Rachel Darwood
Having spent time establishing a career in stage management, I am now looking to reassign my skills into becoming a Scenic Artist and Prop Maker. I have a passion for props, with a steady hand for fine detail, and an eye for the big picture. My work so far has included making and adapting props for theatre productions - both in a freelance capacity, and in my role as Theatre Technician at Lady Eleanor Holles. Our production of Team in December 2023 had us constructing a tube station and moveable tube carriage. Amongst my latest freelance work, I have recently taken up assisting the scenic artist for the Richmond Shakespeare Society in painting and decorating sets.
I had my first design project in December 2023 which was to build a Witch’s Lair set for the Lantern Arts Centre’s Christmas production of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. This involved collecting lots of bottles and turning them into cobwebbed potions bottles, creating old spell scrolls, designing a ‘wanted poster’ of the show’s witch, and filling a cauldron with expanding foam to make it look like it was bubbling over. (Photos of how this set turned out can be seen here)
​
Throughout my career as a stage manager, I've had the opportunity to create and source props for many productions, as well as assist designers and scenics on shows of various scale. I've always found the level of creativity required for prop work to be the most rewarding element of stage management. For more information about my work as a stage manager, click here