Fangs, Special Effects for TV & Film | What we’ve been up to

While Fangs FX may be best known for our TV and movie work, special effects make up and dental prosthetics are just as important on the stage, and being based in London, we get some great opportunities to work with acclaimed actors to help them get the right look for some amazing roles in West End performances.
Among some of our recent stage projects was the live version of Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse’s The Harry and Paul Show, where we created a number of sets of teeth for different characters played by these well loved comedians, including the legendarily stupid posh boy Tim Nice But Dim. For Tim, played by Harry Enfield, we created a prosthetic set of upper teeth to give him his instantly recognisable ‘horsey’ look, which also helps Harry get into the character in terms of the way of speaking – Tim’s ‘toff’ voice being a big part of what makes him so funny.
In a departure from these kind of comic characters, we also made a bottom plumper to push out Olivier award winning actor Bertie Carvel’s bottom lip for his role as Yank in the West End production of classic American expressionist play The Hairy Ape by Eugene O’Neill – a thoughtful play about a working class man’s struggle with class and personal identity.
Another stage production we were involved in the effects for is The Lion, The With and The Wardrobe in Birmingham, where we created beaver teeth for the Mr and Mrs Beaver characters in the Rep Theatre’s stage adaptation of the classic Narnia fantasy story.
Teeth can be very important for delivery of a role, and this can be even more evident on the stage than on film, even if the audience may not get to see the prosthetics up close. Making comfortable prosthetic teeth actors can really work with is something Fangs FX pride ourselves in, for both stage and screen!