I have served in the committee of the University's Musical Theatre committee this year as Secretary and although that enables me to audition and perform in shows like any other member, I decided to focus on backstage work in the second semester instead. I helped in designing, sourcing and making props, costume and scenery for the two shows performed by the Society,
Fame and
Jekyll & Hyde.
In terms of style they were obviously very different shows.
Fame following the 80's fashion trends for the students and teachers dressing up in more old-fashioned clothing made the acquiring of costumes relatively easy. Everyone has something 80's in their wardrobe be it colourful leggings or a turtleneck top.
Jekyll & Hyde was more of a challenge as steam punk was the decision of the director. We ended up raiding charity shops and altering more modern items of clothing to fit the time period where we were unsuccessful in finding suitable items at budget.
Below the posters for the two shows as well as a few photographs from the performances. Poster design by Sarah Melville and photography by Andrew Worsfold and Richard Cobden.
On the performance nights I ended up assisting with sound as, particularly in
Fame, there were a total of 21 microphone changes over the course of the show (we only had four radio microphones at our disposal). For
Jekyll & Hyde we managed to acquire an additional four meaning every principal could be miked up but supporting characters had to still be rotating microphones. In practice, I sat backstage with some tape helping performers in and out of microphones. It linked in nicely with my technical theatre module of the semester also as I had been researching the role of a sound engineer in musical theatre and had assisted my tutor with sound on a university production of
Just So.
