Write Place, Write Time

Photo by Ashley Foster

The last performance of the Grange Player's adult production 'Write Place, Write Time' by Oly Edwards, took place last weekend and went really well, and sounded like the audience definitely enjoyed themselves.

The play is a black comedy set in modern times, so the majority of costumes had to be from the actors' own wardrobes however I still designed the overall look of the costumes. Giving lists of what they each had to bring in, accessories we had in the stock shed and anything I could provide myself.

The Characters are as below:

• Mr Pinkerton : The editor of the Newspaper, a tired and jaded business man, staying at the hotel because his house was being redecorated.

• Janine: Journalist at Pinkerton's Newspaper, staying at the hotel to be close at hand for Mr Pinkerton over the next few days.

• Ruth: Owner/manager of the Three Horses hotel, where the mystery takes place.

• Geoffrey: Hotel butler/porter at the Three Horses.

• Kevin: Bellhop at the Three Horses hotel.

• John: Mayor of the village.

• JB: Jamie Bond, drunken buffoon impersonating 007.

• Ed : Newspaper's competition winners, winning a stay in the 5 star Three Horses hotel with his wife.

• Holly: Ed's wife and the other competition winner/guest in the Three Horses hotel.

• Hag: A bribed gypsy playing the ghost of a murder victim.

• Policeman: Policeman

Now even though I didn't have to alter or make that many things for this production, there was still a lot of work to be done to make sure everything worked.

Going through the script looking at how many changes were going to be needed; which would be quick changes that they'll need help with, or whether they have enough time to go back stage to change.

As the cast had to look within their own wardrobes to find the items I had suggested, I made it easier by creating a spreadsheet to show how many changes would be needed; which scenes; accessories we had in stock; anything I could provide myself, and what I was going to make for the production. These last three were highlighted in different colours. I don't know how useful everyone found this, but I found it extremely useful to get my head around where I had to be to act as a dresser or whether I could just hand people their costumes. It was also handy to refer to during the rehearsals and performances.

 

When making the first spreadsheet I made another alongside it that showed when actors were on

stage and whether a change was needed, which I think some of the actors found useful. It gave a better idea of changes at a glance; allowing them to see the gaps in between appearances.

Using these spreadsheets and the entrances/exits from the script I made a list of what my duties would consist of during the performances and where I had to be when acting as a dresser to the cast (e.g. SL, SR, Green room). Definitely something worth doing again if there are a lot of costume changes involved. Doing this meant the actors didn't have to look around to find me/me find them; I could be where they exit/next appear so that backstage would run more smoothly.

Over the next few posts I will group together certain characters, and talk about their costumes, changes, and the items I made and altered for the performance. The posts will hopefully be as listed below:

• The Hotel Staff: Ruth, Geoffrey and Kevin.

• The Hotel Guests: Mr Pinkerton, Janine, JB, Ed and Holly.

• John the Mayor

• The Hag and the Policeman

• Flashbacks

Links:

Thank you to Ashley Foster for the performance photo, if you want to have a look at his other work or more photos from the adult production please visit his website at http://ashleyfosterphotography.co.uk/  

If you are interested in the drama group itself that I do the costumes for please check out their website at http://www.thegrangeplayers.co.uk or their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/thegrangeplayers where there are more photos to look at as well.

Talk to you soon.

~K