Producer

Costume Part 2

We met with Patrick at the Abbey Theatre store room and chatted for a bit before showing him what we had picked out. It became clear very quickly that the items were going to be too small so we had to start fresh and find something that could work. Patrick was very helpful and scouted out some items that could work until he found a large fur cloak and swung it across his shoulders. Initially I didn't think it would work because I was too use to picturing a costume similar to what we had first. But the more Patrick lunged around in it I knew that it would be perfect. It was quite expensive to hire so we had to make sure it didn't get damaged. Before we had gone out myself and Luke took a craft knife to the fake fur and hessian we ordered which came in handy to fill in the gaps underneath the cloak.

Casting

After posting an advertisement on various social media pages for actors I received a lot of interest in the roles. Initially I had and actor named Billy from Mayo to play the role of the Neolithic man but the more time I had to think about it I felt it would show much potential for something to go wrong if he was traveling from Mayo. Then we received interest from an actor named Patrick McEvoy who myself and Luke thought was perfect for the role aesthetically. The role for the hiker fell between two actors Michael and Marcos, who had two very different looks but couldn't decide which to go with without meeting them first but after a half an hour chat with each of them, it was still a close call. We gave ourselves it a week to think it about and we both felt that Marcos's look was what we were after as Michael's characteristics were too strong.  I kept in touch regularly with Marcos and Patrick informing them of every detail and change in schedule. I arranged with Patrick to meet us at the Abbey Theatre store room to fit the costume we had picked out.

Costume Part 1

I wasn’t too concerned about acquiring the Hiker costume as it didn’t consist of anything that would be difficult to source but shortly after beginning the search into finding the Neolithic costume, I realised it was going to be no easy task. The first route I took was to get in touch with the costume designers involved in Game of Thrones, Vikings, Tudors etc. and see what information they could give me. I sent out a few emails but to no avail. We began exploring the idea of making our own costume and looked at materials like faux fur and hessian online. Once we were satisfied with the amount we needed we went ahead and ordered them. Meanwhile Luke got in touch with the Abbey Theatre Store Room and arranged for us to look through their stock. The person he dealt with across the phone assured us that despite a lack of demand for what we needed, they had a few items that would suit. We picked out numerous pieces and placed them on a rail until we would return once we found our actor.

Weapons

I enlisted the help of my brother when it came to making the weapons as he is out-doorsy and had machete and other tools necessary to make an authentic looking Neolithic hand axe/hammer and spear. We went to a local forest in Cavan where he knew there would be trees with branches that had little kinks or bends in them. For the hand axe/hammer handle I chose a section of a tree about a foot long and had a slight kink to give it somewhere to grip. For the spear I cut down three staffs roughly seven foot in length.  I made sure to choose trees that was densely surrounded by others as they would most likely not survive anyway. Back at the house I put the axe/hammer handle in the vice and cut two five inch lines into the top and chiselled out the middle section. For the head I used a rounded river rock that had two grooves grinded into the side so it would slot onto the handle. I then wrapped two pieces of metal wire above and below the rock and twisted the ends with a pair of plyers to keep the weapon together. I wrapped the head of the axe/hammer with hemp twine similar to how it was done in pictures of weapons of that time. I used a similar technique for the spear and then with the machete, I hacked at the straight edges that were cut with the saw to make it look more authentic. The head of the spear was made by chipping away at a piece of slate before grinding it smooth. Finally I left the head of the spear and the axe/hammer in a bucket of murky water over night to shrink the twine tight to the wood and give it that old look.