Nuns, Guns and Army Boots

Posted on August 24, 2014 Updated on August 24, 2014

3MT Backstage Blog
Nuns, Guns and Army Boots.
They used to say the job isn’t finished until the paperwork is done. In the case of 3MT, the production isn’t over until the props and costumes have been cleaned and put away ready for the tour. This sometimes includes a few things that you wouldn’t want to leave on a bus! The recent production of ‘Point of Departure’ was set in the imaginary West African republic of ‘Khoto’ and Nathan, our Marketing bod designed a flag that convinced several visitors that they had actually been there. British Army uniforms for ‘Taylor’ (Aj Akande) and ‘Collins’ (Nik Grundison) washed and packed away in the suitcase belonging to ‘Jimmy Rourke’ (Aiden J. Harvey) designed by Nathan and ‘weathered’ by Gina using the ‘teabag’ technique she perfected in her Stage Management days. The only thing that won’t go in the case are Aj’s size 11 boots. Proper kit they are, from Mashed on the second floor here at Afflecks. It’s really handy having Afflecks upstairs; we can usually find what we need, whether it’s an used 7.62mm brass cartridge case or a pair of UV contact lenses for the Demon in ‘Before Juliet’.
The only things we couldn’t get from Afflecks were the guns used in the production, Aj’s Colt pistol and Nik’s AK47 (which I might add she became a little too attached to!) These are now safely locked away where they belong, although they’ll be out again soon if all goes to plan…
‘Point of Departure’ was my first attempt at a theatre piece ‘in the round’, although we had to stage it end on at 3MT, but all the sound effects were in our home made version of ‘surround sound’. The basic form was classic Greek Tragedy, with all the elements being translated into modern practice: the unseen ‘Billy Singh’ reporting the approaching catastrophe from the control tower (the top of the skene) and a reverse ‘Deus Ex Machina’ with the villain escaping in a stolen aircraft. The basic premise was the continuation of the cycle of oppression with each character reliving their trauma in flashback with the help of the other two (Nik played the nun, not very Greek I know) and a not very happy ending. It was fairly well received and the feedback from the audiences and reviewers will be fed into the re-write planned for next month.
In the meantime, on with the next job: backstage clear out (ruthless) and install the recording studio. All I’ve got to do is find my tools under the piles of theatrical debris.

Links to review

And another one  http://www.thesalfordian.co.uk/2014/08/theatre-production-review-point-departure/

Just one more http://manchestertheatreawards.com/reviews/522-point-of-departure-three-minute-theatre