Expedient Design:
I had a tremendous amout to stock "hollywood style" flats that were 10 feet tall but only 2 feet wide. And when we did "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged" a couple years ago, I knew I wanted some "old school" theatrical elements such as periaktoi. So it was a good fit to use my narrow flats for this purpose. I built 4 revolving units for each side of the stage so that they became "legs". I left space enough between them for the actors to enter and exit, yet from the audiences viewpoint, the painted images still formed up properly.
Then to make each revolving unit stand up without tipping over, I put my 10 foot tall lighting booms inside them! This made them spin like one of those countertop paper towel dispensers! Each unit had 3 swivel casters on the bottom and the 75 pound boom bases kept them from tipping over. They worked really, really well!
The first side of the set of periaktoi had a carved styrofoam effect to look like interior castle stone. See the photo below, (click to enlarge):
The second side was painted to look like the Scottish countryside, with rolling hills and old castles. See photos below:
The third side of the units was painted to look like a thick forest. (Sorry, I can't find a photo of that scene).
Anyway, the periaktoi were fun to build and I feel like this project helped teach the students about a theatrical trick that goes back to Greek times. I no longer have these items.
-Dana Lowell
Set & Lighting Designer
Sloan Theatre
I gave these to my friend Kelly who directs community theatre.
ReplyDelete