A Christmas Carol: Smoke & Mirrors was an adaptation of the original by Shaun McCarthy and directed by David Lockwood.
For this play I was put in the role of Assistant Set and Costume. Working alongside an amazing cast and crew I was shown all the hard work that goes on in the making of a production and the genuine hardship that everyone goes through to making the show successful. Especially working with Set and Costume designer Bee Watson and Stage Manager Tom Welch, they trusted me to help in anyway welcomed input of ideas, showed me their own creativity and taught me how to use power tools I had never heard of!
During my time I was able, to yet again deal with the stresses of a deadline! Lend my skills in sewing and helping Bee's costume designs come to life. With the theme being Steam Punk, I did research into the style and how it can be combined with the classic Dickens story, drawing a few sketches of my own so we could decorate the set with influence, I also learnt to use a jigsaw, drills, spray paint, stencils and hunting for props and materials in many recycling centres.
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| A Christmas Carol programme |
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| A Christmas Carol programme |
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| Scrooge & Marley: photograph by Robert Darch |
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| A scene from A Christmas Carol: photograph by Robert Darch |
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| Young Scrooge & Belle: photograph by Robert Darch |
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| Making the set |
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| Set theme was Steam Punk |
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| My sketch of Scrooge's gravestone |
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| My sketch of a fireplace |
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| My sketch of a Steam Punk themed door knocker |
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| Steam Punk themed chandelier |
I am thankful to everyone I worked with in each play and for the lovely people at The Bikeshed Theatre, I had a wonderful, useful, at times stressful experience but it was what I consider the best way to learn, to be thrown in at the deep end and for that I loved every minute.
