Today the sun is out, so I'm taking the chance to work on these group signs for Sma' Shot Parade, which will take place in Paisley on 2nd July. The structures are made from willow withies fastened to garden cane . They were covered with plastic wrap for strength then papered first with wet strength tissue paper, and after that with coloured tissue paper. Line details were added with graffiti pens. The signs will be fastened to 3m tall painted bamboo poles, with cane crossbars to stop them from spinning around in the wind, and hanging ribbons to animate them in the wind. Structurally the aim is to make something as lightweight as possible, which will not cause a risk in bad weather. As with much Street Parade design, the visual aim is to represent community identity with something simple and recognisable, big enough to make an impact outdoors, bright, eye-catching and cheery.

"Can your best friend really be a robot? And can robots really adapt to think and feel like humans? The story in Rob Drummond’s play, Uncanny Valley, makes one girl’s attachment to her techno-chum into a nail-biting race to re-programme her robot before the local mayor has it destroyed – at the same time, however, Drummond’s interaction with young audiences encourages them to explore, and voice, their own ideas about our relationship with technology and ongoing advances in artificial intelligence. Issue-based theatre is rarely as witty, thought-provoking or as open to audience reactions as this piece for children and young people"
CATS AWARDS 2016

I'm seriously overexcited to hear that Uncanny Valley has won the Best Production for Children and Young People at the Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS). It was a complicated and hugely interesting collaborative project to work on, where each member of the team had something well thought out and skilful to bring to the table, and the end result is a show which none of us could have realised on our own.

​You can watch a short video I made about the design process in an earlier blog here.