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| Review excerpt: "As Ariel, Kimball is impressive, somehow managing to balance himself on rollerblades while enrobed in a clunky robot suit, a costume that could have overwhelmed the character had he let it. Instead, Kimball shines (literally and figuratively) in the role, imbuing a lot of soul into Ariel and even more incredibly, singing in a heartfelt, yet technically correct robotic twang during his production numbers." |
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Return
to the Forbidden Planet This show was very popular in England and won the Olivier Award for Best Show in 1990 (beating Miss Saigon). Unfortunately, because of the way it's written, you need to have a great understanding of Shakespeare and British humor to be able to appreciate and follow the story. In short, it's quite convoluted. That being said, all the more credit goes to our production team and cast for putting together a show that audiences absolutely adored with several people returned to see the show several times. My role in this show was unusual to say the least. I played "Ariel" the robot, who was the creation/assistant to the mad and misunderstood Dr. Prospero. I was also on rollerblades the entire time. It made for an interesting and challenging experience.As is the case with many special effects shows, one of the most interesting parts of the process for me was the costume and makeup. Getting into the costume (envisioned by local effects-wizard Loren Burghout, with supplemental execution by costumer-extrordinaire Lynn McQuown and myself) was a challenge to say the least. In the end, I had to make a list of two dozen steps to follow to be able to get into my character. Thank goodness for my dresser, the brave Sam Hyde (what made him so "brave" in a moment).
It went something like this. I would arrive at the theatre approximately an hour and a half before curtain. After my mike check and before makeup, I would put on my specially crafted t-shirt (with a number of heavy duty snaps sewed into it) and my silver spandex hood. By putting these on first, I wouldn't smudge my makeup later. I would then spend 20+ minutes putting on my silver face-makeup, working very carefully to keep it smooth. It's very difficult to get silver makeup to spread evenly since, as any Tin Man will tell you, it's very oily and slides on your skin quite a bit. Once that was finished, Sam and I would insert the red glow sticks (like the thin glowing bracelets you see on the Fourth of July) into rubber tubing running throughout the main suit. The main body suit was actually part of a monster costume from the original Power Rangers kids tv-show. Loren removed many of the extra parts and painted the remaining suit silver. The next step was to pull on the legs that were made of latex and foam rubber. The legs wouldn't bend very much, so Sam would put on the rollerblades for me. They had to be very tight since I had limited mobility in the suit and had to be somewhat acrobatic onstage. My feet and legs were pretty "smushed" after each show from the pressure but it was necessary. Once that was done, Sam added the dryer hose arms (which secured to the snaps on my t-shirt) and then the massive torso which zipped up the back and clipped down below. A heavy-duty belt, made of spray-painted computer mice and components, held my microphone pack in place and the cord ran up the back part of the torso and was taped to my head. We then added four heavy-duty sweatbands on my arms and some long silver gloves (to cover my wrists). The sweatbands held the gloves in place and soaked up the sweat from my arms. Without these, after a three-minute fight sequence, my sweat would drip out of my dryer hose arms and make puddles on the stage -- distracting for the audience and dangerous for anyone on wheels.
Getting into the costume was a long chore but getting out was much quicker. Unfortunately for Sam (remember I called him "brave?") it was a bit gross. By the time the show was over, every inch of me and the costume was drenched in my sweat -- like someone had thrown me fully-dressed into a swimming pool. And it was Sam's job, bless him, to get me out of it. Airing out and washing all of the drenched pieces was a nightly chore that quite honestly I don't miss in the least. With such a physically taxing role, it became quickly apparent that I had to carefully watch my health. I work out regularly which helped and I also bumped up my healthy caloric and fluid intake quite a bit. Through my diligence, I'm happy to say I didn't lose any weight or suffer any serious physical problems during the production. As I said, this show is a tough one
to produce and pull-off. I am happy to say that our team did it,
largely due to an extraordinary amount of hard work and teamwork.
If someone dropped a line or missed a step, there were several actors
and musicians right there to get the show back on track. In terms
of live theatre, it doesn't get much better than that.
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On
top of the long gloves, we added some heavy-duty robot gloves. The
hood would be pulled up over much of my head and round welder goggles
would be added. Then, I'd put on a Lazer Tag helmet that,
for some reason, I'd saved since the 1980's. It looked great but
there was a recurring beeping noise in my ear that was annoying
at times. My various blinking lights would be turned on and I'd
be ready to go.