Theater

Sam Wilde on bringing The Fir Tree to Shakespeare’s Globe

Sam Wilde is an amazing designer, renowned for creating incredible, imaginative theatre designs and puppets out of simple bits of cardboard. From achieving a global internet sensation with his puppet show of Jon Klassen’s Hat Back books in lockdown, to a run of sellout live shows making the same stories bigger and better, he has been involved in some very exciting projects in the last couple of years. This winter he’s elevating his work still further, now gracing the boards of Shakespeare’s Globe in their festive family fairy tale The Fir Tree.  We asked The Card-Bard about what he’ll be unboxing for us this Christmas in the glorious wooden O.

Sam, it really has been a great few years for you (give or take a global pandemic): your online productions of the Hat Back books went viral, then the live show was a complete sell out at the Little Angel Theatre. What does it feel like to now have your cardboard craft starring at the world famous Shakespeare’s Globe?

It certainly looks impressive when you give me an introduction like that! If you ask my daughter what I do for a living though she’ll tell you that her daddy “plays with cardboard”: that feels a little closer to the truth to me!

But I have certainly been very lucky, and there are a lot of fantastic collaborators who are as responsible for that as I am, fantastic creatives like Ian Nicholson (who directed The Hat Trilogy) and Jim Whitcher (who did the music) just to start with. I always say that there are no talented people in theatre, just talented teams, and I’ve been very fortunate with the teams I’ve been in! The Fir Tree is another great example of that, it’s a world-beating group of creatives that I’m just happy to be in the same room as!

None of that prepares you, though, for when you somehow find yourself in a position where you are suggesting to the Globe’s Artistic Director Michelle Terry (!!!) that you want to cut up some delivery boxes and put them on the Christmas stage of what is undoubtedly the world’s most important theatre! If the idea of that doesn’t terrify you then I want a little of what you have!

This version of The Fir Tree is an adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen classic, by the incredible Hannah Khalil, writer in residence at the Globe. How has it been working with her and all those Shakespearean types? Is it very highbrow?

Hannah is great! I’ve been lucky enough to work with her on a couple of projects (and even luckier to have a couple more hopefully in the works) and I’d be hard pressed to think of a better, more generous collaborator. The scariest thing about working with Hannah is how astute and intuitive her daughter is! She’ll come into rehearsals or a dress rehearsal sometimes and that’s when I really get nervous, she’ll instantly see into the core of whatever the piece is! It’s uncanny!

As for highbrow, I don’t really know about that, it’s certainly a piece with artistic integrity, but it doesn’t lack for warmth or joy either. I remember my first meeting with Michelle (Terry) where she said she wanted to make a show that felt like a hug: that really stuck with me (especially as it was a time where good hugs were in short supply). This year it feels slightly different, still a hug, but with more… truth… and hope… and kindness in it. It’s an incredible team at the Globe and the creative team on the production is an absolute dream. I can’t imagine this show could be made in a different theatre, without the staff of the Globe, without Props or Wardrobe or Production Management, without Hannah or Michelle. Each and every one of them are incredibly rich in those noblest of qualities, of truth, of hope and above all of kindness.

I’m a very lucky designer to get to work alongside them!

What kind of things have you created for the production? And are they all made of vellum and parchment, it being an Elizabethan-style theatre?

Ha, I’m afraid not, I have just come off doing the puppetry design for The Book Thief Musical with The Octagon in Bolton, and that was much more of a parchment-focused job!

With The Fir Tree though the story and the theatre might be old, but what Hannah and Michelle have done with it couldn’t be further from the past! It’s a very modern story that is really relevant and apt for our times!

In terms of the design, I’ve tried to focus on how sustainably it can be made, but also as a real celebration of wood! Whether that be the forest of trees that were used to make the Globe itself or the actual potted fir trees that are ever present in the show. There are also a lot of lovely costumes and puppets, many of them I made myself, but it’s been a real team effort (shout out to the wonderful Emma Hughes at the Globe!). There’s a whole range of cardboard makes; large bird wings, rabbit ears, birds, vans, Beatrice and Benedict the mice, Ophelia the cat and Iago the rat…  and Death who makes a small appearance! All taking place under a starry cardboard sky and advertised with a poster which is developed from hand cut cardboard shapes!

It must be a fairly risky business using cardboard props in an outdoor theatre. Is there waterproofing involved?

Cardboard is a lot hardier than folk give it credit for! That being said, water is obviously a bit of an issue, so we do take steps in preparation.

The main focus for me, and the entire reason I like to work with cardboard, is that it’s all destined for the recycling bin in the end. Some people get upset when I tell them that, but I really revel in it, so many puppets or set or materials are made for a specific show, and when that show is over, they’re never used again, but as they’re made of foam or plastic they just sit on a shelf, unused, forever. Yes, cardboard puppets have an expiration date, but so do I, and that is a wonderful, wonderful thing!

But to answer your question, yes, there is waterproofing (and fireproofing) involved, which makes the material less recyclable in the end, so what we actually do is make the puppet from cardboard and then put another layer of cardboard on top, it’s this that is treated, which can then be removed when the time comes.

Tell us a bit more about how you’ve worked sustainability and recycling into the production.

Sustainability and recycling have been at the real core of this shows design, when you see it and what Hannah Khalil has written you can see that it really had to be that way. But even if it wasn’t a central theme it’s how all theatre should be made: it’s how everything should be made going forward. The Globe and the team there really get that and everything it means for a production.

The simplest way to look at it is that every single thing in this show is considered: do we already have that? is that something that the Globe already has in storage?  And if not, do they have something similar or something we can make work (which is yes for most of the set, props, costume in the show)? If we need to get something new, why? And can we borrow it from somewhere? Can we source it locally second hand? How are we going to get it? Will we reuse it? Can we recycle it? What happens to it after the show? Is it really necessary to tell the story?

It’s a lengthy process, but in the end we have made a show that has a really minimal environmental impact, that is a celebration of what sustainable theatre can be, and of all the other shows that came before us and allowed us to use a chair or a chest or the fabric to make a dress or whatever. It’s probably what I’m most proud of in this production.

That, and cardboard: an awful lot of boxes get another life on the stage!

One of the signature things about your work in the past is that the audience has been encouraged to join in and get creative themselves, even – if not especially! – with your online show. Will there be opportunities for that at the Globe? What activities might we expect?

I am so happy you’ve said this! More than cardboard or sustainability or anything else that has changed in my work in the last few years, it’s this that I feel has defined my attitude and work as an artist! It’s absolutely at the core of what I want to do, opening the world of design and construction, of craft and of making, to the public.

And yes, there is plenty to get involved with in this show. The Globe themselves are running puppetry-making and crafting workshops that I’ve had a hand in developing, and there will be plenty of other things that you can access digitally and make at home. I’d love to bring particular attention to The Sparrows; we’d would love it if you can access the online video (featuring me!) that shows you how to make the sparrow puppets and bring them along to the show. They are all made of cardboard and everyday household materials, and we need your help to fill the forest with as many more creatures than humans as we can muster, so if you don’t fancy a sparrow then why not make a pair of rabbit ears, or deer antlers or a squirrel tail or whatever you fancy! It’s your creativity that will make this show great!

Many thanks to Sam for finding time to chat with us about this exciting project. Here’s hoping for not too much snow this season!

The Fir Tree is a family show and runs from 15-31 December at Shakespeare’s Globe You can book tickets or learn how to make your own woodland creatures to bring to the show at the Globe website here. More