Drawing office

Before anyone can begin building the set, they need to know what to build. The show's designer will bring a concept, ideas about the kind of mood they want and picture references. They work with the Drawing Office to refine their ideas, based on practical factors such as available resources and the shape of the stage.

The Drawing Office costs up the design. They need to consider if the show will be in rep with another show – with different shows alternating so the set has to come in and out on a daily basis. Sets for shows in rep need to be easily removed and stored, and robust enough to last for all performances. All sets need to meet strict criteria for safety and sustainability. 

They work with the designer to create the model box – a 1:25 scale model of the set which is used by all the technical departments. They create drawings for every object of scenery you see on stage, showing not only what an item should look like, but also exactly how to construct it. There can be hundreds of drawings by the time the actors take to the stage.

Scenic Engineering

A team of seven engineers work with metal, doing heavy fabricating and welding to build the sets and the structure that the sets live on.

They work closely with our Drawing Office, which creates the technical drawings for the set and the automation team, which is responsible for moving pieces of scenery.

Where possible they re-use pieces of scenery, adapting them for the next show. For example the ornate metal gates used for The Magician’s Elephant were being adapted for Richard III.

Engineers have come from a range of backgrounds – as well as other theatres there are people who have worked with aircraft, blacksmithing and building satellite dishes.

Carpentry

As well as wood the team of nine carpenters work with plastic and canvas. They work with the props and scenic engineers, also building the substage (which supports the stage itself). Their work can be complex and delicate as they often have to work the electrical functions of a piece of scenery.

They often reuse set pieces, adapting elements of scenery from previous shows to save materials and give them a second life on stage. 

A Christmas Carol features a moving bed. The large steel mechanism was created by the scenic engineers, then the carpenters clad it to make it look like a wooden bed.

Once the carpenters have finished working on an item of scenery it goes into the Paint Shop before transferring to the theatre.

Paint Shop

The Paint Shop paints, finishes and adds texture to scenery and props. Everything that goes on stage needs a treatment, or it looks wrong under the lights, in the same way that actors wear stage make-up. Our scenic artists work in the Paint Shop making affordable materials look expensive and new things look antique.

After meeting the designer and seeing the model box, the scenic artists develop the designer’s vision into something that’s affordable and sustainable. They start by producing samples of what they are going to make, for example a floor panel with a mud texture or gold paint use to look like bronze. These samples go back to the designer to be checked.

Then they apply the textures to pieces of set as they come through from carpentry and scenic engineering. From here the items are loaded onto a van and taken to the theatre to be installed.