Costuming a staged performance
Costuming a Staged
Performance
Introduction
Costuming
can be a great tool of enhancing a performance. The following guidance is just
that and the team who organise a production are responsible for deciding what,
if any costuming is appropriate. Generally there are four main points to always
consider:
a)
Costumes should be appropriate to the item
within the show.
b)
Costumes should fit each person well, with
care taken over measurements and manufacture.
c)
Costumes should be ironed and maintained
for the run of the show, as should all appropriate accessories.
d)
Costumes should be a credit to the
Movement and should give any possible cause embarrassment to the artists or
the audience.
Further
points
Ideally everyone would prefer to keep their own costumes, but
before you rush off to do so, consider the following:
- Look around and see if you can borrow or
hire costumes from another show, or a hire shop. If you can't, then make your own. If you make your own, it is best to make them out of the highest standard possible using good material. This way you will enhance
your performance, use these or adapted versions at future performances and, as
an added bonus, possibly be able to hire them out and thus get a return on your
investment.
Consider:
- Do you have suitably skilled people that
can put the costumes together?
- Do you have good storage facilities free
from damp and rodents, with reasonable access and good insurance cover?
- Will somebody take on the job of looking
after the hiring out of costumes on your behalf? (It should be the
responsibility of one person who will not allow everyone to have free access.)
- In the long run it is not worth using
cheap fabrics as they do not wash very well and soon end up looking very
shabby.
- Specialist costumes such as period,
animals, uniforms and so on, are not easy to make and certain fabrics can be
very expensive. Therefore it would be better to consider hiring these. You should be able to get quality costumes at
reasonable prices and the price should include a laundering service. You may only use a specialist costume once,
so consider carefully before manufacturing one yourself.
- Hiring from other performance groups is
not usually expensive, but if you want to continue to use this service then you
should always return costumes promptly, clean and ironed. Also remember to remove all your
identification labels and undo any alterations and so on, which you've
undertaken. This will be greatly
appreciated and assure you of future use.
- Ensure that insurance covers all costumes,
both your own and those hired. You need
to be covered for every eventuality - a pre-show fire could result in the need
for professional help to allow the performance to go on.
- Consider all the costumes that you
manufacture as an investment and show them as an asset on the annual accounts
balance sheet.
- Try to avoid getting the cast bringing in
their own clothes from home for items as they can get lost or even stolen, and
the ensuing fuss 'kicked up' isn't worth it.
Many items can often be obtained from jumble sales or charity shops -
thus avoiding a fashion competition between cast members.
- Measuring - chest, hips, waist, inside
leg, arm to neck and neck to bottom.
When manufacturing trousers or skirts add an extra 10 cm (four inches)
onto hip measurements for full freedom of movement. For shirts and blouses also allow extra arm hole width as
strenuous movement will soon split tight arm hole,-. Allow extra length on
the bodies of costumes if they are to be tucked in, if they are not, then cut
costumes so they all sit at about the same place. Don't have some covering backsides whilst
others expose midriff.
- Extra consideration should be paid to
larger cast members’ costumes which should be cut accordingly.
- Where T-shirts are concerned, add 10 cm
(four inches) to a child's chest measurement and 15 cm to an adult's. This will give a good fit for the stage
though not necessarily in the fashion stakes.
Finale
Traditionally staged performances have, by custom and tradition, ended in
full uniform,
these days some shows end in this manner, whilst others choose not to.
Performance
week
Below are some top tips for organizing costuming of a performance:
- Always have two dressers in attendance for
each separate dressing room used.
- Provide each dresser with:
- A running order with a list of the costumes used in each item, with
indications for footwear, hats, wigs and so on;
- A cover to go over cast members' heads to avoid make-up getting smudged
or onto costumes.
- Provide one coat-hanger per person for
every item they are in. Put a name and
number plus the item it's used for on each one.
- Have a separate collection point for wigs
and hats, it saves on cluttering the dressing space up and stops hats getting
crushed and so on.
- Make sure that all borrowed costumes are labelled with the owner's name.
- On the last night make sure you have
plenty of storage boxes available to carefully pack all the costumes, items and
accessories into when they are all finished with.
- Allocate costumes to people for washing -
ideally by grouping same coloured garments together and so on, rather than by
item. Make a list of who has what and
chase them up on their progress to get them returned promptly.