Holding Up the Queue

Theatre designer Christopher Oram is next in the queue joining Simon and author & illustrator Brian Selznick in part 2 of episode 5

From childhood influences to a stellar career designing for the theatre, Christopher discusses how he has come full circle. Creating imaginary worlds as a kid dreaming of Star Wars to creating the fantasy fairytale on stage for Disney’s Frozen, the Musical.

His acclaimed work on the play Peter & Alice by John Logan – a fictitious encounter based on the literary characters namesakes meeting in Bumpus Bookshop uses the device of a toy theatre proscenium to transport the audience into Neverland.

Costumes, lighting, sets. Christopher explains how ‘you cheat to tell the truth on stage’ as a theatre designer and Simon learns about whether you can reinvent the wheel when it comes to designing one of the most anticipated UK theatrical openings this decade. Frozen the Musical opens at the Drury Lane Theatre, Covent Garden in October 2020.

PETER AND ALICE by Logan, , Writer – John Logan, Director – Michael Grandage, Designer – Christopher Oram, Lighting designer – Paule Constable, Composer – Adam Cork, Michael Grandage Company, 2013, Credit: Johan Persson – www.perssonphotography.com

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Toy theatre from the publicity animation for The Marvels by Brian Selznick

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Holding Up the Queue with Simon this episode is Clive Hicks-Jenkins, an artist who has retained that essential spark of playfulness from childhood. Leaving his parents in Wales aged 12 to travel to the bright lights of London, Clive embarked on his metaphorical journey “from the forest to the fantastical”.

Simon and Clive meander and muse on puppetry, the folk toy aesthetic that inspired his Hansel & Gretel toy theatre for Pollocks and popular culture. The conversational walk through the Tyrol to the fairground finishes with why the British love “villainry” and its roots in the theatre, pantomime, music hall and Punch & Judy…

And the moral of the story is – always remember the breadcrumbs to find your way back home  (remember your roots and what inspired you as a child in your creative journey)

Clive Hicks-Jenkins is a Welsh artist, choreographer, puppeteer, and theatre designer.

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Simon and artist Charlotte Cory embark on a spirited discussion on anthropomorphism – from Victorian taxidermy tableaus to the transformative power of play and illustration. These absurd worlds, populated by anthropomorphic inhabitants can help to encourage confidence in children and a sense of liberated perception of others through “pure fantasy”.

Charlotte Cory certainly knows how to hold up a queue. An artist, writer and raconteuse Charlotte Cory tells the story of The Grand Visitoria for Benjamin Pollock’s Toyshop through a cast of characters from her ‘wholly believable’ post Darwinian universe.

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Close your eyes and picture a box that contains a world of magical wonders. A fantastical machine imbued with enchantments powered to life by the imagination and dreams of the seeker, searching for answers to lost and hidden questions, held crystallised like a beating heart within its four walls.

This is no ordinary box, but the gilded miniature stage of childhood, the toy theatre, and the curtain is about to go up for the performance of a pantomime of transformation….

“The harlequinade!”

In the first episode of Holding Up The Queue from Benjamin Pollock’s Toyshop, join Simon to hear about the Harlequinade, how it influenced what we know as pantomime, and a discussion about their mutual fascination of toy theatres with expert Alan Powers.

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