Natalie-Upon-Avon

Hiya all,
Just home from my first day at RSC, and I'm 'knackered' as they say here (tired, that is). It was really a cool place, though smaller than I expected (the size of the shop, I mean) and interestingly enough, compared to most shops in the US, the age demographic is much higher. Most of the guys there have been working at the place since they were teens, and they're all in the 40-60yr. old range, so in the next ten years I'm sure they'll have a major turn-over. Seems as if once you start at RSC, you're there for life, as compared to companies in the US where folks (esp. carpenters and people not in the higher leadership positions) move on every 5 years or so.

You enter the building and go up some stairs to the main carpentry shop. The metals shop is below, right through the entrance. Paints is behind carp. and then props is through some double doors where they've got a nice shop of their own with an office off of it and a soft-goods room for upholstery and crafts. I saw a bit of stock (GLORIOUS!) and had a quick tour and then it was off to work. I spent the morning sewing coins onto the reins for a camel....yes, you read that right. In "Love's Labours Lost" there is a bit where folks are riding in on animals (camel, leopard, elephant, and horse) and so they wear these foam/wood sorta inner-tubes around their middle with a large costume bit on top and fake legs over the sides. They were BEAUTIFULLY made, all ornately shaped from very expensive dense foam and a plywood skeleton. They each have a bit that moves (the camel has a lever to flick his tail and his head lifts up) and they really are stunning. Hopefully once the show opens they'll be a photo of them online somewhere to share.

After lunch I braided leather for several hours to make wrist-bands for 18 Morris dancing sticks. Last bit of the day I laid out some swords onto wood from a scale drawing.

First fun thing about RSC....and I guess England in general...we take tea break at 10:30, lunch at 1pm, and tea break at 3:30. In total, almost 1:40 of break time, which is a good deal more than at the Huntington (1 hour there, 45min for lunch and 15min at 3pm).

Second fun thing...so when I was packing a map, my mom said to me: don't worry if you get lost, at least they speak English there. True, but it is still taking some time for my brain to adjust to this accent of English! There are folks from all over the country at RSC, and I can understand some better than others. I think my boss is from Birmingham (that's my guess) and there are times where I have to pay very close attention to decifer his meaning. He also talks/sings to himself most of the day, or chatters to you as he works ("That looks about right, eh Natalie?") so half the time it's nonsense and it doesn't matter what he actually is saying, so I just nod and smile and say "yeah" a lot! Today, he said to me "Do you know how to plate?" (or at least that's what I heard!). He was working with a router, so I said, "Oh, like router?" and he looked confused and said "no, plate, like you plate your hair." Then I realized he was saying "plait", as in "braid" and I was like "oh, yeah of course!" He showed me how to set it up and such, which wasn't needed (I'm a champion braider!) but after my look of stupidity as he said "plait," I can imagine he thought I was a bit dim for a second! haha

That's all for now. Don't know what tomorrow brings, but we'll see. It's a long walk to work (about 15-20min) so I'll try to get to bed early. I may walk down to the market and get some more snacks....I don't think I bought enough at Tesco (certainly not enough for breakfasts, anyway...what was I thinking, bypassing all the cereals/oatmeals?!)


Some pictures of the props shop, from RSC's Open House tour:
The dead pheasants and Ophelia's flowers from another production of "Hamlet".


Isn't the phone booth so cute?! There's actually a phone in there, so you can go make a call in peace while all the tools are going. They built it, but it has parts from real old phones too.



Love,
Nat