Michael Morpurgo's Pinocchio
Picked by the Guardian for its top ten theatre events of 2024: LINK
Role: Set and Costume Designer
Delighted to be able to share some great photos of Michael Morpurgo’s PINOCCHIO at the iconic Watermill Theatre.
It’s been an absolute whirlwind set and costume designing this fantastically ambitious, playful and brilliant production. The vision was to make as much of the set, costume and puppetry from found and recycled material as possible, much as Gepetto does in the story where he forages wood in the Cherry woods, and to celebrate the Watermill's unique atmosphere and environment.
The creative team has been brilliantly led by the directors Indiana Lown-Collins and Elle While, who brought me on board and gave me license to really stretch and try out all my barmy ideas. The costume team was led by the brilliant Hannah Gilbert, who worked miracles riffing on my design with her team - Zara Palmer, Sophie Canniffe and Caz Williams. The set was made by the carpentry wizard Richard Martin at Ridiculous Solutions in Ilfracombe, who went out with tree surgeons for the trees in the set - picking those coming down already due to die-back and coppicing. The puppetry was designed, made and directed by the mighty Marc Parret, a true puppetry maestro and double plaid-shirt rocker. Lighting design by the excellent Jonathan Chan.
Working at the Watermill has been a bit of a dream. A legendary little theatre, set in a nature reserve with a river running through a gorgeous, weathered old wood building. The space shimmers with theatre magic and the team are all lovely, collaborative and in the service of great work. A real treat.
CREDITS:
Written by Michael Morpurgo
Adapted by Simon Reade
Music & Lyrics by Chris Larner
Co-Director: Elle While
Co-Director: Indiana Lown-Collins
Set and Costume Designer: Yoav Segal
Puppet Designer/ Maker/Director: Marc Parrett
Lighting Designer: Jonathan Chan
Sound Designer: Ella Wahlstrom
Movement Director: Asha Jennings-Grant
Musical Supervisor and Onstage MD: Simon David
Head of Costume: Hannah Gilbert with support from Sophie Canniffe, Zara Palmer and Caz Williams
Set build: Ridiculous Solutions
Production Management: Tom Nickson and Robyn Hardy
Prop making: Fern Bamber and Katie Crump
CAST:
A brilliant, lovely cast. Lots of multi-roling but principally playing:
Pinocchio: Jerome Yates
Geppetto: Christopher Bianchi
Signora Geppetto: Lottie Latham
Cricket: Fred Double
Carabiniere: Jacoba Williams
Fox: Afia Abusham
Cat: Eddy Payne
REVIEWS:
'From the first gorgeous scene featuring a luminous cherry tree trunk wrapped around actors to signify the wood from which Pinocchio is forged, this production oozes carnivalesque energy and has an intimacy despite its big imagination...
Every aspect of the stagecraft is outstanding. Yoav Segal’s set design has autumnal foliage hanging across the sides of the stage like bucolic curtains, with a giant luminous moon above... Simply glorious.'
★★★★★ The Guardian
'Sensitive and beautifully designed take on the classic story... designer Yoav Segal’s beautiful autumnal woodland setting glows... above all, this fresh, boisterous production celebrates individuality. It’s a familiar fairytale, yet here its relevance to modern audiences is amplified, and it’s brought to life with ingenuity, talent and theatrical flair.'
★★★★★ The Stage
'All family shows aim to please both kids and grown-ups – this one succeeds in enthralling kids and their parents (and at the matinee I saw, their teachers) from the moment they find themselves drawn into the magical world of Yoav Segal’s autumnal set'
★★★★★ WhatsOnStage
'...keep track of our young hero as he darts from one misadventure to another on Yoav Segal’s enchanting woodland set.'
★★★★ The Times
'The ordinary becomes extraordinary... Delightfully diverting.'
★★★★ The Daily Mail
'I really admired the design by Yoav Segal from the tree lined forest themed stage to the colourful and detailed costumes and for Pinocchio himself... I cannot recommend Pinocchio too highly for the state of the art puppetry, movement and jaw dropping design and award it five stars from Theatrevibe, the site that doesn’t do stars!'
★★★★★ Theatre Vibe
'The Watermill Theatre in Newbury is the perfect setting for this beautiful production - with its exposed beams, water gushing through the mill wheel, and wooden balconies blending into Yoav Segal’s rustic set (all tree trunks, natural fibres and autumnal colours), it almost felt like the story was being told even before the play began, drawing the audience in and making clear that this would be more sophisticated than your average family show.'
★★★★ All that Dazzles
'Pinocchio is an outstanding start to the run of Christmas productions on my list to review this season. From the detailed costumes worn by each of the characters to the detailed workshop used by Geppetto. The incredible amount of work and detail that has been taken to produce this show is wonderful and deserves to play to a full house at every performance.'
★★★★★ Theatre and Art Reviews
'...like any of the great productions incorporating puppets, be it The Lion King or War Horse, the cast and design team (set and costumes by Yoav Segal) ensure that every scene is so credible that we immerse ourselves fully in Pinocchio’s adventures.'
★★★★ Musical Theatre Review
MODEL BOX / STORYBOARD:
Thought I'd share a few model box and storyboard images. I draw on top of my model box photos to add staging details. I find it a nice, quick, but evocative and lively way to work:
COSTUME DESIGN:
It was really fun designing the costumes for PINOCCHIO and working with Hannah and the brilliant team at the Watermill. The intention was to recycle as much as possible, so raided the stores there and layered and stitched outfits together, broke them down, gave them a spin, resulting in a left-field, old/new feel.
