Crowning Achievement

Directing The Lion in Winter has made me try many new things beyond directing. I’ve made props before, for other plays, but this time around, I tried something completely new: making crowns.

My cast and I really try to keep our costumes and props from looking like something from a grade school class play. It helps that most of them are, on some level, LARPers (Live Action Role Play, a.k.a. Creative Anachronists). They know what they’re doing, and where to lay hands on “the good stuff.” Nobody has any crowns, though.

I looked on line for advice/instructions on making our own, and found this excellent advice. I used it to create four crowns for the cast. I’m pretty pleased with the result.

crown props for The Lion in Winter, Haines, Alaska

Crowns for Lion in Winter royalty: (L-R) Princess Alais, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, King Henry II, King Philip II of France (Photo: Mark A. Zeiger)

Briefly, I constructed these crowns from sheet styrene. I didn’t need to use a heat gun on them, as the instructions specified. I found I could roll out the sheet, draw the crown outline onto it, then cut it out with a pair of scissors. I added thin aluminum bands to stiffen them, as during the course of the play several of the crowns get removed and handled on stage. I even put in a layer of thin foam to pad our heads, although I have since found that any excess paint that got on the foam makes them stick to skin slightly. That’s a minor irritation that hasn’t proven problematic at this point.

You’ve likely seen these in action in the previous post, A Happy End.

They’re not quite done yet. I took them as far as I felt comfortable, but no further. We’ve asked a local artist to detail them a bit. She will paint them to appear, from the stage, to have more elaborate metal work. While they’ll do fine as they are, this extra care should make them look better on stage, take them to the next level.

My apologies to any reader who may grow impatient with all the play posts here on the homestead blog. But, as ever, we write about what’s on our minds, and this play has most of my attention for now. Things will get better for you after the first weekend in December. In the meantime, I’d argue that constructing these crowns represents another case of figuring out what should be done, acquiring the skills to do it, and pursuing it. That kind of achievement improves life, wherever one chooses to live it.

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