Character posters now available

For those who were lucky enough to be able to come along to the play, you would have seen some lovely character posters (about A2 size) outside the theatre and others by the entrance to the Dress Circle.

Along with the poster for the play, beautiful as it is I was not involved with this, I thought it would be great to have twelve posters (one for each of the principal cast) showcasing the characters along with a quote of theirs. I quickly knocked up some very rough examples and ran them past Nick Scovell and Rob Thrush. Both of them thought this a great idea and said they would love this. Both Nick and myself did agree though that it would be best to not have one for the Supreme Dalek as this was the big surprise for Act Two.

It was then that I realised that I had about three weeks to produce 11 posters! The main design was simple and was the same across all the posters for consistency. What would take the time was getting photos of each memebr of the cast, and the Daleks, that I could then play with to create the posters.

I am very grateful to Jon Andrews who kindly took all the photos and gave me such great images to start with. In the tradition of Doctor Who, I used CSO! Each person was photographed against a green background so I could key out this colour to make it easier to drop them into the poster template. Although this gave me a problem with the Daleks as the green reflected on their domes. After speaking to Anthony Dry (who did the design for our cast and crew t-shirts) he said that it's best to do Daleks against white. At least I know for another day!

All the photos were taken during the breaks at rehearsals and then Jon would give me a copy of the images the next time. Each week I was doing about three posters and then having to get the final sign-off from Nick, while still learning my lines!

There is a logical flow as well to the posters with regards to the colours that I used. Starting with the Doctor all the heroes use shades of blue and green, while the villains cross to yellows, oranges and reds ending up with the Dalek Commander.

Eventually, with about a week to spare, I finished the last couple and passed them to Rob as he was going to get a set printed. When they were and I saw them up in the theatre, I thought they were fantastic.

Now you've got the chance to get your hands on your own copies! Each image was originally created at an A4 size of 300dpi in CMYK ready for printing, although these are low-res versions under 1Mb each as the originals are each about 8Mb.

Heroes

• The Doctor
  
• Marc Cory
  
• Katarina Taylor
  
• Bret Vyon
  
• Steven Taylor
  
• Sara Kingdom

Click on an image for a larger version in a new window

Villains

• Governor Zephon
  
• Governor Trantis
  
• Mavic Chen
  
• The Daleks
  
• Dalek Commander

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Extermination testing

Stuart Currie, the man behind (and inside!) the Supreme Dalek has posted a short video of him testing the extermination effect using a nearly empty extinguisher, at the theatre before rehearsals. The video also features the Supreme doing a beautiful middle section move as well.

• Supreme Dalek test: YouTube - will open in a new window

Dalek Links site - reviews, photos and music

The Dalek Links has recently been updated by Peter Labrow, one of the mini-convention guests, with loads of stuuf. Use the links below to get access to a review of the play, mini-convention, photos and a special mix of Martin Johnson's score from the play.

• Review of The Dalek Masterplan - will open in a new window
  
• Review of the mini-convention - will open in a new window
• Photo gallery - will open in a new window
• Mix of Martin's music - will open in a new window

P A R T ... Y? 'cause I gotta!

The alcohol flowed, as did the laughter and also the sadness. This was the final end, when we all celebrated the success of the show.

Gathering in the bar first and then turning the Dress Circle into a private area, we waited to hear how well the play had been received. Could it break the records set by last year's production? Simply put, yes it did. Every ticket, for every performance sold in advance of the show opening - as was the mini-convention.

Nick Scovell was presented with a copy of the huge show poster, signed by all the cast and crew and also a host of 60s Doctor Who people, as a thank you for all his efforts with the play. He made a lovely speech where he thanked everyone for all their hard work over the months.

I sat and chatted with many of the cast and crew while we watched the set being broken up on the stage. There was a certain sadness as each part was knocked down and removed, until nothing more than the sweepings remained in the centre of the stage.

Laura Ford (Sara Kingdom) and Jon Andrews (Ensemble / Delegate / Science Dalek) both had people signing their cast t-shirts as a momento, I'd settled with getting a programme signed.

Helen Stoddard (Katarina Taylor) celebrated her birthday and was surprised with a cake, complete with candles.

David Bickerstaff (Marc Cory) was wickedly funny with his jokes and impersonations that evening, and kept quite a few of us in stiches. Although he did have a surprise, maybe even shock, when he found something out about me!

I left at 2am (that's British Summer Time, as the clocks were about to change) to make the short walk home, tired and a little sad but mostly very proud and happy that I had been involved in something so special.

There will still be updates for this blog over the next month, if not two, as I receive copies of videos and photos from the cast and crew. This will also include the exclusive interviews with Nick Scovell and Nick Briggs. In the meantime, I'm off for a well-deserved rest for a week but don't forget to check back shortly.



Dalek Spy was able to blag entrance into the party and took a couple of snaps.

• Rob Thrush (Producer) presents Nick Scovell with a giant signed poster
  
• A final end... all that remained of the set after the knock down, swept into the middle of the stage
  

Click on an image for a larger version in a new window