I did this make-up at around 1995, I think. I'm not 100% sure, as it was so long ago. It was for a production of The Pirates of Penzance, at the Little Theatre, in Middlesbrough. When I was on my make-up course, I did some make-ups for a kids theatre show of The Wind In The Willows. The lady who was the choreographer for Willows, had kept my contact details and she got in touch to ask if I was interested in working on Pirates.
I created what was my very first multi-piece prosthetic make-up for the character of the Major General. I even managed to get the cost of the materials covered by the production. I used the John Woodbridge duo-cast foam latex system to create the appliances. I was also make-up supervisor for the rest of the cast.
The show went well, even if at one point I fell down a flight of stairs and had to go to hospital to have my head stapled! There was talk of the show being put on again in Manchester and I was hopeful that I'd get to recreate the Major General make-up as I felt that I could do it better. But, that didn't happen.
After this, I tried to get some more theatre work. I sent letters and samples of my work to various other theatres around the north east. I figured that if no one was making any horror films around here, then maybe I could do some more character make-ups for theatre shows. Always with limited funds, (story of my life!), it was expensive for me to do this, sending colour prints of my sculptures and make-ups. But, I never got any replies.
