Photo Karen Graham. Theatre members watch the first time the new set is given a whirl during a rehearsal for the second play of the season, entitled Jim Watts: Girl Reporter.
Opening Night for the second production of the 2024 season at the 4th Line Theatre features the world premiere of Beverley Cooper’s “Jim Watts: Girl Reporter”.
This play explores the experience of Canadian youth who travelled to Spain during the mid-1930’s to fight fascism which was taking hold across Europe at the time. Jean ‘Jim’ Watts was the only woman to join Canada’s regiment in Spain, the MacKenzie-Papineaus. These volunteers had to travel under false pretenses after the Canadian Parliament made it illegal to volunteer in a foreign war.
The action takes place in many different locations, beginning in Toronto and moving to Madrid, following political turmoil in rallies and battlefields in Spain.
The job of the Set Designer is to create an environment that takes the audience to the location of the action. For this play, Michelle Chesser used historical photographs as her inspiration to reflect conditions in Madrid during this challenging period, including recreations of war-time posters, makeshift living quarters made of cobblestones “borrowed” from the streets and other meagre supplies. The set is also dominated by a reconstruction of a well-known stone arch from the area.
Given the diversity of the settings in this production, having a flexible stage to bring the audience along as the action changed locations was a challenge. Michelle was looking to present these diverse settings in a convincing way while respecting the budget constraints of summer theatre productions.
After seeing a performance using a revolving set, both Michelle and Managing Artistic Director Kim Blackwell thought this device might add a new dynamic to this production. Creating the feature highlighted some of the many challenges of set design in outdoor theatre.
Michelle set about building a revolving stage, called a “revolve” for this production. These are mechanically-controlled turntables that spin in front of the audience to change background settings. Revolve sets often have walls, so an entire scene location can be changed with the rotation of the floor. This particular version has no walls, making it a more flexible stage device. Sometimes the performers use the rotation to emphasize their own movements, while at other times the rotation signifies a changing scene. To complete the scene transformation, actors and staff switch up props including light furniture pieces which are readily accessible on the stage area- some on hooks on the barn wall.
Michelle describes working in an indoor venue as having a black box where conditions are controlled or controllable, including light and temperature. Weather conditions are a constant participant in outdoor productions, and accommodating them eliminates many mechanical and technological tools, including most electrical devices like motors and microphones. This turntable would have be powered manually.
Movement of the device is controlled by two individuals pushing poles inserted into slots in the floor. As users soon discovered, they must face in opposite directions or they find themselves pushing against each other. Basic castors under the top section of the stage allow the platform to turn. As long as the wheels are facing the right way, things turn smoothly and relatively quietly- no motor hum. Manual brakes ensure rotation only occurs when required. The revolve is beautiful as well as functional. The floor surface is decorated with a stenciled floor designed by Michelle based on a Moorish tile pattern representative of the style of the time.
Given the size of this stage, building and painting the device was a challenge as there was no indoor location large enough to accommodate it. Its final assembly and testing had to wait until completion of the first play, leaving just over a week to assemble, test and fine tune this pivotal feature in the set. Happily, it performed beautifully on its first try, leaving it to Director Kim Blackwell a week to explore ways to use this new tool to enhance the drama on stage.
As with most 4th Line Theatre productions, this play features some local heroes, including Peterborough native Jim Higgins – union organizer and hero – who figures prominently in the story. A more distant but perhaps better known character in the play is Gravenhurst native Dr. Norman Bethune.
Performances of Jim Watts: Girl Reporter begin this week. Tickets, gift certificates and snack boxes for 4th Line Theatre productions can be purchased by phone at 705-932-444, online at www.4thlinetheatre.on.ca , or at 4th Line Theatre’s Box Office at 9 Tupper Street, Millbrook. KG