Today was all about painting... again. We started off working back on 'How to Disappear...' (which opens tomorrow) primarily repainting things we'd already painted last week but now looked worse for wear. I was then given the task of cleaning the toilet.
Luckily not as bad as it sounds (just!). There is a toilet that is wheeled on as part of the set for the play and it hand paint encrusted all over it from previous productions- so I had to try and get it off... The tricky thing being that there were no materials to do this with. I asked for maybe some white spirit and a scrubbing brush, but in the end was simply reduced to having to use the brush from the Paint Room, hot water, and hand-soap... considering my limited arsenal, I think I did a ruddy good job, but it was knackering.
The good thing about this was that we got to see the designer again, and she gave me her card and asked me to do some costume supervising for a show she's deigning for in the Edinburgh festival! Hope I can be involved!
We soon progressed onto working on '13' (the show for which we have recently been scenic painting). Our task was to paint and glaze the floor. Which sounds sooo simple. I was convinced we'd be done and dusted by 4:00pm at the very latest- forever an optimist! There was a large square of tiles centre stage that had to be painted black and gloss glazed, whereas the rest of the floor had to be painted black and matte glazed. It just look so long. One part that made us take longer was getting inside all the cracks in between the tiles.... it's just amazing how much time something like that can add! Annoyingly we worked from the back of the stage to the front.... we realised the folly of our ways when we ran out of glaze..... So now we always know, start at the front because that's the bit everyone can see. It just didn't occur to us in time....
In the evening Natalie and I met up with some friends and we went to see Mike Bartlett's (very appropriate) Love Love Love at the Royal Court.
As usual, I tried to find out as little as possible about this play before going to see it, so was a bit baffled and annoyed when in the first act 2 actors who were clearly at least 30, were playing 19 year olds.... it was only as the play progressed that I understood why. Each Act of the Triptych shows the same characters at different life stages, documenting the relationship between my generation and my parent's generation, criticising the Baby Boomers for a self-involved, selfish, and brash lifestyle, which has left their children in turmoil.
It was such an interesting play, so apt, I left the theatre terrified. Literally terrified. It just reflected my life too too much. I honestly had to think about whether I should continue with my degree, whether there was nay point in trying to be a Theatre Designer.... it was scary. Despite watching the last 2 Acts through parted fingers, I thought it was a brilliant play, and I am thoroughly convinced that Mike Bartlett will be remembered as a key playwright for our generation.
Not sure about the Set Design though.... naturalistic box-sets, made you feel like you were watching telly...... was quite effective though, just not very imaginative use of space. Maybe it's to do with all my writing about Brecht in my POP essay which I finished for good yesterday....
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