Welcome To Thebes Sign
“Welcome To Thebes”
Director: Oliver Dimsdale, Ferdy Roberts from Filter Theatre Company
Designer: Amy Cook
Stage: Embassy Theatre, 26th-29th June 2019
“I saw the sign and it opened up my eyes”
Although I working under another prop maker in the year above me for this project, it was soon realised we both had different mindsets towards this project, allowing me to lead the project a year at the end of my first year.
The prop itself was a large sign that read the title of the show “Welcome To Thebes” which hung above the set for the entirety of the show. The “bes” in the last word was to look as if it had fallen off.
To approach this, I scaled up the model sign within the modelbox and was able to determine the kind of proportions the designer wanted. Although many were made, I am choosing to show this draft as this would have been the final construction plan before it was painted.
The construction students loved me
Or so I thought… At just about 6 metres long, the sign was built as a flat. With a combination of screws, glue and nails the sign construction was relatively easy, however the storage was not!
Couldn’t think of an electrician joke, shocking.
The most important and admittedly tedious job of the process was wiring all the LED strips on the front and soldering it all together. I had a wealth of experience doing stuff like this from my GCSE and A Level DT so it wasn’t new to me, but I did feel impressed with myself after having several lighting students make the effort to come to the props room to see how and what I was doing.
Too many cooks (or tPMs)
Although happy with the sign construction and wiring, I was not happy with how the letters came out. We vacuum formed cardboard tubes to give a faux neon light effect, however we then decided to FEV the inside plastic to give the colouring and I believe it came out far too blotchy and uneven. This is one project I wish I could redo just for this stage.
This is the final working picture. It does its job and it looks alright, but maybe its because I was the maker, but I am just not happy with how it looks. I have learnt a lot from the project though so I know if ever I need to do something like this again, I will know precisely what to do differently.