There has been a Scenic Paint Shop in Stratford-upon-Avon for many years. Nigel, Head of Scenic Paint Shop, and his deputy Anthony, Technical Scenic Artist, are responsible for all the paint work, art work and texturing of RSC productions at home, abroad and on tour.

In their workshop, Nigel and Anthony turn iron into gold, tin into wood, and foam to stone. One minute they're busy speeding up the natural ageing process by a few hundred years, the next they're mixing potions up to slow it down.

The two men are often working simultaneously on several shows. 'We're one of the only theatre Paint Shops that work on both props and scenery,' Nigel says. 'Nowadays sets are quite minimal, and props have become more complex, so props painting can take most of our time.'

The starting point is the production designer's brief. After looking at the set model the scenic artists collect samples of paints and finishes. 'This is the most important part of the process for us,' Nigel continues, 'once these decisions have been made we can progress to painting the set.'

Walls and floors are a big part of the team's work. For each new production a fresh painted floor is required. Firstly there is a stain to make it look older, then there is a coating of sealer for protection. Finally there is another sealer containing a matting agent to take away any shine and ensure it looks natural. And those three processes are just to make it look like a normal piece of wood...

To create a brick wall a material called Impag is used. It is a thick foam that is then carved into a brick shape by the carpenters, then broken down into authentic looking textures with chisels, knives and sandpaper.

Bricks are a house speciality. 'It started when Terry Hands was Artistic Director, and it's a bit of a joke for us now, but in the last fifteen years designers have been very into brickwork,' Nigel smiles.

The Scenic Paint Shop's work doesn't finish with the opening night, as there is constant maintenance of paintwork. During a recent production of All's Well That Ends Well, part of the action included the whipping of a stove, so each night the paint was dented or peeled off and needed retouching by Anthony or Nigel the next day.

Working in the Scenic Paint Shop is definitely not a job for the impatient. For Anthony Ward's 1998 The Tempest design, the duo had a particularly painstaking task. 'The island was covered in pebbles,' says Nigel, 'and during the show the actors had to fall on their knees, so we couldn't use real stones. Eventually we found a foam pellet that was both fireproof and durable. Then we had to carve each pellet into a pebble shape, and then paint each one in the correct stone shade.'

'Each was carved by hand,' Anthony laughs, 'and we had to do 37,000 of them!'