We had a very interesting trip to the National Theatre backstage tour and a visit to Alma-nac architectural offices on Friday. The boys saw how props, costumes and stage designs were made and how 1:25 models were transformed into amazing full scale theatre sets. The guide explained how the Olivier Theatre contains an incredible drum that lifts and rotates full sets 5 stories high.
We were then lucky enough to visit Alma-nac’s office and see their beautiful designs and models for a whole range of interesting projects.
To quote Matthew,
Today I learnt new ideas about how theatre is made. I thought that theatres had off-site companies that made props and costumes for them, but today I saw one of the few theatres that actually do it all for themselves, that was really cool.
Zac made the following comments –
The audience gave the designers a lot of help. In the Olivier Theatre there was the main stage with a huge revolving drum and the reason it was like that was the audience’s opinion. There were really good site lines for everyone, and the seats are set at 105 degrees so an actor can stand in the middle of the stage and see the entire audience.
