Family Builds Sparkling Sets and Props
R James Entertainment is renting out 20 full stage sets across the country.
What started as a hobby, after owner and lead builder/designer Ross James retired as Technical Manager at the local theatre, has turned into a successful business with sets and costumes hired to theatres and schools from Cairns to Melbourne.
His wife, seamstress extraordinaire Helen, is responsible for the creative collection of costumes and Laryssa Anger has come on board in an administration and supporting creator role. It’s a small business which cares about your production like it was their own.
There are over 20 full sets available for hire, with endless pieces of other sets and props in their sheds. Need a typewriter from the early 1900s? Absolutely! A park bench? No problem! A vintage phone or telephone, suitcase, sword, throne, or lamppost? Easily done!
One of the most impressive sets in the collection is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, with a light up hydraulic lifting glass elevator, self-drive chocolate bar and bathtub vehicles, a double story Bucket house and a full stage design of colourful LED arches.
Some other stand out pieces include The Little Mermaid grotto, with three separate destruction tricks built in; Priscilla Queen of the Desert with programmable LED screen; a double story, reversible Legally Blonde Delta Nu sorority house with balcony for quick change; and a full set of 3D printed Lion King masks.
Some of the sets are created with multiple trucks that move on and off, like the Matilda set, which includes living room, bathroom, bedroom, Crunchem Hall gates, library and Miss Honey’s house.
Other sets are created to be stationary, such as the Mamma Mia! set, with the full island hotel facade including balconies for the Dynamos and only a revolve to reveal the inside of the bedroom. The hire also includes a few additional pieces and full stage cloths.
With full costume collections for Grease, Little Mermaid, Shrek and Les Misérables to name a few, as well as an endless wardrobe of pieces in between, you’ll be hard pressed to find a show the team at R James Entertainment can’t help you with.
