Yeovil College needs your old Christmas trees for Spamalot prouction

Yeovil College's student design team are appealing for donations of curtains and imitation Christmas trees for their Spamalot musical.

The student design team are specifically after heavy velvet and brocade curtains to use for costumes. The Christmas trees will take pride of place in the Dark and very Expensive Forest set for the musical.

Yeovil College lecturer Julie Read is working with the student cast and crew to create the costumes for the colourful piece, which features everything from medieval knights, to watery women and unpleasant peasants.  

She said "Normally the students are able to source most of what they need for costumes from our existing store and local charity shops, but this show is placing very different demands on them.

 "Although we have access to plenty of the lightweight fabrics people wear today, it's less common to come across items that suggest the heavy materials used for clothes in medieval times.  

"Strange as it sounds, the best substitutes for us are modern, weighty curtains," she said, "so, like King Arthur, we're on our own quest to find some!  

"If anyone has any clean, unwanted curtains of any colour, fabric or design, but especially velvet or brocade curtains, we would be very grateful for them.

She added: "We have a few peasants to dress, so we would even appreciate faded and possibly past their best curtains.  It's a great way to support the students' production of 'Spamalot' and get your name into the programme!"

Yeovil College is the first college in the UK to put on a production of 'Spamalot', the award winning musical which lovingly rips off the cult comedy classic 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail'.  

Written by Eric Idle and John du Prez, the show has taken Broadway and the West End by storm and Yeovil College is delighted to be bringing it to the Westcountry for the first time.

Director and Performing Arts Lecturer Ben Woof added "The students also need about 30 unwanted imitation Christmas trees, all at least 5ft tall, to create the Dark and Very Expensive Forest.  

"This is a key set where some of the show's most iconic scenes take place.

"It's home to memorable characters including the Knights Who Say Ni and the invincible Black Knight, so this is the public's chance to get involved with some really legendary theatre."

Anyone able to make a donation to the students' production should leave them at the Yeovil College Reception or email julie.read@yeovil.ac.uk.

'Spamalot' will be on at the Octagon Theatre in Yeovil on 15, 16 and 17 May 2013.  Tickets go on sale in February.