91热爆

Since 1913, when Barry Jackson first opened the doors of Birmingham Repertory Theatre to the public, audiences have been entertained with nationally and internationally acclaimed productions.

Rachel loves being creative

While famous names on stage may draw the crowds, it鈥檚 easy to forget all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes, and it turns out that what we see from front of house is just the tip of the iceberg.

Backstage labyrinth

Backstage at the Rep is absolutely immense- an innocent looking corridor from the stage door leads off into room after room of costume departments, dressing rooms and countless other hives of activity.

Below stairs, behind a massive, noisy workshop filled with the smell of wood shavings, hung with posters of past performances, and mementos, including a Rocky doll given as a present from Richard O鈥橞rien after a successful run of Rocky Horror Picture Show, is the soft props department, where Rachel Denning is busy at work.

Props for Hapgood with Josie Lawrence

How on Earth does she find her way to work in the morning? 鈥淵ou go backstage and you suddenly hit a rabbit warren of rooms and departments, you can never get from one place to the other without getting lost!鈥�

Smell of the greasepaint

Originally from Sutton Coldfield, Rachel graduated in Theatre Design from Nottingham Trent, and has been working as a freelancer ever since. So what attracted her to this career?听 鈥淚鈥檝e loved theatre my entire life, and I wanted to get into it in some form. I love making things and being creative, so theatre design seemed like the logical choice for me.鈥�

Rachel busy in the props department

Although her course prepared her for all aspects of designing for the stage, life in the theatre is very unpredictable, and that鈥檚 one reason why it鈥檚 so exciting: 鈥渕y side of things was more construction, but, funnily enough I鈥檝e come to the Rep and I鈥檓 down in Soft Props. Today I鈥檓 sewing up pillow cases, yesterday I was sewing feather boas to a table cloth, and tomorrow I鈥檓 making shower curtains, so I never know what they鈥檙e going to ask me to do from one day to the next!鈥�

Every day brings a new challenge

It can be quite a challenge bringing to life the creations that spring from playwrights鈥� fertile imaginations, but Rachel says that working as part of the Props team to find solutions is one of the best parts of the job: 鈥淭he people here are just so nice. If they don鈥檛 know how to do something and I don鈥檛 know how to do something, then we work it out together, which is great!鈥�

Rep workshop

From the audience鈥檚 point of view, it鈥檚 hard to grasp the enormous amount of work involved in putting on a production. Rachel鈥檚 parents often come to see performances, so she knows this firsthand: 鈥淭hey sit there during the performance asking me which bit I鈥檝e done and how it鈥檚 been made. They never understood before I started this job just how much was involved in it.鈥�

Sometimes props will be cut from a performance, so there鈥檚 no point in being precious about it, but Rachel loves seeing her work on stage, 鈥淓ven if it鈥檚 a really small part, you still sit there going, 鈥渙oh, I made that!鈥� or pointing it out to people! That鈥檚 my favourite part, because all the different departments come together at that point.鈥�

Feathers, jelly and innovation

The Rep has long had a reputation for innovation, since Shakespeare plays were first performed in modern dress under Barry Jackson, and things are no different now.

Sewing feathers on a prop for Lick

Rachel has just finished constructing parts of the set for the interactive show Lick, which premieres this week. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a children鈥檚 show, the set is very textural, there are feathers, there鈥檚 jelly and there are real strawberries.鈥�

Rep Children鈥檚 Project

This is the fourth production to come out of the Rep Children鈥檚 Project, and, if past successes are anything to go by, it should be a hit with kids and parents. Following its weeklong run at the Rep, it will be touring schools in the area.

For her part, Rachel hopes her run at the Rep will be a long one, 鈥淓verybody has been through here. The fact that this producing house is here and I can work for it is just absolutely amazing, it鈥檚 such an important theatre, to me anyway! There are so many opportunities, and it鈥檚 ideally placed. I can still juggle working here and getting all the experience that is helping me to become a better theatre designer, that鈥檚 what it鈥檚 about for me really.鈥�