Category: Hannah Thorpe

So show day came and went! The Man Whose Memories Fell Out finally hit the stage and was a much bigger success than anyone in this company could have hoped for. The feedback and response to our show was overwhelming. This whole experience has been  full on, difficult but nothing less than fun. As a performer it has been so exhausting and physically demanding to be a part of such a movement filled and emotional show. However this is what has made this experience so rewarding. I am incredibly proud to have been on stage and a part of the production.

 

  

 

 

(Crowe, 2015)

As a set designer I was so proud of how my boxes looked on stage, how they brought together the science and the emotion and I am extremely pleased at the feedback I have received, audience members even wishing to purchase some. There is no greater compliment.

(Thorpe, 2015)

(Crowe, 2015)

 

 

Thank you for following us on this fantastic journey; in the end everything was absolutely fine.

 

Hannah.

 

Works Cited:

Crowe, P (2015) The Man Whose Memories Fell Out. [image] Available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/61839232@N02/17900172505/in/photostream/

Everything is going to schedule! The boxes have been built, painted and are currently sitting safe in the scene dock! There a only a few items that need to be finalised before show day. It is probably not a necessity but I personally want to hand my final designs, ground plans and props list to our stage manager before our Get In on show day. This means that if there is any problems with anything I am in charge of, I know that there is the proper documentation on hand so rectifying the problem doesn’t become a problem itself.

Shown below are previews of the the documents that will go into the book. They have all been fully uploaded into the Set section of the Documents page on this blog.

First are my 3D plans of  the stage. These give the venues technician’s and idea of the stage and what they need to do to any what we as a production team can help with. For example, the legs and masking had to be brought down and Bars 1 and 2 of the lighting rig will have to be lowered so the boxes could be hung properly.

 

 

The final ground plan, which has been tweaked since the work in progress to be able to comply with Lincoln’s technical capabilities. For example the number of boxes upstage centre went from six to four, and the clusters stage left and right increased to five adn the venue only had lightbulbs in sections of five.

 

 

 

 

The final props list is also included as a check list for myself mainly so I can make sure that everything is set correctly and if we are desperately lacking in ribbon or if a prop has been misplaced and has to be sourced quickly before the show.

Everything is now together and ready for our Get in and finally, the show. I am incredibly excited and hopefully it all goes as smooth as possible!

 

Hannah.

It’s been a very exciting week at Fill In The Blank! The material for my boxes arrived and they were superbly built! Of course not wishing to just sit back, Myself, Alice the Stage Manager and Verity our Producer joined me in painting the boxes! I decided on matte white to keep in with the clinical/ scientific theme. The boxes themselves looked different to my original designs, yet what were delivered turned out to be much more practical for our show. As the rehearsals developed our director informed me that the actors shall be setting the props in the boxes as part of the show. As you can see for the pictures below the frame work of the boxes make this task much simpler.

 

 

(Copley, 2015 )

 

As our show developed my ideas of what I could cover the front of the boxes developed with it. Our show focuses on how music is something that people who suffer with great memory loss turn to as it has melodies that repeat itself. Research shows that by learning new things, such a new skill like a musical instrument aids a persons’ memory, “music helps with Alzheimer’s as the rhythmic beat in music does NOT require cognitive or mental processing.”(2015). Within our narrative, the only connection the ‘Man’ has are with his ‘Wife’ and with music. We decided to use that as our basis for the narrative because a lot of our research showed that “Music therapy can help to promote reciprocal engagement between care givers and care receivers to help them to reconnect with one another.”(2014). The music element within our story lets the wife be with the man he was before his memories ‘fell out’. Because my boxes have  no sides I have decided that there would be too much light leaking to get a strong silhouette. I still want the tracing paper on the front but because the silhouettes aren’t a necessity anymore I have decided to copy out sheet music onto the paper which will hopefully be faintly seen as each box light up. Samples shown below.

 

 

(Thorpe, 2015)

Overall there will be 18 boxes. 5 big ones measuring 15”x 15” x 5”, 5 medium sized ones measuring 12” x 12” x 5” and 8 small boxes measuring 10” x 10” x 5”.

 

Works Cited:

Cognivance (2015) 3 Way Musics Helps With Memory Improvement. [online] Available From http://www.cognivance.com/3-ways-music-helps-memory-improvement/

The AD Plan (2014) ALIVE INSIDE: MUSIC FOR ALZHEIMER’S, MEMORY LOSS & DEMENTIA. [online] Available From http://www.theadplan.com/blog/wordpress/2014/01/music-therapy-alzheimers-alive-inside/

We have been extremely busy at Fill In The Blank with a show almost ready! Because we have been working so hard on creating the performance I can revisit the Ground plan with a more concrete idea of what the show feels like. It is one of the benefits of being the set designer and a performer. I am always up to date with the staging/ blocking and the director’s intentions. When anything changes in a rehearsal, I am already aware. The design has changed rather dramatically since our last meeting. After our work in progress with fellow colleagues we took on board many more ideas. New ground plan shown below.

 

 

For the second draft of the ground plan that will go into the Stage Manager’s book, instead of a hand drawn sketch I used the software Sketch Up/ Layout. This meant I could measure height width and the length of the set if I needed to. It also allowed meant that the different pieces of set looked more concise and professional.  From this the stage manager can see what is needed for the tech rider which shall be handed to the venue in advance of our technical rehearsal and our get in on show day. This ground plan also came with a preliminary props list to assist the SM and ASM with any health and safety necessity that should be flagged for the risk assessment.

Item                                                             Description                                             Source

Book	Placed upstage centre during scene then moved downstage left not moved until final scene	Company Member- Hannah Thorpe
Veil	Placed downstage left, not moved until final scene	Company Member – Michael Woodhall
Necklace	Placed downstage left, not moved until final scene	Company Member – Kirsty Rice
Large Black Umbrella, Wooden Handle	Placed downstage left, not moved until final scene	Company Member – Katherine Copley
Shoes/Black Heels	Placed mid stage right next to Piano, moved downstage left until moved again and worn in final scene.	Company Member – Naomi French

 

All other props are to be set in in the boxes in the pre-set so should not pose any risk. If this ground plan does not change after the next meeting my plan will be to create a 3D model so the production team, and staff at the venue will have a clearer picture of my design.

Hannah.

Our theatre company loves to share. We love to keep our audiences updated of our process that is leading us to our next performance. One way that us designers like to share our ideas is through Pintrest. It gives us a chance to compile our ideas, set costume and lighting related, “Pinterest is a virtual pin board incorporated within a social network, think of it as a digital scrapbooking.”(Lake, 2015)

 

Our first board is Props. This is a place where I can gather ideas of what objects I want to fill the ‘memory boxes’ onstage. Though the technical side is reflecting the scientific side of this condition our production focuses on how relationships are tested when one partner suffers from memory loss. I want the props to reflect objects that could be seen as significant in people’s relationships. This then combines both the scientific and the emotive.

On Pintrest the company has “the freedom to display their work using their creativity, personal style and personality creating fantastic portfolios that can be seen and shared by other Pinterest users.” (Lake, 2015) This allows our audiences to check out our work, and hopefully become more and more interested in our production as we update through the weeks.

   

(Pintrest, 2015)

The next board I am in charge of is Set. Here I can ‘pin’ ideas of what I want the boxes I mentioned in my last blog, to look like and decide on material, having Pintrest I can collect different images of each and then presenting back to the company to get their opinions, as we work as a collaborative company I value their creative input. The idea is that the set, props and lighting show the science side of memory loss, the boxes, linked by red ribbon, represent the proteins in the brain which are elements that connect and form memories. Shownbelow are referance images for the types of boxes I may want onstage.

(Pintrest)

Though most of these are wall mounted, these images are just an idea of the shape and colour of each box onstage. The colour scheme being either perspex or white, giving off a clinical atmosphere.

Keep updated on our blog on Pintrest!

 

 

Hannah.

 

 

Works Cited:

Lake, L. (2015) Pintrest Offers Marketing Benifits to the Small Business. [online] Available From:

http://marketing.about.com/od/socialmediamarketing/a/Pinterest-Offers-Marketing-Benefits-To-The-Small-Business.htm

 

Aronson, A. P (1990) American Set Design. New York; Theatre Communications

 

Fill In The Blank Theatre (2015) Pintrest. [online] Available at https://uk.pinterest.com/fill0128/