Printed backdrops for Charlie the Musical

Production company Deep Bridge brought the famous musical Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to the stage in three different Belgian cities. And the backdrops were finger-licking good.  

Silhouettes with blackout fabric 

Live on stage, an outline of wonky houses in blackout fabric turns into a fairytale-like industrial city. How? Sewing the cut-outs onto a stage net allows the irregular shapes to hold their form. When lights hit it from behind, the net magically disappear and a gloomy city erects. A fascinating tale of two fabrics working together to create this foggy cityscape. 

Printed window trickery 

When the scenery changes to the facade of Willy Wonka’s factory, it feels like there is an entire world hidden behind those barred windows. A mysterious effect of depth that is achieved by printing them on a high-quality decorative print fabric that is more opaque than actual glass. In the spirit of Willy Wonka, everything is not what it seems, as are these windows. They are actually roman blinds that line up perfectly with the grid of the print, making them invisible, even when backlit. 

High-quality print on stage fabric 

A massive decorative sign shows the face of a nutcracker. We clearly arrived in the nut processing room of the factory. Is it a beautifully hand-painted backdrop or a high-quality but affordable print fabric, who will tell? Here’s a little scoop: it’s the latter.  

Want to create stage magic using printed backdrops?   

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