WALLACEBURG ARTS: The work of a Stratford scenic carpenter

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My column this week led me to an old friend.  

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I met Mark Smith in 2010 after spending two weeks teaching in Suchitoto, El Salvador. My path to that experience was due to an invitation from my dear friend Edward Daranyi, who worked in the education department in Stratford at the time. 

Ed and Mark were among the handful of artists from Stratford that went to this small town that was still reeling from the brutal civil war in El Salvador and the ensuing loss of their commerce. As Mark noted, Stratford Festival sent artists and artisans. Among the initial company to travel down south were carpenters who built sets, experts in props, wardrobe, costumes, sound, electrician and performers such as Edward. 

All of these gifted people were also teachers. Their goal was to train students and adults alike to replace them and sustain a theatre company. Unfortunately, due to politics and a few other obstacles that program is essentially done. But not before several talented artisans from Stratford volunteered hundreds of hours to change the lives of a group of people in this quaint little town.  

Over the past many years, I have gotten to know Mark better during visits to Stratford and I thought a column about the art of building a set in a company like Stratford would be interesting.  

Mark is a scenic carpenter in Stratford. I’ll write more about what that is shortly. But first, how did he get there? 

Thirty-two years ago, Mark moved from Toronto to Stratford as he was completing his apprenticeship as a carpenter, building stairs in a shop in London. It just happened that Mark lived just down the street from the scene shop, which is now the Studio Theatre in Stratford. Mark would walk past the shop often and peer in the window checking out what they were creating. Through a series of connections that happened because he lived in a small town that draws world class artists Mark was invited to work as a stagehand.  

Mark continued to work in London for five more years and had part time work as a stagehand before he was a finished carpenter was realized just as a job for a scenic carpenter became available. He began his career in Stratford getting his ticket and has never looked back.  

When I asked Mark if he had theatre experience prior to 25 years ago he initially said no but then shared that in Grade 7 he helped build the set. Not because he was driven to this career, rather because when a task that kept him off the stage was mentioned his hand flew up to volunteer. Now he is the senior carpenter on staff in the scene shop of a world class company.  

So, what does a scenic carpenter do? In this case they take the designs created for sets for the 12 shows and four theaters in Stratford and make them a reality. 

The creative challenge, and the part of the job that Mark gets most excited about, is that the sets have to be light enough to be moved easily in seconds, be strong enough to support the actors and the have to look real from everywhere in the house (the theatre). Mark revels in the challenge that is unique to a repertory theatre and he gets to work with metal, wood and plastic to create the spectacular sets that are a Stratford hallmark.  

All sets in Stratford have to be built so they can be dismantled and reassembled completely in under an hour. The shows in Stratford change twice a day, this means the sets must also change and be moved through the halls and loaded into storage spaces after each performance. 

Try to imagine this set for Cabaret from 2011 that Mark helped build being dismantled and moved in under an hour!  

The scenic carpenters begin crafting the sets in October of each year, before the current season has had its final curtain. The process used to have a maquette, or a model, of the stage that the set designer would show to the construction crew. This process has changed and led to one of Mark’s most humorous moments creating a set this past season for Rent.   

Mark was creating a wall on the lower half of a wall that had a fake brick face which concealed two doors for actors to appear on stage. The doors opened up stage, or away from the audience and allowed cast to discreetly appear. 

As Mark was working on his portion of the set he occasionally glanced at a colleague doing the balcony and upper part of the set which had “scaffolding” supporting it.  It wasn’t until they did their first fit up where they moved the set in to ensure it could go up and down as needed and everything fit together that they realized that one of the crosses of the scaffolding was two feet in front of the open door. The “X” of the scaffolding was blocking the exits. Fortunately, the scaffolding was cosmetic and the crosses could be cut to clear the way.  

I asked Mark what his favourite sets he worked on have been and he noted the Cabaret set seen here, the road for Waiting for Godot in 2013 and the chalice and pulpit from Tommy in 2012. 

As you begin planning your trips to Stratford this coming spring and summer, the production team is already well under way creating the magic that you see. Maybe this season you will want to take a backstage tour and see some of the wizardry behind the Stratford curtain.  

Speaking of taking in shows if you’re looking for shows on a budget, and who isn’t anymore, Stratford has all kinds of deals all season long. It is worth the time searching for them and the staff at the box office are incredibly helpful.