Mobility Scooters turned into dodgems at All the Fun of the Fair

When David Essex’s All the Fun of the Fair opens at the Garrick Theatre tonight expect a very colourful and noisy funfair with dodgem cars and sideshows as the show’s backdrop.

The creation of the funfair scenery took eight weeks and included buying four motorbikes, stripping them down to remove unnecessary weight and draining all flammable oil and petrol. The dodgems also had to be modified by gutting the engines, and putting the bodies on to battery-operated mobility scooters. But the biggest problem was the Garrick Theatre’s tall but narrow stage door which the items had to be designed to fit through.

The production staff who were touring with the production last year took about four hours to set up scenery during the get in, but in London All the Fun of the Fair took two days just to unload.

Luckily it seems to all have been worthwhile as the show has been getting standing ovations at the previews.