For the show Oh What A Lovely War I had to create 6 guns that would be used throughout the show. The brief I had been given by the directors is that they did not want the gun to be completely detailed they just wanted a basic outline that looked like a gun from the First World War. After receiving the brief I worked together with the construction team to make 6 guns. 

Research 

Before I started making the prop I had to do some research into guns that were used in the First World War. From my research I discovered that a common gun that was used during the First World War was a Lee- Enfield rifle. The Lee- Enfield rifle is a rifle that is used by the British Army and various armies of the Commonwealth. It featured a ten-round box magazine which was loaded with the .303 British cartridge manually from the top. 

Here is and Image of a Lee- Enfield Rifle;

Making of the Rifle

In order to make the rifle myself and the construction team did the following; 

We started by drawing around a Lee- Enfield gun which we had in the armory at the college. We drew it out on plywood which we decided was the best wood to use because it was strong and therefore less likely to break. We didn't go with MDF because we felt that it was too flimsy a piece of wood which may easily break. Once we had drawn round the outline of the gun we decided that to keep the gun to the brief we would leave a gap that we could put a piece of dowel into. This involved us removing the top part of the gun  and leaving a platform for it to sit on. 

After it was finally drawn out we moved on to cut them out. We cut out the outline of the guns using a jigsaw with a small blade. We had to use a small blade in the jigsaw because there were tight cuts in the outline that would require a small blade, that can be moved more freely than a larger blade to ensure that the cut was neat. When using the jigsaw you must ensure that you firstly know were your other hand, which is hold down the wood, so that you don't cut through it with the jigsaw. You should also be wary of others around you who may also be holding down the material being cut so that you don't cut into their hands either. Also whilst using the jigsaw you must wear eye protection to stop pieces of wood going into your eyes and causing you injury. 

Here are the guns cut out; 

When all of the guns were cut out we had to router them using a router. We decided to do this because we felt that it would give the guns a clean finish and make them look nice. You use the router by placing it against the wood that you are cutting and moving it from left to right to remove any straight edges. When using a router as with a jigsaw you should ensure that you wear eye protection to stop pieces of wood going into  your eyes. You should also be aware of were the cable is as you are routering as you could router through the cable and give yourself an electric shock or make the tool unsafe to use. 

Once all of the guns were router we moved on to stick the piece of dowel on them. To do this we measured out the piece of dowel so that they were the same length as the gun cut outs but with a slight overhang to give the impression of a barrel. We secured the pieces of dowel to the gun cut outs with wood glue and a brad gun. To ensure that the barrels stayed on I used a lot of wood glue to ensure that it stuck and then put a number of brag nails through it to give them extra sturdiness. When using the wood glue I had to take into account COSHH (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health). This meant that I had to ensure that I didn't get any glue on hands as it was irritant as well as making sure I kept glue away from my eyes as it would cause an injury. As well as making sure that I didn't injure myself with the glue I had to ensure that when using the brad gun I was also aware of my safety. I had to ensure to keep my fingers away from were I was firing a brad as it could end up going in my hand and causing myself and injury. To stop this from happening I ensure that my hands and other hands were away from the firing zone. Once the guns were braded I also had to make sure none of the brads had gone through the wood and if they had I had to ensure that they were removed so that the actors did not hurt themselves when using the prop.

Here are the guns routered, with the dowel stuck on;

With the guns completed I moved on to paint them a similar colour to my research image. I started by basing the guns on a grey colour which had van dyke brown added in to it. I added a bit of brown into the base because the main colours that I was going to be using were brown. Once the base had dried I force blended a raw umber brown an a burnt sienna brown to create a brown colour with a slight red tinge. I felt that this colour was a close match to the colour of the research image. 

Here are the completed guns; 

A period prop is and accurate reproduction of a historical object that is used by an actor during a show. It could be anything ranging from a war medal to a replica gun. Period props can either hired, brought or made. 

Buying A Period Prop

When buying a period prop the first place to look is on the internet at online shopping sites such as eBay. However eBay may not be the best place to look for period props as they may be to overpriced. Other places to look at online are websites that specialise in a certain field like war memorabilia (which would be useful when propping a show to do with war). If you fail to find any period props that you can buy online the next best place to go are charity shops of car boot sales as they are a common place for people to give away old unwanted item that could be a prop that you are looking for. Also a charity shop and a car boot sales are good places to go as you may be able to barter with a seller to get a more reasonable price. 

Hiring A Period Prop

Background on First World War

The First World War, or the 'Great War' as it was then known, was a war that raged from 1914- 1918. It was mainly fought in Europe however it came to involve countries like the United States of America and Japan. It is estimated that over 9 million soldiers lost there life during the conflict. 

The War began on the 28th June 1914 when a Serbian Nationalist assassinated the Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo. This assassination caused Austria- Hungry to declare war on Serbia which in turn divided Europe causing the war to begin. On one side of Europe you had the Triple Alliance (later known as the Central Powers) made up of Germany, Italy and Austria- Hungry and the Triple Entente (later known as the Allied Powers) which was made up of France, Russia and Great Britain. 

A large majority of the war was fought in trenches. The trenches were zig zag shaped and dug deep into the ground in order to protect soldiers from advancing enemies. Soldiers would have to spend a long time in the trenches and were constantly under threat of attack not only from advancing enemies but from various diseases like Trench Foot and Trench Fever. Some of the most deadliest battles of the war (like Ypres and the Somme) occurred during the First World War however it was a war unlike any previous war because the soldier were using more advanced weaponry like machine guns, tanks and an air force. Guns like the Lee- Metford rifle were used by the British troops during the war. On the 11th of November 1918 at the 11th hour the Central Powers signed an armistice which ended the war leaving the Allies victorious. 

Pictures of the First World War; 

Information on the Edwardian Period

The Edwardian Era is said to be a fashionable era brought about after the death of Queen Victoria in 1901 and the coronation of her son Edward VII. This period was a hive of political change which saw women become more and more politically active. It also saw a number of huge event like the sinking of the RMS Titanic and the outbreak of the First World War. 

Context of the Show

At the Miskin we are doing the play entitled Oh What A Lovely War. Oh What A Lovely War is a play written by Joan Littlewood which takes a satirical look at the First World War in its entirety including jokes and song which give the show a comedic feel, whilst using slides and accounts from people who served during the war to show the impact it had on the people who were involved. In has become a ground breaking play that has been performed multiple time in both the West End and on Broadway. In 1969 Lord Richard Attenborough made a musical film based on the stage play. 

Settings of the play