Tom Stoppard's Arcadia and Set Painting

We had the opportunity to see Tom Stoppard's wonderful play, Arcadia, at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. (Shakespeare in Love fans may remember that Tom Stoppard wrote the script for that wonderful movie.)

Before the play, A.C.T. arranged a lecture on how the romantic murals were painted on the set by A.C.T. Charge Scenic Artist Jennifer Bennes. 

Stoppard's story takes place in the same English country house during two different time periods - modern day and the time of Lord Byron. The modern characters are studying history and are trying to figure out what actually happened when Byron was there. Since the set couldn't be fully changed when the years changed, a background was needed that suited both time periods to reflect the mixture of the classical and romantic in the play. 

The first step was to repurpose a backdrop from a previous A.C.T. play...

Next she showed us how they made the stencil to paint the mural. This is called pouncing and it's an ancient technique. Here's a great video from the National Theater in London explaining the technique in great detail.

After the stencil has been used to get the drawing on the background, these stamps carved from upholstery foam were used to make leaves for the trees. 

Here you can see Jennifer in action using the stamps. The large backdrop was painted on the floor so the paint didn't drip and destroy the image. Putting the stamps on sticks helps get the work done without breaking anyone's back (sorry, Michelangelo).

Once the mural was finished and dry, it is taken to the theater and hung. In the photo below our mural hangs a full ten feet away from the windows in the set. In front of the mural hangs a thin screen of made of tulle called bobbinet (bobbinet originally got it's name from bobbins and net since it was the first kind of tulle/lace that was manufactured rather than made by hand. The bobbinet helps create the illusion of glass in the windows looking out at the scenery. 

Here is the final product on stage.

Arcadia runs at the A.C.T. through the June 16th. I highly recommend it. 

Black Watch

Last weekend some friends an I caught an exceptional play, called Black Watch, through A.C.T America Conservatory Theater at the Armory in San Francisco. The Amory is not A.C.T's usual venue but it turned about to be a great place for this particular play, allowing more space for the cast to move around and enabling the audience to be closer to the action.

The story is about a platoon of the the Scottish Army, called the Black Watch and their deployment to Iraq. The Black Watch is regiment with more than 500 years of history and that history coupled with their story in Iraq is entertainment with impact. The cast, the writing and the musical score were superior. The reviews of the play have been great. 

In our showing, Daniel Portman, who plays Podrick Payne on Game of Thrones (he saved Tyrion during the battle at the end of season two), played one of the soldiers. And that made it a little more fun. 

The Black Watch is playing at the San Francisco Armory until June 7th. If you're in town, it's definitely worth picking up tickets.