Park Opera is lucky to have a dedicated team of backstage members, who work together to ensure that our productions achieve the highest standards of technical support.

Sets

Our sets are designed by Keith Ward, who also overviews their construction. He is ably supported by Bob Moore, Pat and Brian Leigh, Tony Bentley, John Marshall and Alex Dickson, who is also our Stage Manager. The sets are built on Saturdays in the Technology Department of a local school, ready to be erected in the Wilde Theatre on the Sunday before each production, with great support from other members of the Society including Bill Vallance, Tim Marshall, John Marshall, Tony Welsh, Adrian Taylor and others.

The sets are painted initially in the school, but need to be finished in situ. A team of enthusiastic and mainly amateur painters include regular contributions from Sallie Ward, Sue and Claude Lawrence, Sara Bowring, Adrian Taylor and Sian Pearson. Clifford King paints much of the detail.

New members of our backstage team are warmly welcomed; please contact Keith Ward on 01753 854093 or by email drjkward@aol.com.

Choreography

Many of our productions are enhanced by movement and dancing. We have been fortunate to work with The Susan Handy School of Dancing whose Principal, Susan Handy, has choreographed several of our productions, notably Hansel and Gretel , for which Susan Handy produced a ballet of fourteen angels for 15 minutes, and was one of the highlights of the performance.

Members of our chorus enjoy the challenge of performing sometimes quite complicated dances, and this was the case in Eugene Onégin , when Dawn Thompson direted a lively Russian peasant dance and a stately minuet which were described in a review as "lively and wittily managed" and "particularly inspired."

Recently, our dancing has been choreographed by Lucy Dickson, a member of the chorus. A pupil of Susan Handy, Lucy has been singing and dancing in our productions since she was five in 1987. Lucy has been responsible for the choreography of A Masked Ball (in which the ball scene was described as "memorable and beautifully choreographed"), The Queen of Spades ("The choreography in this performance was simply astonishing, perhaps most impressively in the lovely masque, with its classic shepherds and shepherdesses"), and most recently La Traviata ("We also enjoyed the gypsy dancers, they too were clearly both trained and experienced dancers who brought a light hearted touch to the opera: congratulations to Lucy Dickson who both danced and choreographed").

If you are interested in dancing in our productions, please contact Lucy Dickson on lvkdickson@aol.com.

Properties

Each production requires a huge variety of furniture and hand props, ranging from desks and thrones to daggers and candelabra. Some of our props are hired, many more are begged, borrowed and hunted for in charity shops and antique markets by Vanessa Pleace, Linda Peacock, Sue Turner and Hilary Male, who are experts at finding just the right object to satisfy the demands of the Producer.

Wardrobe

Many costumes are hired, but for some shows it is necessary to make certain items. For example, for Faust our costume department made thirty angel robes; for Aida the lady principals’ and the dancers’ costumes were all made, and in Queen of Spades all the Russian peasant costumes, including the headdresses were provided by our Wardrobe team. Diana Bateman, Gill Oldridge and Sue Turner work tirelessly to make these beautiful contributions, but would welcome any one who has an interest in costumes. Please contact Keith Ward as above.

Lighting

This often underrated, and vitally important aspect of production, is in the capable hands of Michael Taylor and Oliver Welsh, who work in co-operation with the set builders to set-up a complete lighting rig in one day – on the Sunday before the production.

Make-up

Elaine Hawkes has been responsible for make-up for many years. She specialises in character and historical make-ups; she is ably supported by Linda Peacock, Sara Bowring, Rowena Welsh and Sue Moore.

Posters and Website

Two young graphic designers are responsible for Park Opera’s posters and website. Tom Ward has designed our posters since he was a teenager. The website was designed by Asha Gilbert and is maintained by Keith Ward.