Cinderella

Props | Scenic Art | Castings | Soft Props

The ventriloquist dummy was based on the Look North newscaster, Harry Gration and was used by Berwick Kaler in The York Theatre Royal Pantomime’s ‘Cinderella’ and ‘Sinbad’2006 and 2007. He was a mixture of wooden structures, fibreglass and metal hinges and springs with a face made from latex . Berwick Kaler also had his face cast for the lifesize dummy of his character dame for the marketing for Cinderella.

Sinbad

Props | Scenic Art | Castings | Soft Props

‘Sinbad’ was York Theatre Royal’s 2007 pantomime. The Whale was sculpted out of polystyrene and covered in fabric then mounted onto a truck. He winked his eye, waved his flipper and moved his tail. The octopus was sculpted out of polystyrene and his eyes rolled. He was textured with foamcoat then painted. Beckie carved the rocks from polystyrene and mounted them onto trucks, scrimed them then painted them. The centre piece is a round section that ‘rolls’ away to reveal a secret cave entrance. The designer Phil Daniels completed the scenic art on the rocks

Shraddha

Props | Scenic Art | Castings | Soft Props

The rabbit, a prop used in Soho Theatre’s 2009 production of ‘Shraddha’, was a mixture of sculpted and cast body parts rather than a whole rabbit body, to keep the movement free. All his internal organs were made separately as he had to have his heart ripped out after being gutted. He also had a pump and bulb of blood inside his body as he was to squirt blood once the actor started to skin the rabbit. This was to be refilled every night by the Stage Manager.

Pilot

Props | Scenic Art | Castings | Soft Props

The cod fillets were props for ‘East is East’, produced in 2006 by Pilot Theatre Company with York Theatre Royal. They were to behave like uncooked cod fillets and were a mixture of fabrics and latex. The bricks were props for ‘Sing Yer Heart Out For The Lads’ 2007; a Pilot Theatre and York Theatre Royal collaboration again. They were made out of rubber as they had to be thrown through a window from offstage. The original conch shell had a mould taken from it in silicone, owing to the many levels of undercuts and then cast in a polyurethane resin. They were then painted and varnished by Beckie. Six were made in total for the 2008 Pilot production of ‘Lord of the Flies’

Riding Lights

Props | Scenic Art | Castings | Soft Props

Riding Lights Theatre Company worked in partnership with York Theatre Royal on a 2008 production of ‘Three Men in a Boat’ and the 2007 production of ‘African Snow’ In this section the pictures show the prop cheeses for ‘Three Men in a Boat’ made by Beckie. They are sculpted out of polystyrene, textured and painted. The horrific mask is a replica of a 19century slave mussel worn on the ships by the cook so they could not ‘steal’ any of the food they prepared. It was sculpted and cast with silicone and made out of resin and leather. This was a prop for ‘African Snow’.

Pinocchio/Bouncers/ Cloud Nine

Props | Scenic Art | Castings | Soft Props

The guts and fish were cast for York Theatre Royal’s 2007 co-production of ‘Pinocchio'. The noses were also for this production; they were made out of rubber, cast in silicone painted and textured. The space helmets were props made for York Theatre Royal’s 2007 production of ‘Bouncers’.The full body cast in the audience seating was actually of Beckie’s assistant Jodi. The piece was a studio show by Cloud Nine called ‘The Steal’ based on Antony Gormley’s 2003 exhibition ‘Domain Field’, where he took full body casts of 287 local residents from which to make his welded sculptures

Various casting

Props | Scenic Art | Castings | Soft Props

The beans were cast for Berwick Kaler’s 2001 ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ pantomime, as were the hands. The ‘bone flute’ was for the ‘Yorvick Project’ in York, cast in polyurethane resin

Cowardly Lion's Medal of Courage

Props | Scenic Art | Castings | Soft Props

This was a private commission for a copy of the Cowardly Lion's Medal from the film of The Wizard of Oz. It is a resin cold cast from a fibreglass mould of a clay sculpted original.

Props | Scenic Art | Castings | Soft Props

Props | Scenic Art | Castings | Soft Props