Theatrical props: basic items and their production

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

What does it take to make a good performance? Undoubtedly, the play with which the work will be carried out, the director, talented actors … But the impression will not be complete without another important component - theatrical props, which will help make the action more lively, natural, filled. After all, sometimes it is small, seemingly insignificant details that are decisive for the transfer of meaning or for the perception of a work. At the same time, very, very few viewers realize how much work is behind these seemingly simple items.

Definition

First of all, we need to define what theatrical props and props are. In general, props are a collection of items needed by the actors on the stage in the course of the action. At the same time, these items can be both real, genuine, and artificial or fake. In addition, outgoing theatrical props are also distinguished, which include food, drinks, tobacco and other things used during the performance, not reusable. On my ownprops can be either part of the stage decoration (furniture, dishes, household utensils) or an addition to the stage costume (bags, wallets, hats, umbrellas, etc.).

Procurement shop

Since the props in the theater are far from a one-time thing, it becomes necessary to organize their storage, as well as care, which will allow skillfully made costume details, interior elements and cutlery to remain intact and safe and appear in more than one performance. Employees of this workshop, called props, prepare the items necessary for staging, and also store what is left of old performances, if necessary, modifying and updating individual elements, or creating new ones.

Production of theatrical props

The main task when creating an item is to make it look as close as possible to the original product. At the same time, viewers often do not realize that the "appearance" of the prop item and its "content" have nothing in common. Here are some common but no less interesting examples:

• Thick utensils, such as jugs, are often made from papier-mâché. In addition, plexiglass can be used for this purpose.
• Great-looking guns made of blued steel often turn out to be simple wood, only smooth polished and carefully rubbed with graphite powder extracted from the most commonsoft graphite pencils.
• The bookshelves on stage are usually filled with whole book blocks made of cardboard and covered with dyed cloth. Such blocks are quite light and allow you to easily move "filled with books" racks.
• Stage vegetation is made of metal (usually malleable but strong enough wire or thin metal tubes and cloth).
• "Crystal" chandeliers richly decorated with pendants actually turn out to be made entirely of metal - "crystals" made of tinplate hang on a metal base.
• Polyfoam and foam rubber are quite actively used in the manufacture of food, especially when it comes to bakery products, as well as sculptures, carvings on furniture, individual architectural details.
• Masses of glue, flour, gypsum, chalk, paper are used in the manufacture of finishing elements for weapons, dishes, furniture, "cooking" fake cakes, giving the surface the necessary relief. In addition, such masses, called mastics, are used in the manufacture of orders and similar items.

In general, the materials used to make props are quite diverse, their choice is limited only by the imagination of the props and the budget of the theater.

Conclusion

Undoubtedly, theater is first and foremost a skill. The skill of actors, the skill of directors and playwrights. But the impression of this skill will beincomplete without one more specialist - props, whose hands are able to create the very detail that radically changes the impression of what he sees and cuts into memory, becoming a "trick" of a particular role or an actor. And, like for many theater people, the professional holiday for props and props is March 27, when Theater Day is celebrated.