Less than 2 months to go before Noye’s Fludde is performed in Tewkesbury Abbey. Most of the birds are now designed and beginning to be made. The animals are coming along at a good pace too. I’ll be making a lot of these myself and there will be three levels of animals. Masks for rodents, cut out animals for medium creatures (like foxes), while larger animals will be painted on banners, all carried by children singing the Kyrie eleison. This is to give variety and height to the performance, and also to allow me to create things on a larger scale. The Abbey is vast and 200 children in masks would just not register.
This is an ambitious and exiting decision; courageous even. I do believe it is the right one though and I hope the banners and cut out animals will create a wonderful festive pageant. Here are some of the designs, inspired by the medieval images that abound in the Abbey.
As I have not ever painted on fabric before, this will be new territory for me. Actually the whole project is new and exciting in so many ways. Lots of experimenting is going on, with paints and inks and a heck of a lot of sequins (for the peacock!).
Once a week, a Skype conversation with director Edward Derbyshire, keeps things moving forward. And in Cheltenham, Niki Whitfield is the artistic coordinator, finding teams of people to cut out birds or hem polycotton. The choirs are practising and the tickets are selling. The pressure is on!
Leave a Reply