January 07 Mask Making for His Dark Materials Part 1
Peer Productions Youth Theatre have been spending some mucky Sundays with professional prop and mask maker Claire Barr. Claire is helping director Nina Lemon with preparations for their epic upcoming production of His Dark Materials which runs at the Rhoda McGaw theatre in Woking from February 21st – 24th with performances nightly at 7.30 pm.
“With a production of this scale the logistics are sometimes daunting.” said Nina, “We have more than ninety young people in the cast and crew, sixty masked characters, countless special effects and a split level set. We thought it would be a good experience for the youth theatre members to learn how to make their own masks and they seem to be enjoying it immensely.”
The masks are built on clay moulds (also made by the children) out of muslin and then built on using a mixture of clay and mod-rock. Every masked character also has a head-piece custom made on which the masks are mounted. The final process is to give them shadows and tones with a mixture of normal and UV paint. The end result promises to be spectacular.
His Dark Materials, based on the Philip Pullman trilogy and adapted for the National Theatre, is, according to producer Jason Orbaum “a magical work of parallel worlds, ghosts and deamons. However, at the heart of it is this incredible human story about girl called Lyra and her mysterious parentage. The play works on two levels: for younger audience members it’s a spectacular carnival of colour, music, and magic. Older audience members, however, will enjoy the challenging sub-text which has made the books so successful for readers of all ages.”
With a cast of more than ninety, tickets are disappearing fast. They are available now from the Ambassador’s Box Office on 01483 545900 priced at £12:50 and £10 and Peer Productions recommend booking immediately to avoid disappointment.
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