Diving under the sea

Centre Stage Theatre London dive under the sea with their production of The Little Mermaid. Rising to the technical challenges, the group explain their process!

Our interpretation of the story of The Little Mermaid focusing on exploring the paradigm that ‘the grass is always greener on the other side’, reflected by Ariel’s desire to be on land rather than under the sea. In order to convey this concept, we wanted there to be a contrast between scenes set under water and those on dry land. To create this we were keen to pull aesthetic inspiration from Tim Burton’s traditionally ‘dark and twisted’ worlds to highlight how Ariel perceives her watery home to contrast with a 2D, colour-washed Gilbert and Sullivan pastiche over ground.

There were other things, that were imperative to our vision; Rollerskating Mermaids, puppets, projection and ‘larger than life’ demi-gods. The concept of Ursula and Triton being on trucks, and physically larger than anyone on that stage was ambitious, but we hoped we could pull it off. We wanted the show to flow effortlessly and as a creative team we agreed to avoid almost all blackouts (we had 3 in total), preferring transitions which don’t impact the flow of the storytelling happening on the stage.

 

In realising the team’s vison for this production, it quickly became clear that it was going to be a huge technical challenge. The Oratory Theatre is an enormous space to fill – broadly the size of a small west-end theatre. There are very few pre-made sets available to hire for this show and none of these really worked for this concept. We therefore took on the task of designing, building and painting a custom set to fill the space exactly to our specification.

It was a mammoth task. Over six months, the team – led by Mark (CAD Design and Build), Sean (Lead Artist) and Sam (Build Manager) and a team of countless volunteers – designed and created a monster set; huge polystyrene rocks and pillars; five metre high projection surfaces; two sea gods on trucks; a double layer Greco-Roman ruin, a reversible arch for Ariel’s Grotto as well as Ursula’s cave; a custom kitchen truck and multiple 2D props for that authentic Gilbert and Sullivan aesthetic (Thanks Sean). This, and so much more, is impressive beyond belief. I am hugely grateful to them all for their commitment, and for lending their talents.

The decision was taken early not to use the usual band pit and instead place the band onstage, partly visible. This was an aesthetic choice as well as a practical one. Given some of the cast were roller-skating in some numbers, removing any chance of a fall (however remote) seemed a sensible option. The stage design evolved to be based on a simple twin level platform built from ‘Steel Deck’ at 7 foot height; used for the band (on both levels) with playing space available on the upper level and a cross over available below. The deck was clad with custom cut arches and panels, simply painted to achieve a neutral surface which could be transformed, with projection, to be any of the locations from under the sea, to royal palaces to Ursula’s lair. This was complemented by a small number of flying items, a (flat) hand painted chandelier (with projected flames), a (flat) boat, a sky cloth, a white projection gauze and a willow arch drape. In addition, 2 sets of 7 foot high stairs on 3-way silent scene shifting wheels and a collection of 7 ‘L’ shaped blocks, which had a previous life as corporate event seating, allowed us to create

‘The Ship’ in various configurations as well as an illusion of a rising water level in ‘Kissed the Girl’. The stairs were also designed to be able to create a ‘walk-down’ from the upper level in certain sections.

One of the elements that makes me most proud is that, from a sustainability perspective, many of these set pieces had been previously part of other productions. The rock sections were used in a MasterCard advert for The Brits, collected directly from the studio in north London. They were then painstakingly re-shaped by hand using a mixture of hot wire and saws, then re-painted completely by our incredible scenic design team. The 10 foot pillars were used in a production in Croydon, but are unrecognised now in their ruined form. We are also hugely grateful to SEDOS (a fellow London company) who allowed us to re-use the steps from their previous production of Titanic and gave us scrap timber from other productions to make the miscellany of props, as well as to Geiods Musical Theatre for the re-use of the ‘L’ blocks first seen in their production of Spring Awakening. It’s the collaboration across societies in central London that really makes things work and minimises waste, so important in the consideration of the wider environmental impact of such short show runs.

Furthermore, none of this would be possible without an enormous space to build and paint our set. We were lucky enough to secure storage and build time at an East London Transport servicing centre. I have certainly learnt that painting in Railway arches is almost the ideal space – it’s these finds that allow you to be truly creative without constantly watching the clock of space hired by the hour. We are now sharing this space with other London companies as needed.

Adding polish to the set was John’s pyrotechnic design, used only for a small section – where Triton destroys Ariel’s Cave. John was able to achieve the required ‘shock effect’ while avoiding any hint of pantomime which can often happen with the use of pyro. The effect was created using Size M Le Maître robotics, on custom wireless control built into the Polystyrene rock truck.

Layered across the set was fully custom projected artwork, made by our team of animators (led by Adrian) just for this production; featuring subtly-animated scenery and breath-taking animated transformation sequences that took us seamlessly from under the sea to Ursula’s lair and royal palaces and back. It is the truly remarkable result of hours of bespoke design work (totalling 250GB of rendered content), and the effect was mind blowing. This included a full ‘under the sea’ introduction to compliment the overture, culminating in a giant whale projected across the entire stage. This section alone yielded a round of applause from our fantastic audiences. Projection was achieved with a huge 20k FOH projector covering L and R portal flats and the white gauze. Stage projection used 2 x 15k projectors with short throw lens, projected onto wooden flats clad to the band decking. Control was from QLab all triggered from the LX desk using MIDI show control. The creative team were not keen on using click tracks so all video work was built in layers to trigger in real time as the show required.

Complementing our set was an exquisite lighting design, the result of more than 100 different fixtures (lights), cleverly integrated into the space with new rigging designed specifically to cater for the unique needs of this production – we even had to add an entire new FOH rigging bar to allow for the fact that we were retaining the stage atop of the band pit. Mixing stage light and projection is notoriously difficult, and huge care is needed to ensure animation is not washed out by lighting whilst creating the desired effects – the team achieved this with gusto elevating the experience brilliantly. LX was controlled with ETC EOS and fixtures included ETC Source 4’s and Martin Auroras

In terms of sound design we integrated an on-stage band (always tricky as the sound is less contained than in a traditional pit) and 20 radio mics, with glorious sound scaping (sourced from personal SFX libraries) and special effects with wondrous results. These things often go unnoticed but are critical in sustaining the immersion. Sound was controlled from a Yamaha QL5 (with TheatreMix for additional control) and linked to video and LX via QLab

Each of the actors themselves were costumed impeccably by Santiago, Annie, Clare and Hollie. The work here was simply astonishing. From the handmade, under-the-sea creatures (based on a morph suit then heavily customised for each creature), the tailored eels – think Cosplay, Sebastian and Flounder, an entire flock of custom-sewn gulls, Ariel’s multiple outfits and, of course, the hand-crafted mermaid tails and suits (made from EVA foam then sprayed to give the effect of fish scales partnered with customised bodices and breast plates), they have relished the concept and smashed it. I was blown away by the result and forever in their debt for the months and months of hand stitching to create the show’s wardrobe.

It would be remiss not to mention our sea witch Ursula and our sea god Triton. A huge thanks to Chads for creating Triton: flanked by his 2 sea horses (acting as pushers for the Truck), 8 foot tall in size, and with his tail taking hints of colour from each of his mermaid daughters’ tails. Ursula’s imposing presence (spreading more than 20 feet across the stage) was achieved through the combination of Annie’s costume work - a corset made from 26 black leather belts with styling and make up including 6 inch nails, Rosie’s puppet making – each tentacle handmade from multiple cylinders of foam with rope running through to a puppet handle and Chad’s carpentry – essentially a weight-baring frame on wheels with handles designed to silently and smoothly move in any direction to give the illusion of ‘swimming’, coming together to create something unique, terrifying, and equally playful. Once again 3-way scene shifter wheels were essential here. Manoeuvred by a team of 9 puppeteers (one for each tentacle and a ‘pusher’), wearing custom outfits designed and made by Geri - it was a huge spectacle!

If this wasn’t enough, we partnered our wardrobe with a miscellanea of puppets, created by Daniel, our puppet Master, they are a thing of beauty; be it the hand-crafted fish shoals, the floating hand-knitted octopi, the brass playing bass or the playful pufferfish (fashioned from a expanding Science ball covered in fabric). ‘Under the Sea’ represented months of design and crafting from a team of more than ten dedicated makers. For ‘Kiss the Girl’ we also created further hand puppets to include a full complement of 3 flamingos, 2 ducks, a turtle, 4 singing frogs and finally a huge pelican (operated by 2 people). It was a wonderful thing to watch.

The final cherry on the cake was the use of theatrical flying. An effect I have not used before, but made possible by the design of the theatre and the generous technical time awarded to use in the production schedule. We were able to use a single fixed point pendulum flying point to achieve Ariel’s ascent to the surface at the end of Act I, Scuttle’s entry in Act 2 – swinging seemingly out of control and Ariel’s final transformation to a human in Act II. I’d like to thank Blue Chilli Flying who were simply excellent in providing the equipment and training our operators and to all the cast and crew involved for their patience and professionalism in making such a technically complex effect become magical for our audiences.

All this is wasted efforted if you don’t have a wonderful army of stage management to run the show, led by Adam and Jon. They really were the dream team. We had over 200 cues called by our DSM to Follow Spots (2), LX, Sound, Video, Flies – all via closed loop comms as well as the hugely demanding set moves and people flying. Working on this show was an incredible experience. Only made possible by the huge generousity of a production team of over 60 plus other countless volunteers.

I am hugely grateful to them and to the absolutely incredible creative ‘dream team’ of JLC, Alexis, Paul and Tim for their exceptional work. I am hugely proud of what the team put together and I hope those that saw the production enjoyed it as much as we have putting it together.