In the theatre, it can be surprising how many diverse props are required. A lot of the variety is necessary because of historical plays, but there are other factors at work such as varied geographical settings as well.
At Keeley Hire, we have over half a million props. It is quite a task keeping tabs on all of them. When we started in the late 1830s, you can probably imagine that our office looked suitably Dickensian with clerks working at huge ledgers which listed the props, or properties as they were no doubt more formally referred to. Nowadays, transport is far easier and we are able to use the internet to show off a lot of the items. However, it is not really practical to list every single thing and we still rely on the expertise of our experienced staff to direct customers around our warehouse and help them find exactly the right props or theatre sets.
The latest additions to the inventory on our website demonstrate just how varied the props that people demand are. Some items are absolutely ordinary. For example, a wooden trestle table can probably be found in community centres and village halls up and down the country. The ones at the venue you have hired may look too modern for your setting though and that is why we can make sure you have exactly the right prop.
Some of our latest items such as iron chandeliers are far more specialised and will fit in with a whole range of medieval props and settings which we have. This includes instruments of torture and tradesmen’s tools.
