DarkCorner
Member
Hey guys,
Our school, CRGS in Colchester, has just got the rights to perform the schools edition of Les Mis in December - and I have the joyous task of designing and building the scenery... For various reasons we are working on a highly limited budget, however everyone involved is looking at this as the big show. It should be the best we've done in the memory of current student and staff, as well as remaining so for a long time to come. It is also likely to be my last major show before I leave the school after many years, so I want to go out with a bang! The stage we have is pretty big, but doesn't have any form of official fly rail and the wings are ridiculously small... Having had preliminary discussions with the director, we have come up with some basic ideas - I know have to work out how to make them feasible...
He wants to have a raised area at the back of the stage to add more dimensions, and wants that to remain throughout the show, this should be fine as we already have steel deck. However, we have decided that we need to come up with some way of indicating two separate halves of the stage, as if separated by a gate for the 'heart full of love' scene. We also want to do the barricade properly and make a spectacle of Javert's suicide. As mentioned before, there really isn't any space in the wings for scenery, so anything big, like the barricade needs to transform from something else which has been on stage since the start of the show... In terms of the bridge scene, I was thinking of pulling a piece of the steel deck forward centre stage from the raised back section - but haven't worked out how to convert normal steel deck and scaffold poles into a wheeled truck... We are also extending the stage forward with more steel deck, so thought we could lower one of these pieces during the scene so the actor falls through the stage...
So, long winded explanation over, these are the questions:
1. How to build a barricade which can stay on stage for the whole show
2. How to create a sense of separation
3. How to make normal steel deck into a wheeled truck
4. How to drop down a piece of steel deck mid-show
Any help, alternative ideas or things i've missed please do say.
Our school, CRGS in Colchester, has just got the rights to perform the schools edition of Les Mis in December - and I have the joyous task of designing and building the scenery... For various reasons we are working on a highly limited budget, however everyone involved is looking at this as the big show. It should be the best we've done in the memory of current student and staff, as well as remaining so for a long time to come. It is also likely to be my last major show before I leave the school after many years, so I want to go out with a bang! The stage we have is pretty big, but doesn't have any form of official fly rail and the wings are ridiculously small... Having had preliminary discussions with the director, we have come up with some basic ideas - I know have to work out how to make them feasible...
He wants to have a raised area at the back of the stage to add more dimensions, and wants that to remain throughout the show, this should be fine as we already have steel deck. However, we have decided that we need to come up with some way of indicating two separate halves of the stage, as if separated by a gate for the 'heart full of love' scene. We also want to do the barricade properly and make a spectacle of Javert's suicide. As mentioned before, there really isn't any space in the wings for scenery, so anything big, like the barricade needs to transform from something else which has been on stage since the start of the show... In terms of the bridge scene, I was thinking of pulling a piece of the steel deck forward centre stage from the raised back section - but haven't worked out how to convert normal steel deck and scaffold poles into a wheeled truck... We are also extending the stage forward with more steel deck, so thought we could lower one of these pieces during the scene so the actor falls through the stage...
So, long winded explanation over, these are the questions:
1. How to build a barricade which can stay on stage for the whole show
2. How to create a sense of separation
3. How to make normal steel deck into a wheeled truck
4. How to drop down a piece of steel deck mid-show
Any help, alternative ideas or things i've missed please do say.