Preparation - Stop Motion: Passion, Process and Performance - page 162

My i rst theatre job was in the stage crew on the big 1976 stage musical of Hans Andersen ,
which contained a sequence that I never tired of watching. Alone on an empty stage, Hans
sat on his trunk, ready to leave his cosy hometown for Copenhagen. He looked like a little
boy lost. A piece of set emerged out of the darkness suggestive of a carriage. The trunk was
tossed up and the rocking movement, caused by yours truly, gave a convincing impression of
a horse and carriage. Without losing sight of Hans this carriage unfolded to become the rails
of a ship. Billowing silks suggested sails and the wild sea. As these were whisked away, the
lights of wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen were seen glinting in the distance, before all the
lights came up and there was Copenhagen bustling away with forty people. In the middle was
Hans still with his trunk. He had not moved, but all around had. It was shameless theatrical
storytelling, but with the lighting and choreography it swept the audience along on a complete
arc, and by having Hans hardly moving among the midst of all this activity you never lost sight
of him. He was still the focus. A lesson learnt about making sure the audience knows where to
look. The real lesson is to always collaborate with the set designers, telling them how the sets
will be used. Too often, beautiful puppets disappear in front of similarly coloured or fussy sets.
Achilles , an easy set to work on, and an image most indicative of my work.
I'm not always happy working with literal sets, preferring to play with illusion.
A favourite shot in Hamilton Mattress is Hamilton and Feldwick walking happily
in front of a blue sky, which turns out to be a gigantic poster for the ubiquitous
mattress. In the nightclub, the murals of the baddie, Balustrade, picture him as a
game hunter. Set into this are numerous hidden doors. The murals make a colourful
comment on the characters' perceptions. Likewise, Rigoletto is often shadowed
by an enormous rock carving of the Duke. The Duke's palace has a painting of