Shoestring Shakespeare
Doing Shakespeare as greenly as possible...
First: I don't drive. I don't want to drive. So I'll arrive by public transport (okay, maybe a taxi or a lift for the final leg)
Therefore I need the whole show to fit into a bag.
The venue provide a table, a few chairs and a bench (or wooden block, or stools)
Below are a few sample setups...
Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh
The Other Place, Stratford
53two, Manchester
Bridge House Theatre, Penge
Leicester Curve
Derby Theatre Studio
Hoddesdon Peace Cottage
Tanworth in Arden Village Hall
The New Theatre, Dublin
I wanted to avoid the costs often incurred when making a piece of theatre, so I decided to use found objects, where possible (some found in the street), recycled, repurposed.So below is everything I use in this show, and where I got it.
The blue dressing gown has hung on various bathroom doors for over forty years (as have I).
Past its prime (as am I), pretty tatty (as am I), slightly embarrassed (as am I), but, my dear faithful companion, it was worth the wait.
The t-shirt and long johns are the fruit of Charity Shop foraging.
"Ask me not where they have been.
Ask me not what they have seen."
"I am a king, my masters"
Paper crowns: the first few I sourced from Christmas crackers. My family thought I’d gone loopy. When I ran out, I had to buy some.
"Our Fair Kingdom"
London Streetguide– I found it on a shelf in the bedroom. For those of you under 30, The London Streetguide is Google maps, but made out of a tree. A kind of Pirate map, but with no treasure.
"Daughters"
The scarves belonged to my Nan, my mother’s mother.
Me, visiting my mum, in Leicester:
“Mum, whose are these scarves?”
“Oh, they belonged to your Nan.”
“Can I take them for my show?”
“Well, she won’t be needing them.”
(Nan died twenty years ago)
Krapps Last Tape section
The phone is my old iphone. The battery is knackered, so I’m forever making sure it’s charged enough to get through an evening.
We had a portable speaker knocking around the flat, but it wasn’t quite up to the job, so I upgraded to this one, which I’d seen my mate Scott using.
"My Poor Fool"
The tie – a hand-me-down. It was my Dad’s originally.
Or my late brother Dave’s.
Or possibly my Dad’s and THEN Dave’s.
The original red nose came from a production of As You Like It, but it was worn out, so I had to get an understudy
Rubber egg. At first I used a hard-boiled real egg, but then I saw this on sale in a museum shop, so I have upgraded for reasons of hygiene (and ease at airport customs)
“Get thee glass eyes!”
Toy specs with fake lenses found in a box, I sellotaped eggshells over the lenses… hey presto!
A metaphor made concrete!
(I lacquered the egg-shells with PVA and my youngest son Alfie)
"The Rogue That Was A Hanging Thee"
Mask – originally, I was going to make my own papier mache mask, but I ran out of time, and Geoff Bezos made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.
The snood I picked up and wore for a few months over a biting New York winter, then it lay in darkness at the back of my sock drawer for years - dreaming of one day being in a show…
Found the knights in a toybox.
Sadly, not quite “an hundred”.
"When The Rain Came"
Water spray bottle
Another "plucked form obscurity" tale
I found it skulking under the sink, cowering in the shadows between the bathroom cleaner and the shoe-polish. Dragged it, blinking, into the bright lights of...
... showwwwwbizznizzzzzz!
Metronome – bought it from Dulwich Music Shop, which is… a music shop in Dulwich. Keepin’ it local!
Tambourines – unfortunately, the tambourines my kids had played with had long since been passed on, so I went back to
... Dulwich Music Shop.
Shaker eggs. I had one, needed another five. Where to go?
You guessed it – Dulwich Music Shop!
"Lie Here And Rest Awhile"
A large piece of plywood, abandoned outside a shop in Brockley.
When it proved too unwieldy for touring, I chopped it up into "Fridge Magnets"
The box of memories.
It was left on a low wall on Lordship Lane, with a note saying "Please Take"
So I did.
...and finally...
...this is the bag that the whole show fits into!
Taddah!