What is needed for a good performance? Undoubtedly, the play with which the work will be conducted, the director, talented actors ... But the impression will not be complete without another important component - theatrical props, which will help to make the action more lively, natural, filled. Indeed, sometimes it is small, seemingly insignificant details that are decisive for conveying meaning or for perceiving a work. At the same time, very, very few viewers realize how much work is behind these seemingly simple objects.
Definition
To begin with, we need to determine what are the subjects of theatrical props and props. In general, props are the totality of objects needed by actors on the stage in the course of action. At the same time, these items can be either real, genuine, or artificial or fake. In addition, they also distinguish outgoing theater props, which include food, drinks, tobacco and other things used during the performance, not reusable. Props per se can be either part of the decoration of the stage (furniture, dishes, household utensils), or an addition to the stage costume (bags, wallets, hats, umbrellas, etc.).
Requisite workshop
Since the requisite in the theater is far from being a one-time thing, there is a need to organize its storage, as well as care, which will allow the skillfully executed details of costumes, interior elements and cutlery to remain intact and intact and appear in more than one performance. The employees of this workshop, called the requisites, are engaged in the preparation of the items necessary for staging, and also store what is left of the old performances, if necessary, refining and updating individual elements, or creating new ones.
Production of theatrical props
The main task when creating the item is to give it an appearance that is as similar as possible to the original product. At the same time, viewers often do not realize that the "appearance" of the subject of props and "its content" have nothing in common. Here are some common, but no less interesting examples:
- Volumetric utensils, such as jugs, are often made of papier-mâché. In addition, for this purpose it is possible to use plexiglass.
- A spectacular-looking blued steel weapon often turns out to be a simple tree, only smoothly polished and carefully rubbed with graphite powder, obtained from the most ordinary soft graphite pencils.
- Bookshelves located on the stage are usually filled with whole book blocks made of cardboard and pasted over with painted fabric. Such blocks are quite light and allow you to easily move “shelves full of books”.
- Stage vegetation is made of metal (most often pliable, but sufficiently strong wire or thin metal tubes and fabric).
- “Crystal” chandeliers richly decorated with pendants actually turn out to be made entirely of metal - metal lenses 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, and individual architectural details.
- Masses of glue, flour, gypsum, chalk, paper are used in the manufacture of decoration elements for weapons, dishes, furniture, "preparation" of 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 for the production of 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 mastery. The skill of actors, the skill of directors and playwrights. But the impression of this skill will be incomplete without one more specialist - a prop, whose hands are able to create the very detail that fundamentally changes the impression of what he saw and cuts into memory, becoming the "chip" of one or another role or one or another actor. And, like for many theater people, for props and props, the professional holiday is March 27, when the Theater Day is celebrated.