Taming of the Shrew photoshoot

This Saturday morning started early as the only free time slot for the Larkum Studio at the ADC Theatre was 9-11am. The goal of the day was to take some profile photos for the Cambridge University American Stage Tour: Taming of the Shrew (CAST webpage). Laura Sedgwick had pre-rigged two spots to the front, and one blue light from the back, as well as a low front spotlight. In addition I brought two flashes, and a shoot-through umbrella. We ended up using all but the last spot light.

Our original idea had been to use a hazer to create a bit of a mist, which together with the low spotlight could look pretty good. Unfortunately the hazer was in use by another group, so we had to make do with a hot water kettle. We did get a bit of steam, but I think the best part of having the kettle was the laughter that it got. It made the whole shoot a bit more fun and playful. Here is a selection of my favourite photos from the shoot. The portraits, which were our main goal, are at the end.

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Will Bishop and Gabbie Bird share a flag together.
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Kate Reid and Will Bishop (this time as a nun). We were shooting Kate’s portrait and I asked Will to crash it. This was what we got.
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Robbie Taylor Hunt and Olivia Stamp doing their impression of the perfect American couple.
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Behind-the-scenes shot of how we used the kettle. Will got creative with the administration to avoid being in the shot, but the result was just me taking a few steps back to capture this shot instead.
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Will Bishop, Julia Kass and Toby Marlow with Will Peck in the background as the grumpy flag carrier.
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Robbie Taylor Hunt, Kate Reid and Marco Young. This feels almost like a promotion shot for one of those detective or lawyer series.
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We want you to come see The Taming of the Shrew!
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Sarah Mercer and Will Peck.
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Will Peck and Alex Cartlidge recreating Grant Wood’s American Gothic.
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Gabbie Bird with her flag again!
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Jossie Ewans, Gabbie Bird, Olivia Stamp and Emma Hollows.
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Kate, Sarah and Julia.
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Julia, Sarah and Kate. All the three women were in black, so to get a bit of a silhouette we put the American flag behind Julia and Sarah.
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Will, Julia, Kate and Toby with hollywood smiles.
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Toby and Kate, not a happy couple.
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Last shot of the day!

Here are the portrait photos. Click on the thumbnail to start a full screen slideshow.

Cast
Katherina – Kate Reid
Petruchio – Toby Marlow
Bianca/Biondello – Julia Kass
Lucentio – Will Bishop
Grumio – Will Peck
Baptista – Sarah Mercer
Gremio/Merchant – Marco Young
Hortensio/Vincentio – Robbie Taylor Hunt
Tranio – Aoife Kennan
Production Team
Tour Manager – Alex Cartlidge, Laura Sedgwick
Director – Kennedy Bloomer
Assistant Director – Gabbie Bird
Education Officer – Olivia Stamp
Stage Manager – Jossie Evans
Lighting Designer – Johannes Ruckstuhl
Photographer – Johannes Hjorth
Publicity Designer – Hannah Taylor
Steam Wafteur – Will Peck
Designer – Emma Hollows

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