Over the years, the STC Props Team have been tasked with creating and supplying an eclectic variety of items for our productions: fake food, severed heads, realistic streetlamps, and even a lifelike animatronic turtle for Arcadia in 2016.
While STC has a store of props from which we can draw, some things need to be built from scratch. When it came time to build the 6-metre elm tree in Fences designer Jeremy Allen’s detailed streetscape set, the Props team put up their hand. "We were really keen to build this. It's a fun build for us." says Jason Lowe, STC Props Supervisor. The team had five weeks to bring the tree to life, while also supplying the many smaller, period-specific props that the production requires.
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At the beginning of every production, the designer creates a Props Bible. This collection of documents includes reference and inspiration images for all the props and dressed set elements required for the production.
"You work with those references and find things, either exactly like the reference, or of that world, and then discuss with them what they think," says Emily Adinolfi, STC’s Props Manager, “and you continue that discussion throughout the whole process."
For the tree, Allen provided the team with detailed drawings and a 1:25 scale model of the type of elm he envisaged. "He gave us a little booklet that had a lot of bark samples, images of the bark, and the shape of the tree. He was very specific with wanting a twist in it, and having a hollow in it," Lowe explains. STC is always looking for ways to reuse, remix, and recycle materials to cut down on waste. The tree provided the perfect opportunity to put this into practise by reusing parts from a recent STC production.
"We had just built the trees for The Tempest, which we kept with the idea that we might be able to reconfigure them for something else," says Lowe. "The trunk itself is actually made from a larger branch built by the set constructors. The Tempest branches were relatively straight, so we've cut a lot of kinks, and then TIG welded those kinks together." Adds Adinolfi: "Using the Tempest branches allowed us to bring build costs down, and to get this object that Jeremy wanted on stage in the timeframe that we had."
Even with years of experience, each new production brings with it an opportunity to stretch their specialised skills. In the case of Fences, this presented itself in how best to make the tree realistic, yet also practical enough to withstand interactions with the actors. The solution the team arrived at was to clad the frame with EVA foam that was scored with a cheese grater, then painted to achieve the authentic bark texture that Jeremy Allen’s design specified." The trees we’ve built in the past have been quite stylised, so this was a new challenge to see how far we could push it for realism," says Lowe.
Adinolfi and Lowe, both graduates of NIDA’s Props course, concur they relish in the opportunity to take on makes that can push their skillset, and turn objects into something they are not always designed for. Lowe, with a keen interest in period props and Adinolfi, who loves all things abstract. Adinolfi says her love of creating began at an early age: "I started doing woodwork when I was in high school. I was always painting and building. Then I got involved in theatre in Melbourne and it kind of went from there. I just love making stuff, and pulling things apart. It's a pretty fun job."
We would like to thank all the generous donors who allow us to employ the specialised craftspeople who bring our productions to life.