05.01.12
Griffins current production The Boys uses real grass in the set design. We spoke with our production manager Micah about the challenge of installing real grass into a theatre.
How did you get all the grass onto the stage?
We got a few of our brilliant volunteers to do it for us.
What did they have to do?
Well we had to lay down a ton of soil first using a total of 15 buckets. So that took about an hour of carrying dirt up and down the stage door stairs. We unloaded the rolls of grass from the Ute and carried the rolls up to the stage and then had to cut out little bits to fit all the holes. Then it was all good.
What reward did you offer the volunteers for doing that?
We offered them a beer, but it was only 11.00 in the morning so they did it totally gratis, which was very nice of them.
Gratis-grass?
Yup
How are you keeping it alive?
All of the experts we spoke to said that there was no real cheap way of keeping it alive and that it would die within two days. We could have bought really expensive UV lamps, but after testing it for a few weeks under normal lights it was still alive. As it turns out if you don’t want it perfectly lawn-like, which we really don’t, putting the stage lights on a timer to simulate day and night seems to work really well. And of course giving it a good water after each show..
Why don’t you want it “perfectly lawn-like”?
Because the Sprague’s wouldn’t have a perfectly lawn like backyard. It needs to be quite scruffy and realistic; ‘gritty realism’.
Will you have to change it during the run?
Hope not. I really hope not. We might have to change bits of it but it would be much better if we could keep it for the whole 8 week run. The longer it lasts the more realistic it looks. So the best thing to do is to keep it alive for as long as possible.
And finally, does anyone in the cast have Hay Fever?
(Laughs) I think everybody in the cast and crew has hay fever.
Excellent…
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