I would be interested to hear about how the design of SHP developed... It seemed from the program that it was a very collaborative process - most members of the company contributed in multiple capacities. I'm particularly interested in the areas of stage design, set-construction and puppet-making. sent by Katriona Chapman.

Julian Crouch replys - When Phelim and I first became involved with Shockheaded Peter Martyn had already written the songs but nothing else had been decided. We were unsure as to how the project would develop, and had little idea how it was to be staged. The show was to be a co-production between Cultural Industry, West Yorkshire Playhouse and the Lyric Hammersmith. It was agreed that the West Yorkshire Playhouse would construct the set and that the Lyric would support the costuming of the show.

In workshops, early on it the process, we had explored a few initial ideas about the look of the show. I had brought in books of early fairground designs, barrel organs, and freak shows. We decided to design a fully contained eccentric theatre in which to stage our show. We decided it would have its own flying system, a myriad of doors and various hatches. The motifs painted around the proscenium arch were developed from details in the original book. Because our budget was low we collected together various scenic elements from previous shows - the cardboard cut outs had come from an opera I'd done in Glasgow and had been sitting in a garage for a couple of years. These main set elements were developed by myself and Graeme Gilmour in London and when everything had been modelled up and drawn up, West Yorkshire Playhouse began construction.

Likewise, many of the puppets were developed from an older puppet kit that we had been expanding and developing over the course of many productions. We made extra puppet bits, but not whole puppets - various heads and torsos, arms, legs and wings. All of this was made before we even knew the story. This process was started by Graeme and myself and when rehearsals began, I switched over to rehearsing with Phelim, and Jo Pocock joined to work on the puppets. Because of a tiny budget, and because we only expected the show to tour for a few weeks, Graeme and Jo were persuaded to take up puppetry and operate in the show, alongside the other performers. As the weeks progressed we played with our puppetry kit and 'auditioned' the various bits that would finally become our puppet characters. As the last days approached and we became clearer about what we were after, more elements were added. The Bully Boys were small mannequins discovered lying in the West Yorkshire Playhouse props store, left over from someone else's show. They were dismembered, given knees, elbow joints, toys and a lick of paint, strung up, and shoved out on to the stage. By the last few days most of our kit had been used. The huge fly monster that drags Conrad away was made up, almost randomly, from the last few remaining bits. Mr. Big Head, a large puppet head that had appeared in at least four of our previous productions was given large bushy golden locks to become the big Shockheaded Peter at the end (I'm afraid he has since been retired and replaced by a better looking puppet). Some things didn't make the show. A giant thumb costume and a glove puppet cat's head never made it. Some things (Agrippa's hat and Harriet's match) were made by Julian Bleach, a talented maker in his own right, disappointed by the team's miserable attempts. Adrian Huge's perambulating drum kit was made by the ingenious Mr. Gilmour, and has been much admired by drummers all over the world.

Kevin Pollard also joined for the production period and designed the wonderful costumes, with a minimum of fuss. The starting point for the costume designs was a visit by Kevin and myself to the costume store at the Lyric. We chose various Victorian outfits and took them back to the rehearsal room where we numbered them and then made the actors draw lots. Tony Cairns was lucky enough to get the dwarf suit (of the late David Rappaport, of Time Bandits fame). He only just squeezed in, and thus was Cruel Frederick born. Kevin has always been more efficient than the rest of us, and schedule wise was way out ahead of us all. However, he has recently become the centre of a company scandal by replacing the black cat with a marmalade one. Not everyone was pleased.

In the last panicked stages of production the team was augmented by Georgina Solo and Dean Clegg, who helped to add the finishing touches. That was all way back in 1997. Since then the set has been reconstructed for easy touring under the supervision of Phleds. The puppets have been repaired by Jo and Graeme (and now Rebekah and Ewan - the new puppeteers) - so many times that there is probably not much of the original ones left.

I would like to finish with a question of my own, for someone in the Cultural Industry office: "How many thumbs has Conrad lost to date?"

"As at Thursday 22 Feb (before the 2 evening shows!), Conrad has lost 688 thumbs (in front of a paying audience). As it is one of the most popular pieces of the show for publicity, I have no idea how many thumbs he has lost for the sake of the press (probably around 20 alone in the making of the promo video), plus of course the numerous thumbs he would have lost in those first weeks of rehearsal!
...So it looks like we'll hit our 400th show towards the end of the West End run!"

How did Martyn Jaques get involved in Shockheaded Peter?

"Michael Morris saw me perform in another theater show based on a children book "Fungus the Bogeyman" but when he showed me Shockheaded Peter I knew that was much more a Tiger Lillies type book. Originally I only wrote Snip snip (Conrad) but ended up writing songs of all the stories. I particularly liked the celebration of death & general black humour."

If you have a question to ask then email us at floorboards@shockheadedpeter.com. We will answer it if we can, and post the reply here.