It Must Be Catching...

[Chris]

<img src="images/llysmadoc3.jpg" align="left">This refurbishment business must be catching and I must have caught the bug. My theatre foyer has been cluttered with electric drill, sewing machine, timber and bits galore as I tackled the business of doing-up one of my booths.

This was an Eric Sharp style panel booth, a sturdy build but I had never liked the proscenium. Because these booths are narrower than usual any form of wing or side panel to the proscenium reduces the acting area considerably. If you have biggish puppets like mine then this becomes very restricting.

On an earlier booth, over twenty years ago I guess, I had solved the problem by substituting pillars for the side panels. This had worked very well since it gave a useful prop for a puppet to peer around, and also gave a much wider audience view. This was additional to what I judged a more aesthetically pleasing appearance.<br clear="left">
<img src="images/oldprosnewpros.jpg" align="right">I decided to do the same with this. As far as I know this is an original idea, the only other person I know to have used pillars was Billy Wand and his was after seeing a picture of mine I believe. Actually I originally used this style of proscenium on a model for a mediæval wagon stage I designed for a project while in college - many, many years ago!<br clear="right">