06: 1995 - Alice In Wonderland

This was our first pantomime, albeit not one in the strictest sense of the word (no Principal Boy and so on). It still followed the traditional pattern, however, of many short scenes requiring quite significantly different-looking sets. As noted in the Archives section, the set for this was a big turning-point in our capabilities for technical design and execution. They had been evolving anyway, and we had already done some which were complicated in design, some which were works of art to paint, some which were ridiculously short of space and some which had enormous amounts of scenery- and prop-shifting. This was the first one that had them all at the same time...

Following a pattern we've used several times since, that meant identifying which scenes had the most significance, required the most stage space and would look most impressive. That gave us the base stage, with the Wonderland forest painting as the back wall, two matching forest flats each side to screen the wings (it's not particularly clear from the photo, but their lines continued on into the backdrop when seen from the front) and a cottage that could be slid back into the wings as needed. There were several free-standing additions to enhance the look: the rabbit hole, low flats with rock or forest designs (also following the lines of their parent flats), logs, tree stumps and a fair bit of furniture.

Madam Producer had the unenviable task of then splitting the various scenes so that they could alternate between full and half stage and the back half could be changed around while the half-tab curtains were closed. All this with a cast of thousands (...well, nearly) milling about in the wings, which were already full of furniture, props and scenery and a mass of sound, lighting effects and music to coordinate. Conditions were cramped backstage, to say the least.

And, for anyone who's never tried to sneak an entire tea party, including 7' of table and full size benches, on through a gap 3' wide and about 6" away from where the cast are acting  on the other side of a curtain - it's a challenging prospect, even before factoring in a time limit of under three minutes and having to do it in absolute silence and darkness!

The smaller diagrams below show some of the different arrangements - about half the total scenes - that we used. Some, fortunately, were easier than the ones pictured...