11 Jun 2024
Cardboard boxes labelled ‘False Teeth [Sets of]’ and ‘Victorian Xmas decorations’, folders packed with magazines from the ‘50s and ‘60s, a bristle of walking sticks and a phalanx of swords, false flowers and vintage furniture, vases, goblets, crockery, keys, and even a severed head…
It’s amazing what you can find at the Abbey Theatre.
Putting on one of the Company of Ten’s acclaimed productions involves a lot more than actors learning their lines, and as readers will have seen in a previous article, even the stage fights and stunts require special training from a professional instructor.
But what about the sets and the props which bring a play to life? What happens when you need a particular period feature to bring that necessary realism to the stage?
Enter Anthea Buxton, who holds the keys to the theatre’s secret stores of perfect props, and is making the final touches to WWII D-Day drama Pressure ahead of its current run.
The production includes copies of 1940s meteorological instruments, including a particular type of barometer, period telephones and genuine weather maps for the D-Day landings.
Some of these items have been taken from storage, others have been repurposed from donations like the painted garden stepladders, while the more unusual have been made from scratch by the theatre workshop.
“All this paperwork we have put together, the lamps come from the theatre stores, but we beg, borrow and steal from anybody who is prepared to let us really,” Anthea explained.
The stage is dominated by a huge map showing the weather for June 5 1944: “This is an actual copy. This is the one that made them decide to change the date of the landing.”
“The designer, Dennis, got the maps from the government, and we’ve even found a letter that the woman assistant to Ike has written in case the D-Day landing didn’t work.”
Pressure focuses on General Eisenhower’s choice between two weather predictions for the day of the invasion: an American celebrity weatherman said it would be sunshine, while a British meteorological officer for the Allied forces said a storm was on its way.
“My dad went over on D-Day, so I’m particularly interested in this show,” she adds.
Moving backstage, and the first hints of the theatre’s vast props repertoire come into view, items collected over years and years and stored away for the right production. Anthea unlocks a series of cupboards, each containing a treasure trove of knick-knacks and ephemera.
‘Kidneys’ reads one label.
“It’s surprising how often that stuff comes out!” Anthea reveals.
She explains how she joined the theatre when she was 17, and is 78 this year, but has always been involved with backstage activities rather than treading the boards herself.
“It’s been a long time. I mean, there were years when I didn’t do so much, obviously, and I’ve not just done props, I’ve done all sorts of other stuff as well, but I have to say, I do enjoy it.
“It’s like three months out of your life really. We start with the script from the director, and you go through it and start making your lists. You might think ‘Whoops, those are going to be tricky to find!’ depending on the production.
“When we realise we haven’t got something, the first thing I would do is put a message in our monthly magazine. That’s how I got the stepladders, and when we did Parfumerie I needed loads of bottles and things for that. The members are great, they dig into their own stores and come up with stuff, and then after that you either see if you can make it or you see if you can hunt it out in charity shops or the like.”
Further down the winding corridor are the aforementioned walking sticks and swords, just a few feet away from various fake guns, all kept under lock and key for obvious reasons.
“A whole cacophony of things. Some of them are genuine, you know,” Anthea says.
We move down some stairs into the basement, home to a phenomenal collection of items, which Anthea proceeds to highlight as we meander through the aisles, including different period furniture, various desks and assorted bedsteads.
“Down here we have like small stuff like coins, money from all sorts of countries and old lighters and old dressing table sets. I did have to print out some Hungarian notes for Parfumerie…”
The attention to detail is remarkable, but Anthea says this is crucial to the believability of a production and the experiences of the actors on stage: “There’s something about handling a genuine prop that makes it feel more real. You can get away with a bit… You can’t get away with so much in the studio, of course, because you’re that much nearer to the audience.
“So we’ll have a bit of a rummage here and see what we can find.
“People do give us stuff, you know, but the problem is room, and very often we’ll only take it if it’s a better version of something we’ve already got or there is something else we can part with. More contemporary stuff, of course, people have got in their own homes, so you don’t have the same issues. It’s the other stuff really.
“There is a lot that goes into a show, I’m very glad that we do 10 day runs to make it all worthwhile!”
Performances of Pressure take place on the Abbey Theatre Main Stage on June 11-15 at 8pm. Book tickets at www.abbeytheatre.org.uk or call the box office on 01727 857861.
