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Anecdotes from our time working in theatre; advice about sourcing certain props; or chats with prop makers
We are starting to compile packages for various Musicals and Plays. As we complete each one we will showcase them here.
Our first one is for the Frank Wildhorn and Leslie Bricusse production of Jekyll and Hyde.
This is a musical that can challenge many a props department with the requirements for a Laboratory and many a gruesome death.
Within our collection are an array of items that can be used throughout this production. We've tried to give as many options as possible to satisfy the director and designer's needs.
There’s obviously a bit of a crossover here with our JEWELLERY/ ACCESSORIES / PERSONALS collection, but we did want to group together a rather nice line up of vintage perfume sprays, trinket dishes and brush mirror sets – as well as a few objets for the discerning gentleman.
We have a range of candelabras and candle sticks, and various of these group together style-wise, so please do ask if you are looking for a job lot for a larger space. The majority of ours are repro, and so if you are looking for even greater numbers for a very big table, you will probably find ours match a lot of other places as well.
As people have been working for a living in pretty much every period of time and not just necessarily in offices, our range of items here is equally diverse (and we’re still cataloguing)- and there’s probably a fair amount of overlap with other collections such as laptops in AUDIO/VIDEO/ TV, or briefcases in CASES / TRUNKS/ BAGS. In this category we’ve tried to group together those objects which have a functional purpose (ie not primarily ornamental).
Apparently what people put on their shelves for display (IRL as well as for zoom background purposes) is deeply revealing of their self. (Tamsin read an article on the Guardian about this, so must be a thing, right?) Obviously most props supervisors / ASMs are going to well duh in response to that- the right objects- whether they are dressing or practical- can pull together a designed space, punctuate a dramatic moment or simply add the detail that makes the stage action feel real.
It may just be us, but we’re rather mourning the departure of Wilko from high streets near us in respect of good quality artificial flowers and foliage. But The little props store is standing by with a load of florabundance ready to be given some stage time. We have a range of ready tied posies/bouquets, potted arrangements and arrangeable stems- as well as some garlands and table decorations.
Obviously a living room or a drawing room can vary massively in terms of contents according to period and what people are doing in them. In this collection we’ve included some rather lovely tea related items in terms of china tea sets, servers and stands (and you might also want to check out food dressing for this aspect) but we’ve also thought about the activity in the social leisure space- so some of our radios might also be useful to consider for period pieces ( see the audio/visual/computing collection)
So apparently there was a time when not everyone had a smartphone… We’ve hung onto what seems like a ludicrous amount of mobiles, as well as some quite authentic period telephony. Some of our mobile items are ex display manufacturer dummies- everything about the weight and style of the model is accurate but they have a fake screen-, some are actual old phones, and some are non branded models.
In developing catalogue sections for this website we spent some time working out criteria, and we sort of came back to the spaces in which you were most likely to find things – so what you might find in here might primarily be found in a dining room, but obviously trays are quite literally portable across multiple spaces... If you are needing to put together a splendid dinner table, then you may also want to have a look at candelabras/candlesticks, and the food dressing for centre pieces (and indeed plants/flowers/ garden)
We've quite a lot of jewellery in the catalogue, much of which is intended for dressing (padding out jewellry boxes) rather than personal's design-- though obviously if you have designers who want to use these that's great- any items which are not wearable are flagged accordingly. (wearable means any clasp is functional and in a logical place - ie back of the neck for a necklace)
We have some really great replica food stuffs in the catalogue which we have consolidated into platters and groups- on the basis that it seems most unlikely that ANYONE will want to hire one lettuce leaf or 4 cherries for a week...
A lot of the silverware (well EPNS but who's counting) we retain will not come out to you highly polished. This isn't just because we are lazy (well, Tamsin is) for the most part it's because highly reflective material on stage or on screen can cause an issue lighting wise (and also within catalogue shots!). A lot of the shots of silverware on the website look very yellow in the photos, please do ask on the selection form if you want to check the finish.
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