Director Angus Jacobs and Choreographer Eloise Horton make the cast work hard and cover every inch of the stage in some really impressive dance numbers.
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I felt honoured to be asked by the production team to direct Priscilla Queen of the Desert, though I have to be honest and admit that I had to give it some serious thought.
Firstly, how on earth could you get the star of the show Priscilla (a bus) on the Bridewell stage? (the theatre only seats 134 audience members, and secondly, did I want to be in it? It didn't take me long to make the decision.... how could I turn down the challenge of directing such an amazing show.
Anyone who saw Priscilla Queen of the Desert in the West End knows that it is a huge show in all senses of the word, and bringing it to the Bridewell Theatre would be a challenge, and one I couldn't resist.
With that in mind, I wanted to create a more intimate show, with a different look and feel. It's a story of friendship, love and achieving dreams and our strap line" A Journey to the heart of fabulous" was perfect, and I was adamant to draw out the heart of story and also not lose the hard-hitting incidents of abuse and homophobia.
How did I approach the challenges? Well, taking inspiration from the show Made in Dagenham where a Ford car is represented in different parts, I thought the same could be applied to Priscilla (the Bus), and hidden on stage within the set it could pulled out by cast as part of the choreography when necessary.
We also couldn't 'fly' the Diva's so by creating a platform at the back of the stage it created the illusion of them 'hovering' above and watching the action happening below them.
And then the costumes, we couldn't hire them in as they were too big so the only option was to design our own, and with a generous legacy, I started exploring and sketching ideas appropriate for drag queens, the story and the restrictions of the Bridewell.
If you want to know more about my approach to the design and styling of the show, go 'behind the scenes’.
All Photography by David Ovenden