SNOW WHITE
Set designer/dresser
Snow White, a pantomime, performed at the quaint Rondo Theatre, Bath in Jan, 2020. My role on this production was Set designer and Set dresser. I worked closely with the stage manager and props master to achieve an accurate, cohesive set that could be both magical and comical.
My main conceptual idea from the beginning was to have a revolving set piece that could be unhinged, spun 180 degrees and transformed into a new environment quickly and easily during scene changes. I wanted this feature as part of the set due to the fact that the Rondo theatre had very little space in the wings so creating large set pieces to be dragged on and off stage was not something that was feasible.
I had a pretty clear idea in my mind of how I wanted the set to look. I myself have been to many pantomimes over the years so I'd created a clear picture in my mind of what I wanted to achieve for my first pantomime design. Rustic but campy, traditional/classic but with hints of colour, funky details and a few comical props. I started by creating mood boards to help guide me in my design, and then I got stuck in to my favourite part of the design process, the model box construction. For most if not all of my projects I've found working in 1:25 scale the most appropriate for theatre design. Below are a few images of the initial model box set ups. I used foam board and mount board as my main materials, but I also used perspex and old dependable paper mâché. I painted the model using acrylics, brushes and sponges. However for me, I find with model-making any material is usable if it helps achieve the look that I want.
After the model boxes were complete, I presented them to my directors and the cast. Everyone was pleased, and after a few changes to the colour palette, they gave me the go ahead, so we started planning construction. We had a few great builders at our disposal who helped construct the main body of the set. The main concern was the revolving of the set and also the oven (seen in 'Castle Kitchen' image) and fireplace (seen in 'Cottage 1' image) which would be the same piece back-to-back. The doors of the oven in the kitchen needed to open and reveal a dragon inside, who was in fact part of the actual oven. To achieve this I painted red wings on the inside of the doors of the oven, so that when they opened it would reveal the wings, and our dragon could poke his head through the opening to complete the illusion. (See image below) As for the reverse side of the oven, we needed to create a fireplace for the cottage, to do this we mounted a fireplace surround onto the wall and painted flames on a sheet of blackened wood, that could be slid under the surround to hide the dragon wings from the previous scene.
For the kitchen side of the set we decided to make the oven a bigger feature than it was in the model box, so once it was built I got to work on painting it. I used a grouting sponge saturated in paint to give the illusion of brickwork, and then painted in between each brick with grey paint to accentuate the pattern. To finish it off I painted the doors with a swirly, intricate pattern so that it would appear like fancy metalwork, it was the Queen's kitchen after all. I also painted a few "props" in 3D to give the illusion of a cluttered kitchen, without having to bring on and take off physical props in between scene changes.
I added a barrel, broom and a rack with nails to hang wooden spoons from, a window with a view of the town of "Cruely", a hanging sign with the quote "Champagne for my real friends and real pain for my sham friends" (to add to the Queen's brutally honest, no-fuss persona), a few spiders here and there and of course, poking out of the oven, the tail of the dragon who lived inside. I was very pleased with how it turned out.
The final "Queen's Kitchen" set:
The final "Dwarfs Cottage" set:
