Panto February 2016: Bottoms Up!

February 2016...yeah I know, two years ago, one day I'll catch up with these posts.
Not sure if this was in honour of the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's death (I'd like to think so...), but we did a take on one of his plays switching it up a bit to fit into the form of a good ol' pantomime.

The name of this panto...drum roll please...'Bottoms Up!' (if you hadn't already guessed by the title) or  how you may have heard it before, 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'.

The play was adapted into the form of a panto, trying to keep as many of the original lines as possible whilst not making it too complicated for the young juniors to get their heads around. Of course just like any other panto there was the addition of popular songs as well.

This production included 41 costumes after talking the count down from 52. Just to remind you, Amateur dramatics, less than 5 months from getting the script (if they finish it in time) to doing the performance, with me as the costume department....! A Donkey head and almost some fairy wings...almost.

However I'm happy to say that with the right advertising this managed to be one of the best pantomimes the group had done for a while.

This time we had a budget of £250 for the costumes, after having several conversations to get a budget in the first place.

We were also able to use a contact of the director/writer; the owner of a local textile company to source some material.

I have never been taught how to work out how much material is needed to buy (which I know sounds absolutely ludicrous); I've always just been told "oh about so much should be alright...". So I spent a while drawing out small sketches of patterns with lengthy annotations, trying to figure out how much fabric I would need. Does anyone know the proper way to estimate the amount of fabric for a costume without pattern laying? If you do, please let me know...

Anyway, after meeting up, getting the fabric and how much the total came to, we didn't actually save that much money, if any. With some of the materials still to be ordered I decided to go back to looking on eBay, finding that the other materials would be cheaper rather than through the textile company's suppliers. I'm still glad I had the opportunity to see inside the company as it was good experience and the owner was very kind for how he helped us.

Luckily enough I was also offered help by the director's mother, who was able to knock up 4 of the costumes for me, from the designs and measurements, which I am incredibly thankful for!

So that's about it for the overview, I think I'll split the posts into four sections:
-The Athenians
-The Mechanicals
-The Donkey Head
-The Fairies


Links:

As ever, 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 and you can check out any upcoming shows.

~K

Write Place, Write Time: Flashbacks

During the beginning of Act 2 we have a flashback to the days before the guests arrived at the hotel, so that the Policeman and Janine can investigate the goings on. However before the flashback all characters are on stage in Act 2 Scene 1 except for John the Mayor as the curtains close, which meant that any costume changes to show a different day had to be extremely quick and something they could just quite literally throw on themselves.

Flashback 1:

These pieces had to be just at the side of the stage for the actors to grab, however one of the actors finishes the scene just off centre stage so I have to meet her part way once the curtains have closed. The first flashback is Front of Tabs meaning in front of the closed curtains, giving the crew time to change the set. This scene flashes back to the time when Mr Pinkerton, John, Ruth and Geoffrey, were rehearsing for their community production of Hamlet.

Now this seemed like a good opportunity to make something Shakespearean, or rather Elizabethan, to make it seem more interesting...costume wise. However as the flashback was of a rehearsal I didn't want everyone wearing Hamlet costumes (which would have taken a long time to make for a such a short scene anyway) so I decided for Ruth to wear a Hamlet-esque costume as she would be playing Hamlet. Yet I wanted the costume to be a toile, to give the feel of a production in progress, however I wasn't sure if the audience would realise it was just a toile and not a bad looking/made garment...

Mr Pinkerton took off his tie and jacket; Geoffrey had a jacket that was quick and easy to throw on, which he kept just at the side of the stage. John was off stage the scene before so he had a jumper over the costume for his next scene because he had to be back on in seconds. Also as he was supposed to be in rehearsals I classed this as a non public event, so he didn't wear his mayoral chains, which helped with the quick change back for the next scene.

Performance photo by Ashley Foster

(Although the photo above is slightly confusing as it was taken during actual rehearsals when Pinkerton wore his coat and the ruff hadn't been attached to the doublet yet).

As for Ruth, it still needed to be something that could be put on very quickly, so I decided to go with a Doublet.

 

I got the pattern for the female doublet out of 'The Tudor Tailor: Reconstructing sixteenth-century dress' book by Ninya Mikhaila and Jane Malcolm-Davies. This was the first piece I made from the book and am pretty pleased with the result of it, especially once I attached the ruff that I had figured out myself.

The ruff sits at such a good angle because I sewed it to the top of the collar which naturally goes up more at the back, the ruff can then be tied at the front with ribbons. I attached the ruff to the collar of the doublet as I really wanted the ruff to be part of the costume, but knew that the actress wouldn't have enough time to put the jacket on and tie a ruff on before going through the curtain. Doing this saved precious time for the change but still gives a great look...I think at least.

The ruff was made by cutting a 13cm wide piece of cotton (apparently linen also works well). I can't quite remember the length of the piece though...sorry.

I then sectioned off 3cm segments all the way along. These would then be turned into box pleats, and ironed/steamed to press them down.

Once done I ran some long gathering stitches about 0.5 cm and 1cm from the top.

When happy with the gathers, they were sewn in place. I then measured the end length and cut a section of fabric to match (42cm by 5cm) which would be sewn around the inside of the ruff to encase the edge. I then stitched a white ribbon on either end of the inner ruff which would be used to tie it together.

I ended up having to make another set of pleats to attach, because it wasn't long enough when it was gathered up as much as I'd have liked. If I made it again, I'd probably make another third to attach as well, to make the pleated edge closer together, and add stitches to get that lovely figure of 8 appearance.

I really liked the look of the ruff once the pleats had been steamed . To get the pleats to look more rounded I steamed them using an old curling iron, steaming each for 15-20 seconds. I did this three times, spraying the ruff with starch before each go, letting it soak in a bit before 'curling'. Spraying the ruff and then steaming/'curling' set the starch and gave more structure to the shape of the pleats.

However since finishing this I would have added more pleats to the ruff (as mentioned earlier), so that when it was worn they were closer together...but for a fist attempt I think it went pretty well. However because this was to be a toile for onstage I didn't insert the boning (but did sew the channels) and didn't hem the doublet, but still think it turned out well.

Flashback 2:

The second scene in the flashback was then a series of phone calls between Geoffrey and John, Pinkerton and then Kevin (individually), adding to the ruse. Again just seconds after the rehearsal flashback another change was needed to simulate a different day, mainly with the use of coats for John and  Pinkerton.

However Kevin, who was calling in sick, couldn't really be in his uniform, unless he knew that his excuse wouldn't work and so would still have to go in. So for this I decided a hoodie would do (loungewear, something comfortable). He then also had to appear in a bit walking through the audience with his coat on (on his way to work), ready to take off to be in his uniform for the next scene. Therefore he had to have very easily changeable additions that he could have on and off quickly whilst walking to the point of entrance.

Flashback 3:

The last flashback was John meeting up with Ruth at the hotel, when he gives her a new knife as a present. This flashback was pretty straight forward seeing as it is in the hotel and Ruth therefore wears her uniform and John just wore the same as the last flashback but with his chains.

Original Performance Photo by Ashley Foster

And that concludes the flashbacks and my posts of the adult production of 'Write Place, Write Time'.

Links:

Thank you to Ashley Foster for the performance photos, 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/  The performance photos I have used I have cropped down to focus on individuals, going to his website will allow you to see full performance shots.

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 and you can check out any upcoming shows.

Talk to you soon.

~K

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