Set building

Written by Cath Moyse - Tue 14th Nov 2023

Sunday afternoon was a hive of activity in the barn at Hare Leys Farm.

Sayward was busy with sandpaper and a paint brush upcycling a dancing robot into the "Hair-O-Matic 6000", an ingenious Wallace and Grommit style contraption which will be playing a starring role in Dame Penny's hair salon "Curl Up & Dye".

Meanwhile Miles was building extensions to the woodland bench to make enough room for all seven of the royal party to sit on during the "scary wolf" behind you scene. The extensions need to be foldaway to enable the stage crew to move the bench easily around the stage. Celia and I were roped in as guinea pigs to test the strength of the new extensions, fortunately they help up and we were saved the embarrassment of breaking the bench.

The scenery boards for the castle courtyard and the interior of "Curl Up & Dye" have so far only received their white basecoat. Barry fixed the sculptured set toppings (or 'wibbly bits' as they are affectionately known) across the top of the scenery boards and then pinned up A4 mock-ups of the finished scenery to act as a guide for the set painters.

The main activity was centred on Rapunzel's tower, which is being fashioned out of a 12 foot high scaffolding frame. The finished tower needs to feature platforms at two levels, an opening near the bottom for the cast to climb in and out, plus a window at the top for Rapunzel to lean out of and let down her hair. There also needs to be a secret compartment at the bottom for Mother Gothel to hide in.

Once completed, the tower will need to be dismantled for transport to Cooper School. Julia will take lots of photos and videos to ensure it can be reassembled correctly.

I look forward to seeing the scenery coming to life as the painters get stuck in, although I don't envy them the many hours they will be spending in the freezing barn.