Hamlet (Cockpit Theatre)

Hamlet,

at the Cockpit Theatre

I had the privilege of being assistant designer for a production of Hamlet, performed at the Cockpit theatre. It was very low budget which ultimately made it more enjoyable and widened the need to be creative.

For want of money to buy a science lab skull, I made one out of paper. It was based on an idea the director had whilst thinking about modern sculpture. The whole thing had to be sculpted through trial and error by being mocked up in brown paper.

Sourcing the costumes for this production was challenging because lots of the actors were playing multiple roles so had to go through lots of costume changes. We decided to use modern materials like denim and knits, and shortening the trousers to create a non-specific period costume image. The overall style was monochromatic.

Until the last minute we had planed to put the ghost of Hamlet's father in a fencing suit - we still had him wearing a fencing mask. The 'troop of actors' Hamlet hires in the play were modelled loosely around Charlie Chaplin's costume - lots of loose waistcoats and baggy trousers.

The whole set design was made up of the actors moving tables around artistically onto places marked with tape. It was all originally planned out using matchboxes.