Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Sydney Musical Theatre
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was a huge show to take on as my first ever solo production design. It was a lot of fun making and designing so many fantastical props and costumes, but also challenging to design and construct a set for a professional sized theatre. But ultimately, all the elements turned out to blend seamlessly - effectively bringing Wonka’s world to life which was satisfying to see.
Progress
Set Design
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is no doubt a sensational musical which calls for a lot of effort and creativity in bringing the story to life. Since it was my first ever production design, I decided on a simple yet effective backdrop accompanied by various set pieces and an LED screen.
Two of the most important set pieces in this production were the Bucket shack and Wonka’s candy shop as they were on stage for almost the entirety of act 1. I wanted both these pieces to look as though they were taken out of a story book and was able to achieve this with the help of the production team. Not to mention the countless other props and set pieces which served a purpose for each of the scenes in act 2. These include the chocolate room, mixing room, nut room, Wonkavision, and great glass elevator - which was built onto a manual hydraulic lift, elevating the actors 1 metre above the stage.
The LED screen was the centerpiece of the large backdrop and it really tied the scenery together. I felt that I could definitely rely on the graphics since I had a lot more experience in animation and video editing before doing this production. Each graphic was simple and storybook-like to highlight the actors and bring each scene to life. It worked perfectly for all the scenes as we matched the lighting on the scrim behind the backdrop for both outdoor and in-factory scenes.
