Some talented Calgary artists are hard at work on a new production of an old classic.
Cast and crew at Vertigo Theatre are preparing for the upcoming opening night of the mystery Sleuth.
One of the key members of the team is set designer Andy Moro.
During a tour of the towering set — still under construction — Moro pointed out the skilled theatre veterans working on setting the stage for suspense.
“We have the amazing scenic artists turning this into a marble palace,” Moro said. “It’s the world of a very eccentric and wealthy individual — a game space with a chessboard floor.”
One of the lead actors in Sleuth says the floor helps set the mood for the story.
“It’s a lovely symbol of what this show is going to be, which is really a battle of wits,” actor Braden Griffiths said.
The set features large windows through which the audience can see Griffiths’ character moving around outside the home where the action takes place.
“There’s some silhouette action… We actually see a ladder come up and lean against the window from outside and he breaks in through that window,” Moro said.
Crew members are also creating clever custom-made props for the production.
“There’s a pistol that’s hidden inside of a book,” Moro said. “We’re making that hidden space.”
The set also features two staircases, with Griffiths taking a tumble down one of them.
“I have some padding to make sure that my bones don’t shatter like glass,” he said.
Moro took the fall into consideration while designing the stairs.
“We made it as low-rise as possible so that when the actor falls down the stairs, it’s not like a bunch of cliffs,” Moro said.
Sleuth runs from Sunday, Nov. 18 to Sunday, Dec. 17 at Vertigo Theatre in downtown Calgary.
The cast and crew hope that the action on the staircase is just one of the memorable moments during the production.
“It’s nice that, at almost 40 years old, to be able to go: ‘I fall down stairs for a living,’” Griffiths said. “But it’s fun.”