Travels of a Scenic Artist and Scholar: England and Wales, 2024.

Copyright © 2024 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

You may have noticed that it has been a while since my last post.

When I’m not on the road for work, my life consists of scenery preservation, presentations, master classes, writing, scenic design, art, and caretaking (people, places and things). I wrote a similar statement last year, about the same time.

I just returned from a trip to England and Wales. The impetus for my travel began last fall at the Tyne Theatre & Opera House.

View of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne from my hotel window on July 29, 2024.

The Tyne Theatre & Opera House on July 30, 2024.

The Tyne Theatre & Opera House. Photograph by Mike Hume, August 2, 2024.

Last year, on Sept. 15, 2023, I presented a paper at an international theatre conference. 120 delegates attended the event, representing the UK, Europe, Canada and the United States.

My presentation, Stage Craft and Spectacle: Immigrant Contributions to North American Theatre, was part of the Tyne Theatre & Opera House Conference: Victorian and Edwardian Theatre in Performance, Music & Machinery – Stagecraft & Spectacle. Here is a link to my 2023 presentation from last year:

Travels of a Scenic Artist and Scholar: The Tyne Theatre & Opera House Conference, England, Sept. 13-15, 2023.

I was part of a session entitled Beyond Great Britain, one that included Mike Hume and Rick Boychuk. They discussed the Booth Theatre and Auditorium Theatre, respectively. Here is a link to more information about the conferences and individual sessions: https://www.tynetheatreandoperahouse.uk/international-conference/

The 2023 event was organized by David Wilmore of Theatresearch. On the final day of the conference delegates were able to watch the functioning stage machinery from both above and below stage.

David Wilmore explaining the stage machinery to delegates. September 15, 2023.

The 2023 conference was a truly a celebratory event, unveiling almost two decades of hard work to rebuild the entire stage house after a 1985 fire.

The theater’s website explains:

Our machinery is one of the only surviving examples of Victorian wooden modular stage machinery in the UK and is of huge historic importance. Prior to the theatre fire in 1985, the machinery was used regularly by fully trained volunteers in productions. Now however there is a real risk of losing historic knowledge from previous years. We are therefore developing a team of committed volunteers who will be trained in the operation and restoration of this machinery.

For more information about the Tyne’s Historic Stage Machinery, visit: https://www.tynetheatreandoperahouse.uk/historic-stage-machinery/

At both conference’s Wilmore provided context for the machinery, giving a full explanation of the bridges, cuts, and sloats during various demonstrations.

Sloats emerging from the cuts at the Tyne Theatre & Opera House. Sept. 15, 2023.

During the 2023 demonstration, Wilmore commented that they were ready to install new scenery. Before my departure, the following plan was hatched over a pint of beer.

Our plan: I would design and paint eight ground rows with historic pigments in the US, then hand-carry them in my suitcase.

In addition to delivering the scenery, I would teach a three-day distemper painting class while the scenery was being installed. The project would culminate at the end of the week with another international conference, featuring 19^th-century scenic art.  The conference would also include a demonstration of the stage machinery, now complete with my scenery attached to frames on the sloats. Less than a year later, we were attaching frames to the sloats, just prior to the conference.

Attaching frames to the sloats on August 1, 2024.

So how did this all come to be?

In the fall of 2023, a survey was sent out to various organizations, inquiring about potential interest in a three-day distemper painting class. There was an overwhelming response, prompting the entire project to move forward. 

As dates were finalized for the summer of 2024, a secondary “travel trip” was hatched with Mike Hume (https://www.historictheatrephotos.com/). In 2023, Hume, Boychuk, and I visited fifteen theaters, both before and after the conference. Our travels brought us to historic venues in London, York, Glasgow, Bristol, Bath, and the Isle of Man. In the end, we documented fifteen theaters.

Wendy Waszut-Barrett, Rick Boychuk and Mike Hume at the Theatre Royal in Bath, 2023.

Hume and I planned a similar trip this year, but by car. Our plan was to drive from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne to Craig Y Nos, Wales. The primary focus was historic scenery collections.

Mike’s map for our proposed 2024 theatre tour.

When all was said and done, I visited:

Georgian Theatre Royal, Richmond

Victoria Hall, Settle

The Plaza, Stockport

Buxton Opera House

Chatsworth House Theatre

Theatre Royal, Nottingham

Nottingham Concert Hall

Nottingham Playhouse

Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham

Adelina Patti Theatre, Craig y Nos

Normansfield Theatre, London

Richmond Theatre, London

The Palladium, London

My next several posts will be about the design and painting of the ground rows, my distemper scene painting class at the Tyne, the scenic art conference, and the historic scenery at various venues. 

To be continued…