More from the Costume and Prop Warehouse tour

It was with great disappointment that our group learned that the Costume and Prop Warehouse doesn't rent out costumes for Halloween, because what could be more perfect than dressing up as Titania, Queen of the Fairies, or Bottom wearing a donkey's head? Or how's about King Henry VIII? No? Me neither. Although I've been given to understand that our figures are remarkably similar. And -- heaven be thanked -- I don't have a beard.

But there were some other very interesting things to be seen 'way back in the dim recesses of the warehouse. Such as this immense and towering mast, which looked like it could have served on the Nina, the Pinta or the Santa Maria.

Tasty hors d'oeuvres, anyone? If you're hungry, you might want to skip these, seeing as how they're made of dense foam carved into the shape of deviled eggs and celery sticks.

My husband was delighted to see these mugs of beer sitting temptingly on a table. They looked so incredibly real, but being made of plastic, they were extremely lightweight. You'd think that maybe they were those joke mugs you can find in souvenir stores and the like, but they were actually crafted on site by the craft artisans employed by the Stratford Festival.

Sometimes the props are a little gory. There was one of a life-sized decaying corpse that startled us all as we came around a corner, and then there was this severed head, which looked very realistic. I can't remember what play this was used for, but a mask was taken of the actor's face so that the artists couldrecreate him in foamand latex looking very, very dead.
The hair was even real. Eeek!