Easter holidays are coming up soon – perhaps you’d like to do some crafts with your children or grandchildren? The idea behind this cardboard theatre is that the actors are suspended by strings from the ceiling of the theatre, where we’ve left a hole. As we’re from Brussels, I wanted to create something in classic Art Nouveau style, so the theatre was painted in yellow, blue and pink pastels, with a heavy curtain in deep red hanging from a curtain rod just below the ceiling.
Here’s how to do it:
We used a fairly large cardboard box, roughly the size of a moving box, taped the edges and folds together, secured them with a glue gun, left a hole at the top of the ‘roof’ (for the actors or puppets) and sketched out the details in pencil. Once we were happy with it, we cut everything out.
I cut the stage opening quite deep, close to the floor (or the table, where it will most likely be performed), but I left a 2 cm border so that I could fit a sturdy wooden panel, which we’ll paint black to make the theatre look realistic. I left the cut-out for the curtain to form false stage wings. We’ll glue them to the wall so that the actors can get changed behind them and wait for their turn.
At the back, I’ll create an opening where we can hang up pictures of different scenes – a castle, a forest, a lake, a room… The puppeteer can then switch between the scenes. Right now, we’re entering a magical forest that the children have painted themselves.
Tous en scène!
