Sooo Much To Do About Nothing

Filling you in on the hectic events of the past 2 weeks....

10^th June – 21^st June

Greatest apologies,

Firstly for the lack of frequency of my posts, and secondly, for the huge delay in updating this particular post- trying to recap the whirlwind of chaos that was mid-June.

But here it is, back-dated.

Owing to my regretful, unwavering optimism, I have forever been playing catch-up with myself- with every single activity taking about 3 times longer than initially anticipated. So alas, alack, with my deadline lingering on the 22^nd June, I had very, very little sleep in the past 60 hours and am not even close to completing my designs thanks to the complicated nature of the model-box.

Hoping to finish the week with a grand sweep of finalising my costume designs for the principle characters- whose concepts were already designed and rock-solid, these plans were soon scuppered when the model-box decided to take as much time as humanly possible.

I made the decision to focus on finishing the set rather than furthering the costumes because I thought that I needed to make the most of my access to the Studio Theatre- which would be unavailable to me during the summer ‘holidays’ due to my relocation back to Brighton.

So sadly, the costume designs that I was itching to finish had to take a back-seat to the painstaking precision of positioning the poles of the mezzanine floor of the set.

To go back further, I will briefly recap some of the activities that have lead me to this point (my deadline).
Firstly, I completed the uniform designs for Claudio and Benedick:

 

One important day was when myself and a specially assembled team of logical and clever individuals (to help me with practical issues) tested out the washing-line idea for the first time in the Studio Theatre. Forever unsure of whether this idea would ever work with the sight-lines, with the lights, with EVERYTHING…. I was relieved to see that actually, using a pulley system already erected on the ceiling, the idea worked perfectly.

The pictures below show our experiments, but it is worth pointing out that this is not exactly HOW the pulley-system will be set up, in that the idea is that in reality there will be fishing wire attached to points on the washing lines and that is the bit that will pass through the pulleys, so as not to tangle and jam the washing.

I then primarily worked on my set model. I made the tree from grape stalks and the decking from lolly-sticks. All these sort of activities I thoroughly enjoyed. It was the precision of the mezzanine that was really wearing me down. I had such a time trying to get the poles in the right place, at the right angle. The first attempt, it took me about 3 hours to cut all the poles to the right length and plastic weld them all together JUST FOR THE WEST SIDE!! Then I realised that there was some sort of discrepancy along the way, because woe betide me- the West balcony didn’t even FIT in the model box…. By about 10cm!!!! So somehow there was a difference between the measurements in my tutor’s google sketchup model, the measurements of the model box that I had procured from a 1^st year, and my scaling ability….

The only way I could see to rectify this was by going-by what I considered to be the most reliable source- the sketchUp model. So I had to print out the birdseye-view of the ground-plan of the sketch-up model- showing the positions of the poles, rescaling it so that the perimeter matched that of the model box to the mm, and then take the positions of the poles from there. It’s just a good job I own a large printer. It was a truly arduous task that took about a whole day to complete.

Then when I went back to the studio theatre to measure the stairs etc, it was plainly obvious to me that somehow the model still wasn’t as precise as it should have been. If I had had ANY more time (and patience) I would have attempted to rectify this, understanding that accuracy within the modelbox is of utmost importance, however, as it stood, I was already past the time that I thought I would have the whole model completed by, and I really didn’t have time to redo all my hard work. I really did try my absolute hardest throughout the process to be incredibly accurate, but clearly somewhere along the line I used incorrect data.

It’s just a little heart-breaking to know how much extra time it cost me to be extra extra precise yet the model, as a result, is not even accurate. But oh well… you live and learn.

This being my first major set-back, the rest of the construction of the box tended to follow suit, meaning that despite many sleep deprived nights, I only finished it to a satisfactory standard just hours before my hand-in. It was nothing short of a nightmare.

As a result I was incredibly disappointed with myself for having failed to complete what I saw as an appropriate amount of costume designs, especially as I had finalised the concept for nearly all of the principle chaarcters in my head. Therefore, I spent my final hour trying my absolute hardest to represent my ideas roughly for each costume. This is pictured below.

It’s very scrappy and the colours are a bit off, but I am so glad that I did it.

Coming back to it now, after a long break- I am so glad that I crystallized these ideas in a semi-realised state so that I could easily pick-up where I left off.

Now I am back in Brighton and desperately need to start the ball rolling again in terms of getting the designs back on track.

However, if there is one thing I have learnt from this project it’s that taking long breaks (even if it is to do 2 beneficial work placements) can only hinder your progress…. As it takes so much longer to get back into the swing of the project. The key is to stay focussed- it saves you time in the long run. This project is becoming a real juggling test for me- but time will only tell how I balance working at the V&A performance department, finishing my costume designs, finishing my set model, beginning to source fabric and props, working as a costume supervisor for 3 shows at the Edinburgh Festival, learning to drive, and trying to hold-down my summer job at the theatre in Brighton. Plus it would be nice to fit-in a holiday somewhere down the line- I have been working so so hard this year and I don’t want to burn-out just in time for getting the show ready.

But Hey Nonny-nonny. Sigh No more.