For me, this process of Theatre Company is a chance to really get stuck into what I wanted to do if I became part of my own theatre company. To explore the best way to do those roles whilst still being able to have the safety net of the LPAC and Mark Brewer if I need the help. Even before we discussed in our company which roles that we wanted, I had an idea that I wanted to act and be in charge of designing costumes as they are the roles that I enjoy the most and know the most about as I have done both of them multiple times before.
Costume designing
Although the role of sorting out costumes can often be overlooked or thought of as not important as things such as lighting, props or set. However the costumes can add a lot to a piece. It can show time period, setting and the type of character you are. “Costumes are clothes worn by actors and actresses, which assist them to assume different forms of characters aside their true self” (gustianamettasari, 2011) .As well as this it helps add to characterisation, helping to show the changes that they go through during the play. For example Lily at the start of the play, is shy, nervous and so hides away in big hoodies, however at the end of the play she is more confident which is shown through her clothes that are brighter and do not hide her as much.
I started thinking about costumes the day that we got solid characters, the first and most important thing to do is find out what the character is like in order to give them the correct costume. In order to do so, I read through the script looking at each character in turn, watching what they are like in rehearsals and after gathering my initial ideas, talking to the particular actor to get their opinion to make sure that we had the same idea of what the character should be and that most importantly they would be comfortable in what I wanted to put them in. My character Katie is a motherly character who is a stereotypical over the top girlfriend, so I decided that she would dress very girly, floaty tops, bright colours and cute dresses as she likes to look sweet and pretty for her boyfriend and to her that means dressing as cute and girly as possible. As her go to costume I kept her in a beaded floaty top and jeans, adding a big jumper over the top during the scene at home to make her look comfortable and cosy. In the party scene as it was an end of year party I put myself in a summery dress and kimono, which is clearly what Katie feels most comfortable as it reflects her personality perfectly. Similarly to Katie, Bec’s character, Lacie, also likes to look good for the men in her life. However she uses her body to get what she wants so I put her in tight skirts, high heels and chiffon shirts to show off her figure. The outfit for the party scene was in my opinion especially important as it was a pivotal point in the play for Lacie, she finally got what she wanted, Steven and Jackie breaking up. I wanted her in something that really showed how confident she was as a character as even though I wanted to go overboard with her costume, as she worked in a school I still had to maintain that she was professional and appropriate. However in the party scene I felt it could much more relaxed, resulting in her being in a tight, provocative dress which showed the true extent of her character. This immediately shows the difference between Katie and Lacie without them needing to speak.
The characters of Jackie, Sarah and Steven, came with the issue of making twenty-one year olds into forty year olds. Even though a lot of the age needs to come through the characterisation, the costumes like with any other character needs to be appropriate. Jackie in many ways is like an older version of Katie, so I wanted the costume to reflect that. My original ideas for Jackie were jeans, floaty shirts and floral patterns, however due to what the actor playing her owned, the character ended up in a cardigan, plain top and jeans. Although I still believe that it worked well for her, as she looked comfortable in her marriage and a very relaxed person which is what the character is like. I wanted Sarah to look like a stereotypical music teacher, a bit unusual and alternative but still responsible and of the older generation. About three weeks before the performance, the director decided that it would be best to switch who was playing Sarah, which made me have to rethink the costume slightly because obviously with the new actor she brought a different way of playing the character meaning that the costume had to change in order to reflect that. As the character evolved into the nervous, emotional person that it ended up as, I decided that the best choice was to have her look rumpled, trying to look professional but not always succeeding.
The men were easier to costume as most teachers wear simple suits, so for Steven I put and kept him in a suit for the piece. I wanted Steven to be in a full very neat suit to show that he was not only older than John but also was much higher up in the chain of command. Even at the party he was still in a full suit to show that he was all about business and trying to up keep his good reputation. The only time that he did not have his suit all neat and perfect was in the last scene as his marriage has just broken up so he himself is not happy or in the mood for trying to look perfect and professional. Even though it is just a subtle costume change, added with the acting it showed the dramatic change in character perfectly. With John I wanted to show that he was still an unsure, young teacher desperately trying to hide this fact by dressing professionally for the first time in his life. I kept his outfit’s simple, shirt, a variety of ties, smart trousers and shoes. The only time that his costume changed was for the party scene where I was able to have him dress as a normal twenty something year old in jeans, t-shirt and trainers. I feel that John’s classic no fuss style really suited his character and added to the sort of person that he is as it is my impression that he likes the simpler things in life.
Although I have done costumes many times for various different productions, this was the first time that I had to manage costumes for a big show on my own. I was in charge of making sure that everyone had their costumes when they needed them, sorting out budget if I needed to buy anything and checking through who had costume changes, when they had them and if they needed any help with them. In many ways I had a simple job with the characters in this play as it was modern day and the sort of clothes that people would already have, if it had been a period play then it would have been more of a challenge. Overall I was happy with the way that the characters looked and felt that they reflected and added to them.
The final bows to illustrate the final costumes.
Jackie and Lacie’s normal costumes
Katie and Johns normal costumes
Acting
From even before we started, I knew that I wanted to be acting in the piece, as for me, it is my favourite role in the theatre. I love being able to get stuck into the character I have been given and bring it to life. I especially loved being able to add to the devising process so that we could all have our ideas heard.
The first task for us as a company was to decide what sort of company we wanted to be. Who our target audience would be, what our manifesto should be and what sort of style of theatre we wanted to produce. In the first discussions we all talked about why we got into theatre, what we enjoyed seeing/doing and what we hoped to gain from this experience. We all agreed that we wanted to inspire young people with our theatre because we feel that it is important that young people get interested in theatre to lead the next generation so that theatre does not die. We all said that theatre and doing drama was a way to be comfortable and feel safe when we did not always fit in elsewhere. As a result of this we decided that the best market audience would be 16-25 as it’s a large spectrum of people who are in wildly different places in their lives so we could have a wide range of topics to do. This gave us the idea for our company name, Railcard Theatre, because of the ages on the young person’s railcard. It also relates to where our company is based as in Lincoln trains run through the centre of campus and town and so are a big part of Lincoln life.
Our end logo and name
After deciding who we were, we had to decide what we wanted to produce. Which proved a slight issue, early on it was decided that it would work best with what sort of actors we are and the target audience we chose. However what the content of our play would be was tricky as we found it hard to decide on what would be best so that it could be relatable, funny and hopefully inspire. After many discussions, we ended up with the idea of a school with a new teacher, meaning that we could get the younger viewers with the GCSE student characters and the older ones with the main character, a recent graduate going into their first job.
To start off the process with had simple improvisations, given to us by the director for various scenarios, like the first class for the new teacher, staff room discussions and students in the hallways. Originally it was decided that the main teacher was going to be a female, though after a possible uniform argument turning into a bigger issue it was decided by our director that the teacher would be male. By the end of February we all had solid characters meaning that we could start on the script and bringing our characters to life. I was given the part of Katie, John’s over the top, smothering girlfriend who always seemed to be around school for whatever reason. This was a really fun character to play, as in some ways we were the same person but in many other ways we were completely different.
Katie’s whole life revolves around John, he is the reason that she gets up in the morning and all she wants to do is make him happy and take care of him. Even though on page the character of Katie should be a smaller side character, I was determined to make her just as big, funny and in depth as any others. However to make sure that Katie was a well-rounded, relatable and realistic character I needed to put time into getting to know what she was really like. “Real people are moulded by a lifetime of experience, so in order to make a character truly believable, the actor has to think about that person’s life outside the confines of the play” (Abbot, 86). I went straight into using some of the techniques taught in advanced acting, like for example the questions in John Abbot’s The Acting Book in order to find out for myself what sort of person Katie really is. It is important to know who your character is outside of the play in order to make them believable. As well as this I looked for inspiration for my character, my main one being Stacy from Gavin and Stacy, as often her world revolves around Gavin and she is very upbeat happy and caring which was the sort of character I wanted to create. most people know a girl like Katie, who is very over the top, silly and loving but to make Katie funny, I wanted to push the boundaries of realism, so that she is so upbeat that she is almost unrealistic but not quite.
Like any production and any character, through knowing my character and rehearsing, the characteristics just came out naturally. She ended put being very girly at the start, almost bouncing around the stage with excitement for her boyfriend starting his first job. By the end when the secret of the affair came out through she changed subtly in being less friendly and bouncy around Steven because most import character trait of Katie is that she is fiercely loyal to her friends so in hurting Jackie and breaking up their marriage, Katie felt that Lacie and Steven deserved her being nice to them. It becomes apparent at the end of the play that Katie is more than just John’s girlfriend. She is loyal, caring and proud of what her friends can accomplish.
Overall I was not only very happy with my character but of the play as a whole. I feel that it was not only relatable but funny to watch. I am very proud of what we managed to create as a company.
References
Abbot, J (2012) The Acting Book. London: Nick Hern Books.
gustianamettasari (2011) Stage costumes and make up [Blog] 1 May. Available from: https://chickyarick.wordpress.com/2011/05/01/stage-costumes-and-makeup/ [Accessed 20 May 2016]
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