Abbey Theatre - Amharclann na Mainistreach

The week began with a trip to the builders. I met up with the designer and we took the model pieces to the construction workshop to discuss scenic finishes and texturing of the set. The design includes six cloths so the finish on these and the ageing and colouring is very important. The scenic artist was very enthusiastic and discussed various methods and techniques for the flags and back cloths. We continued to discuss the build and recommended a site visit for the builders next week.

Tuesday the designer was in Dublin and it gave props and furniture a chance to sit down with him to discuss the progress so far. The designer took a trip out to the stores and chose some more pieces of furniture for the director and cast to try out in the rehearsal room.

We spent a lot of this week fitting out a rehearsal room which would be bigger and have more natural light. It will give us the ability to hang some of the cloths in rehearsal room and to have free standing girders where they will be on set. Setting up a new rehearsal room has its problems and all the furniture chosen yesterday will need to be moved again on Monday when we relocated to the new rehearsal space.

Costume fittings continued this week and a number of the cast were fitted for a photo shoot which took place on Tuesday. The photos were fantastic and the cast were delighted with their costumes so far.
Thursday morning was the production meeting which is a chance for all the departments to sit down and discuss the show. The costume designer would like to use a beautiful old lace nightdress and the possibility of having blood in this scene was discussed. The props department here have come up with a very good recipe for blood which will wash out, but lace can be tricky. Lighting and sound also seem to be progressing nicely and the meeting felt quiet productive.

More next week.

Aisling Mooney – Production Manager