17: 2007 - Third Week In August

It isn't that often that we are called upon to build a caravan site on stage, but it's always nice to have something different once in a while.

This was another set that required detailed planning from the start, if only because it was an unusual environment with very few fixed points and a lot of props. In a normal "room" type play, most of the furnishings will remain static throughout - people don't usually rearrange their living-rooms at the drop of a hat - and if there is movement it will normally be dealt with by the stagehands between scenes. Outdoors plays are often the complete opposite, with everything being carted about by the cast and changing from one minute to the next. In our time, we have been on beaches, in forests, gardens, deserts and even underwater, but this was the first campsite.

From the construction point of view, the caravan side was effectively a half-box, with the real door, window and skirting helping to create a convincing static mobile home (if that isn't a contradiction in terms..?). The other side was more of a trick, assembling an awning about three times the size of the stage in such a way that it stood up and didn't look a complete mess doing so. (It would have been easier, but we needed to return it in a useable state after the play...). The windbreaks were an absolute nightmare: no doubt anyone who has ever used one will know how awkward they are even when you can hammer two feet of them into the ground. The upstage side of them was a mass of wooden blocks and bracing to keep them upright and vaguely in position.

The other trick was the back wall, which had to look believable as an outdoors scene both in daylight and at night. The hedging effect is quite neutral for both and a largely featureless sky blends into the darkness quite well. With the aid of some coloured filters on the lighting, it looked quite reasonable, although the photo makes it look more artificial than it actually was.

Filling the space between all these were various tables, chairs and barbecue equipment, with a scattering of children's toys to point to the (never-actually-seen) kids belonging to one of the families. Busy for the cast and the properties people, but not a worry for the set building team!