The first time we were allowed into the performance space to set up the flats that we would be using as to create a fully realistic experience for the audience as we were doing a farce, “it wasn’t a comedy set” (16). Originally I only wanted two entrances and exits, one being the auditorium door, the other being a door frame behind the counter which would lead up to the apartment. Upon setting up the flats it was discovered that there were two flats with door frames and one member of the tech team suggested creating a store-room which could be used as another entrance and exit. We developed this into the story to be used for comedic effect throughout the piece. By creating the stock room it gave the set further depth and interesting structure for the character interactions.

We decided not to use doors within the frames, removing boundaries between each theoretical location and producing a decrepit feeling within the store. To create a soft boundary between the theoretical flat and the record store I decided upon door beads which further hinted at the 80’s culture still existing within the store.

First look at the flats used within the show – before repaint (Kick a Pigeon Theatre, 2017)

When we originally saw the flats in the setup to be the record store, I realized the original color was lackluster and did not suit the feel which we wanted for the record store. My first thought was to paint the flats black, but it was realized that this would enclose the space and the decorations for the flats would not stand out. The tech team suggested using red as this would match the 80’s/90’s theme and allow the decorations to stand out. We decided to utilize the notice board on one of the flats as a visual gag for the audience throughout the performance but also as a prop within the story-line. For example, Alex using it to place her band posters on and a place for Daisy to put a reminisce of her dead boyfriend which was referred too towards the end of the piece.

Through looking at record stores that still exist today, I decided to have two of the flats decorated with vinyls and another flat decorated with the sleeves of the vinyls. From the very beginning I knew I wanted a ‘poster wall’ which would be made up of rave, music and film posters from the time, that pre-dated 1997. As the basis of the set was done, I started adding more personal touches to it so to add to the ‘homely’ aesthetic. I carried on researching popular items in the 90’s to add more references to the time around the set, this included ordering trolls which were placed around and glow-in the dark stars to make it appear as if  Daisy, the owner of the record store, tried to ‘brighten’ the store up and make it more up to date.

Look of the completed set, with the flats painted red. (Kick a Pigeon Theatre, 2017)

Works Cited

Kick a Pigeon Theatre (2017) Record ’97. [image] Lincoln Performing Arts Centre: Kick a Pigeon Theatre.

As the writers began to develop the script, it was discovered that trying to do a kitchen and record store set would be implausible considering the difficulty posed firstly due to the amount of detail required by the record store, as well as trying to justify having both sets both financially and from a story-line perspective. This led to the thought that the characters may use the record store as a home, as no customers are ever present and all the characters story-line’s revolve around this one location. It was ultimately decided that we would be add features to the record store that reflected that which you would find in your home, such as the chalk board which the characters used for shopping lists/personal messages and the washing line which had pieces of the characters costumes on that they would then remove throughout the play. We also placed a sofa and a blow-up chair, to represent the times, to further add to the ‘homely’ feel of the set and give the appearance that the characters spend a lot of time relaxing in the record store as well.

We decided to use the catwalk to connect the record store to the outside world, as the record store is identified as a key point for the characters within the story-line, and the outside world which to the characters is a scary and mysterious place, with only a few characters left the store. The catwalk is also the only thing that connects the record store to the “impending doom” (Briggs, 2017, 17) of the construction down the theoretical road, that adds to the scariness of the outside world to the characters. In order to display the impending construction, we decided to dress the alcove where the audience enters so that they are aware that construction is happening, but just like the characters, they do not know where or when it will happen.  On the catwalk I also wanted to place vinyl box’s to show the divide between when the characters left and entered the record store, and if possible to have a door which the characters would use to show the audience when they left the scene. However, once we got into the space, we realized this was not feasible as it would block some audience members view and would not leave enough room for the actors to walk on the catwalk.

From watching 90’s movies set in record stores, such as Empire Records and High Fidelity, I realized that they contained listening stations which customers could listen to the vinyls before they purchased them. I thought this would fit well within the record store set as well as within the story as once I told the writers they worked it into the story for comedic effect. I took inspiration from Set Designers who had worked on farces, such as Robert Jones, who is “keen to not make [the set] a joke itself” (Johnson, 2002, 16) as the play is already funny. I wanted to do the same, root the set in reality as to not distract the audience from the action happening onstage.

Record Store Vinyl Bin (Pinterest)

From the beginning, I knew I wanted vinyl box’s, such as from the picture above, but wasn’t able to locate any which were within budget and the required style. One group member thankfully offered to construct these boxes from scratch with the help of a skilled carpenter. I provided the measurements for each box, and a rough description and they were able to produce fantastic results as well as going above and beyond to create a shop-front counter for the record store set.

Bespoke Vinyl Box’s (Kick a Pigeon Theatre, 2017)

Works Cited 

Briggs, J. (2017) Record ’97. Lincoln: University of Lincoln

Johnson, D. (2002) Farce of Nature Designing Three Very Different (And Very Sturdy) Sets for Noises Off. Entertainment Design, 36 (3)

Kick a Pigeon Theatre (2017) Record ’97. [image] Lincoln Performing Arts Centre: Kick a Pigeon Theatre.

Pinterest Record Store Ideas[blog]. Available from: https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/327003622921022534/ accessed 15 March 2017

In our next session we knew that we had to start getting more specific details about what we wanted to create and the type of company we wanted to be. We decided we wanted to be a company that didn’t shy away from issues and created truthful drama. So even though our name, Kick a Pigeon Theatre, came from a personal story we did develop a meaning to it. That as pigeons are classed as vermin, the issues of today are the pigeon and we must ‘kick’ them.

From the out start we wanted to set our piece in either the 1980’s or the 1990’s because we loved the music and culture from those two decades. As we started to do research into the two decades, we started to lean more towards the 1990’s as some of the issues that were happening then are still relevant now. As we were all born in the 1990’s as well, we felt a more personal connection to it and still had memories from that decade, so, we felt, we could make a more truthful representation of the time.

As soon as we had decided on the 1990’s, I started to research flats and record stores from that decade to see how it was furnished then. Originally I wanted the set to be composed of an apartment kitchen and a record store, with the audience making their own decision as to whether the kitchen was connected to the store or the apartment above. This was to enhance a feeling that the characters lives were the record store and everything they needed to survive was in it. The images below are ones I found through my research and wanted to convey the ‘homely’ feel of the apartment on the right through my set.

Traditional 90’s Style Apartment (uglyhousephotos, 2009)

Apartment from “Friends” (Pinterest, 2012)

Traditional 90’s record store (andyhifi)

Traditional 90’s Record Store with Merchandise (MostlyRetro, 2016)

I found the images above when I started researching the 90’s record stores, and I discovered that they were commonly overstocked, containing records dating back from when the stores originally opened. This meant that for set, I could have a suggestion of the 80’s culture littered around, giving a similar atmosphere as I felt the images above show. From these images I knew that I wanted to keep the cluttered appearance, with obstacles you’d often find within these stores such as vinyl containers and other similar merchandise pertaining to the cultures previously mentioned. I thought it seemed “on paper, deceptively simple” (Johnson, 2002, 12) to fill the space, almost like an obstacle course, however because we had a specific time period to adhere too, the ‘obstacles’ had to be in keeping with that and ‘of the time’. It also had to be safe for the actors to move about the stage, to help them get used to the obstacles that would be there, chairs were used in rehearsals to represent the different things that would be littered around the stage. Even though, I was aiming for a cluttered feel, I didn’t want it to look messy, the aim was for structured clutter.

Works Citied 

andyhifi Record Stores in Los Angeles & the Internet [blog]. Available from: http://andyhifi.50webs.com/records.htm accessed 9 February 2017.

Johnson, D. (2002) Farce of Nature Designing Three Very Different (And Very Sturdy) Sets for Noises Off. Entertainment Design, 36 (3)

MostlyRetro (2016) The Biggest Guide to Tokyo Record Stores on the Internet [blog]. 3 October. Available from: http://mostly-retro.com/2016/10/03/the-biggest-guide-to-tokyo-record-stores-on-the-internet/ accessed 9 February 2017.

Pinterest (2012) Friends Shabby Chic: Stuck in Second Gear [blog]. 19 November. Available from: https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/146155950380276054/ accessed 9 February 2017.

uglyhousephotos (2009) The Splendor of Southwest Styling [blog]. 7 November. Available from: http://uglyhousephotos.com/wordpress/?cat=113 accessed 9 February 2017.

Our next meeting of our group was with a workshop by Flickbook Theatre, who made their start the same way we were. They showed us many different techniques of how we could develop our ideas and turn them into a show.

The first technique that they showed us was the ‘Wikipedia Black Hole’, which is where each member of the company was given a word associated with one specific topic, in this particular case it was Donald Trump. So the words people were given were such things as Trump Tower, President, the White House and so forth, they would then type that word into Wikipedia, write some of the facts down about it on a post-it note and then click on a link to something else on that page and write about that on a different post-it note and so on for about 30 minutes. At the end of the 30 minutes we each presented our post-it notes, linking it to other peoples when we could, so at the end we were left with a wall covered in post-it notes that could all link together. This technique can help linking ideas or finding out a fair amount of information in a short amount of time. We used this technique to research and develop our understanding of 90’s culture, which later helped us decide upon which year we wished to base our production in. Which we decided would be 1997 as quite a few major historical events happened such as Princess Diana’s death and the publication of Harry Potter.

The second technique we were shown was having a table placed in the middle of the space and each member had to write a personal sad story and a personal happy story that included a table. The table did not have to be central to the story, it could simply just be in the room. One by one, each member would tell their story and place in other members to play the people in the story and use the table how they wished. This technique helped us learn that personal stories can be developed and worked into a piece of theatre, our stories can be manipulated and re-worked if needs be. This also helped us see that a simple piece of stimuli can be inspiration and lead to something more that can be used. By only using a table as well, it showed that set did not need to be extravagant, but could still be effective  and utilized for different purposes.

In our first class session we got into our group, the other half of our class had already decided they wanted to be together. This worked out perfectly for us as many of us had worked together before and new how we worked.

Once we had formed our group, our first decision was to decide what sort of company we wanted to be, what sort of production we wished to produce. As a set of people we were all quite comedic and energetic people, which led to an almost natural decision our creating a comedy. The only thing that we did not agree upon is whether we waned to do a political comedy or a normal comedy, so we left to brew over that decision.

In this session as well, we were told about the roles that made up a theatre company and started to discuss who wished to do which role. We all took a piece of paper and wrote which role we wanted on it, so the the roles ended up looking like this:

• Director = Emily Wood
• Producer = Natasha Bailey
• Stage Manager = Amy Blench
• Marketing = Kim Bowe and Morwenna Murray
• Lighting and Sound = Adam Cockerill
• Costume Designer = Catherine Richardson
• Set Designer = Paige Moran
• Props Manager = Jack Briggs
• Dramaturg = Elif Taneri
• Actors = Amy Blench, Kim Bowe, Morwenna Murray, Adam Cockerill, Catherine Richardson, Jack Briggs, Elif Ege Taneri and me

On our piece of paper we then went into brief detail about what our role would consist of. As Set Designer I knew that I would be designing what the stage would look like and help determine the feel of the piece, also that my set would be determined by the type of production we ended up doing and what era. We left the session with homework to think about what we wished our piece to be about.