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This week we talked to Alison Alexander, the designer for our Christmas show The Three Billy Goats Gruff. We talked about inspiration, integrating design in the rehearsal process and what makes a Christmas story a timeless classic.

How did you and Kaveh (writer/director) work together to come up with this design?

Kaveh and I have worked together over many years. On this show we didn’t just work together to come up with the design. We worked together to come up with the concepts for the show as a whole.

It started with questions like:
Why do the goats cross?
Why is the grass greener on the other side?
Why does the troll stop them?

We developed the idea of a ‘boarder pa-troll’, where it’s just the troll’s job to patrol the boarder. But then we went further by asking: why does the troll follow orders and should they question rules when they don’t feel right? Is there another option?

With this in mind, we had an R&D (research and development) to explore the themes and characters and test our ideas. It was a fine balance between devising a fun family Christmas show and a developing a story that explores migration and territory in a time when it is inescapable in the news. But isn’t that what makes old fairy tales timeless as they are always relevant?

Sometimes a design idea comes fully formed and other times it develops gradually with the story. It’s a trial-and-error process, with lots of problem solving until we get to a simple and efficient design that works with the performance. For me it’s important to have the physical structures in place early in the rehearsal process, integrating the design into the performance as opposed to having a set that comes together at the end as a nice backdrop.

What inspired the design concept?

Once we have the story, it’s time to explore materials and work out what sort of textures we might want.

During the R&D we discovered the joys and the silliness of the goats, so for the set I started with the idea of a goats’ playground. Looking at the environment in children’s farms you see lots of wooden cable reels, ramps and levels. The Jacksons Lane stage has lots of little balconies so we’ve got the goats using them. We had the performers all over the space, really exploring the full height and possibilities of the stage.

The cable reels which have affectionately become known as bobbins were next to enter the space, which we got from the lovely people at Riverside Timber Recycling Project in Ongar. I’ve tried to use recycled materials whenever possible, as well as reusing leftover bits from other shows and Jacksons Lane tech store. When I buy something new, I make sure to plan where they go after run/where to store them for future shows.

I rarely do a show without a puppet and the troll in this is especially fun! By playing with scale it allows us to see Peyvand as a human troll in contrast to the grotesque character of the puppet troll. This echoes the reality of a person feeling small behind the faceless ‘system’ or ‘job’. This show is a reminder that a person can make a difference when we see each other as people rather than statistics.

Why should people come see The Three Billy Goats Gruff?

It’s a lovely mix of silly characters, exciting circus and moving storytelling as we learn alongside the troll how to question the status quo and learn to share!

Catch The Three Billy Goats Gruff from Dec 14, 2023 – Jan 7, 2024. Book tickets here.