Stories

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’s 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’Brien 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? “You 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!”

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? “I’ve 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.”

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’s one reason why it’s so exciting: “my side of things was more construction, but, funnily enough I’ve come to the Rep and I’m down in Soft Props. Today I’m sewing up pillow cases, yesterday I was sewing feather boas to a table cloth, and tomorrow I’m making shower curtains, so I never know what they’re going to ask me to do from one day to the next!”

Every day brings a new challenge

It can be quite a challenge bringing to life the creations that spring from playwrights’ 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: “The people here are just so nice. If they don’t know how to do something and I don’t know how to do something, then we work it out together, which is great!”

Rep workshop

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

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

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. “It’s a children’s show, the set is very textural, there are feathers, there’s jelly and there are real strawberries.”

Rep Children’s Project

This is the fourth production to come out of the Rep Children’s 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, “Everybody has been through here. The fact that this producing house is here and I can work for it is just absolutely amazing, it’s such an important theatre, to me anyway! There are so many opportunities, and it’s ideally placed. I can still juggle working here and getting all the experience that is helping me to become a better theatre designer, that’s what it’s about for me really.”