawings I have done and past work to see where I am at creatively. January feels like a really difficult time to be creative in. Here are some pictures I have collated from my years of an obsession with taking pictures of light through windows.

I want to feel less bogged down with having too much work to do and feel right in myself - that is what this blog is about for me - finding joy in images, thoughts and inspiration so that it can inform the rest of my creative life.

So, let the light in the window.

tiny chairs

When I was still at college I made a whole bunch of tiny 1:25 church chairs - one stack still survives on my mantelpiece.

Above is a selection of tiny chairs I have made, sometimes they make good presents... I do love chairs, both tiny and life size. Choosing styles for a production is one of my favourite parts of the process.

I suppose theatre designers are all a little obsessed with the miniature.

casanova and the boudoir nuns

Today, I am designing costumes for the Grand Canal sequence of a musical called Nine. This is a musical based on Fellini's film, 8 1/2 - fantastically surreal. There is a 12 and a half minute sequence based on another film of Fellini's - Casanova - which I am researching currently. The joy of designing this musical is that I can really go to town on the costumes...
I am looking at these fab images as inspiration. The fashion photographer Tim Walker has been a big inspiration for this project in terms of how he brings surreal elements together.
The giant binbag dress relates to a sequence from Fellini's Casanova that has a sea apparently made from hundreds of binbags.
I am trying to create a disjointed, colourful version of Venice that bursts out from a giant piece of film suspended in mid air.... Here goes, I will post costume ideas up once we are up and running...

Images created by Tim Walker, fashion photographer
Tim Walker's book on Amazon
Fellini on IMDB

saturday

Down near waterloo station. People and reflections...
Looks like a set design already...

beginning

It feels funny embarking on writing a blog right before Christmas ( I feel like it is almost a new year thing to start something new like this), but I have been very inspired by another blogger, Camilla Engman, into posting inspiration, pictures and ephemera from my work life. My job can be mad and inspiring, and I am keen to share images, links, and thoughts as I design the sets and costumes for theatre productions. Theatre can be very insular and you don't often see process outside of a production so I wonder if I can open that door a little.... So there it is, a beginning. More to follow.

Check out Camilla Engman's blog for why I wanted to make my own blog. Hers is beautiful and has really inspired me. I love it that people share their images and inspirations with each other.

I am a sucker for illuminated objects

Inspiring lights number one - The Christmas Lights on the London Southbank.Strange mundane neon objects, strewn lights made from old plastic bottles...