"Our children, and our sins, lay on the King!"

"Let us our lives, our souls,
Our debts, our careful wives,
Our children, and our sins,
lay on the King!"
William Shakespeare, "Henry V" Act IV, Scene 1



The genius of Shakespeare has long been discussed but I have found an instance of it that I cannot allow to be lost in the conversation about Costumes.

While re-charting the costume changes for the Paper Wing Theatre's production of "The Tragedy of MacBETH", I noticed that King Duncan is in 3 scenes and then gets killed (we have added that as a scene). “King” MacBeth is in 3 scenes and then gets killed.

The Bard had a distinct sense of symmetry and one might even conclude that he is making a statement that all “Kings” are the same. There are many scholarly resources that I could look into for more evidence of the playwrights views of the monarchy, but time is too short - I rely solely on the text.

This is just one of many intricacies of the play, but one that is not so obvious until you see it on a COSTUMES CHART!



By the way, I am in my last week before Dress Rehearsals. It's exciting, scary, thrilling, and TIME-SENSITIVE!

"I may know your character better than you do right now!"

So in my earlier blog post, I discussed my costume design binder that had Questions, Cast List, LOOK BOOK, etc. in it. These were just the beginning of the essentials that I’ve been collecting in there.

The rehearsal schedule is critical to have printed out in my binder. There have been a few days shuffled around and I was able to make quick notes about them with out having to use my laptop or change my calendar on my phone while the director is still talking.

I also needed the working script so that I could breakdown the scenes. This is one of the most important processes of all. One must completely understand the play and its action to be able to determine the type of clothing needed, and the number of costume changes that are necessary.

I want to take a moment to say that it is critical for the costume designer to be a most of the rehearsals. Often the Director and the players are blocking scenes and may add or cut from the existing work.  The costumer must be very familiar with the material to be able to help “guide” the Director if, say, one knows that a scene that is being cut will dramatically affect the main character’s ability to complete his costume change. That decision could affect many characters that way. Another example would be if the Director adds a scene. The costumer must be there to understand the new dynamics and likely “add” a costume change to the actor’s gear. The costumer has to know the action and timing of the play as well as the Director does to be able to have all of the appropriate clothing, etc come out on time.

To breakdown the scenes, I read through the entire script without stopping or noting anything. This helps one to know the feel of the story and gain a sense of its timing. Having “MacBETH” as my favorite Shakespearean play was both an advantage and a disadvantage for me. The advantage came from my intimate knowledge of what the “traditional” presentation of the play looks like which was vitally important when conferring with the Director and the Producer – “I know whereof I speak…” – and have the “internal clock” of the play ticking in my head. The disadvantage is that knowing the play very well, I found myself anticipating – action – movements – tones – instead of having a good clean reading of the text. Regardless, I got through the first reading and moved on to note-taking.

The second reading of the text, I held pencil in hand and made ready. Looking up each Act number and Scene number, I noted the place within time, the location, and the characters that all appeared. So for example:

Act I, Scene I:

A desert place.

(Three Weird Sisters)

Act I, Scene II:

A camp near Forres.

(King Duncan, Malcolm, Donalbain, Lennox, Attendants, Sergeant, Rosse, Angus)

And so on through the whole play. Of course, the importance of this is clear. 1) One must know where in the play the action is happening; 2) One must know what environment the actors will portray, and 3) One must know which characters will be in the scene. Here I add an extra bit – 4) One must know which actors are NOT in the scene. This goes back to timing. Knowing the play well, I know that Lady MacBETH does not appear immediately in the play and that there will be necessary “Hair & Make-up” time for her. Balance that with the other players going on and coming off of the stage and the fact is clear: I need to know where EVERYONE is EVERY SECOND of the play. I need every second of time I can get.

OK. It goes a little bit farther now. Opening the script for the third time, I read it with one thought in mind the entire time: what is the costume each character is wearing at this moment. Reading through the text, I listed the three weird sisters’ costume change #1, MacBETH’s costume change #1, Banquot’s costume change #1, and so on. It got tricky though. There are multiple characters coming in and out of the scene, so meticulous attention is required. As I moved on through the test, I noted, MacBETH’s costume change #2, MacBETH’s costume change #3, and so on – for each character in the play.

Here’s a screen grab of the first two scenes of Act I:

By this time, I was feeling like a Shakespearean scholar, but it doesn’t end there. I began the process of matching the actors to their roles. Simple, right? Well, not so much. The words are easy enough but learning the faces with the names is not. Plus this was when I began requesting Sizes. By the time I actually got to touch the first piece of clothing, I was able to say to any character in the play, "I may know your character better than you do right now!" TRUTH!

Ah, but I’ll leave that for my next post.

The Tragedy of "M"

             First Witch
 48   All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!

      Second Witch
 49   All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!

      Third Witch
 50   All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!

Restless and excited when Patrick was recast as MacBETH, I told him that we were going straight out to take photos, if only for inspiration. I ended up taking a series of shots – 45 of those shots were considered pretty darn good, and we landed on a few exceptional ones.

I created the poster above from one of those shots. Instead of proclaiming “MacBETH!” across the top, I opted for the more subtle “M” with the opening date in roman numerals. I was sure to put this in my LOOK BOOK that I shared with the Director and the Producer (see previous blog for info on my LOOK BOOK).

Another benefit from the photo shoot was that we could see his movement in the garments. Leather doublet and black kilt, with "accessories" like tartan scarf, etc. were restrictive in movement as he climbed up a steep hill and almost fell down the same hill. In the end, we both decided that we would like to take more photos indoors to represent the conditions under which the play will be performed, that is to say, we didn't want people to get the impression that this was an outdoor play.

"Glamis Hath Murdered Sleep!"

Before taking on the costuming for the Paper Wing Theatre's production of "MacBETH", I thought of the magnitude of the project. MacBETH is no small scale black box show. There are nearly 30 people playing MORE than 30 roles, which means that the true difficulty in this is the organization of the thing! Still, with my motto -- FEAR NOT! -- I jumped right in.

I grabbed a binder and began to prepare. First, the easy stuff: the rehearsal schedule and the preliminary cast of characters. Then, the list of critical questions: What's off limits? What resources? What's the budget? 

As much as possible, I have been recording info in a document I am calling Dseigners Forms.  This is in MS Excel and consists of many tabs with names CAST LIST, CAST SIZES, COSTUME CHART, COSTUME CHANGES, COSTUME BREAKDOWN. This list grew as I moved on to my next priority... the LOOK BOOK.

The LOOK BOOK was as much for me as it was for the Producer and Director. I started off with a thought - what are the elements of the period and the famous productions? What photos are available online? The major performances were all there including Orson Welles. The photos ranged from period to present day, and searching the web began to feel overwhelming.

My mom always tells me to break things down into baby-steps and that was just the advice I needed for this.  Finally, the natural pattern of the Scottish play emerged: Groupings -- MacBETH Traditional, MacBETH Modernistic, MacBETH Poster Ideas, MacBETH Set Ideas, MacBETH with the Three Weird Sisters, MacBeth with Lady MacBETH (blended), Lady MacBETH Traditional, Lady MacBETH Modernistic, and Lady MacBETH AVANT GARDE. This last section included such things as a "fur" coat made of looped video tape, a "fur" stole made from crocheted shredded white plastic bags, Punk Rock and Vampire designs, and the Unisex Fashions of the Rad Hourani Fashion House. 

This blended approach facilitated an organized brainstorming session with the Director and later with the Producer. It allowed me to hear and observe their impressions and expressions. I could see what excited them and where they wanted to pull back. To be honest, this method worked surprisingly well, and still serves as inspiration for me. 

I intentionally made the margins large so there would be room for notation, drawings, or doodles. The pages were carefully arranged so that the layout was balanced as opposed to looking "thrown together" or sparse, and since it was to be printed back-to-back, I made sure that each facing page complimented the other. Printed in full, lush color on 20 lb paper, the LOOK BOOK was 3-hole punched and placed in the binder.


By this time, I had collected a large number of photos and was about to start searching for Forms for Costume Designer Organization. I realized that this too would be a lot of information so before I proceeded any further, I set up an organizational system in my Costume Design folder. Here's a screen grab of it. 

From here, I was able to drag photos or docs to the appropriate folder, and am prepared in advance for files & images that I know are coming and will need a home. 

At this point, I had been working on this project for two (2) days, and this was when I started to work on this in my sleep. It recalls Lady MacBETH who re-enacts the murderous events in her famous "sleep walking" scene. OK. I didn't murder my ideas, nor did I sleep walk. Still, I was recreating my waking work in my sleep. Needless  to say, this has led to far less sleep - the trapping of deeds that MacBETH recognizes when he exclaims following his act Regicide, "Glamis hath murdered sleep!" Luckily for me, this gives me joy!

I will continue to elaborate on my  process in my next post...

The Gothic Gourmet: Dreaming of Costumes Blog

I have been dreaming of costumes for my whole life.

I’m sure it started with my mother dressing me in beautiful dresses as a little girl. Once I turned "Tom-Boy", I liked the more sporty stuff. By High School, I was a New Romantic / Punk wearing leather skirts and just starting to explore the ‘unisex’ look. First year of college brought me into Designer clothes. This was just one part.

Then there was Easter, Christmas, and Halloween. Easter shopping was elegant and always “something more’. Christmas was about color and celebration. Halloween, though, as you probably have already guessed, was where the concept of DESIGNING took shape.

The early years saw store bought costumes. One favorite was “Casper The Friendly Ghost”. Dang! How old was then? Maybe 6? Maybe 7? Eventually, I started to come up with my own costumes. The routine was like this: “Gah! It’s Halloween tomorrow and I haven’t made a costume yet! What do I have?” followed by a search through the closet, then the garage. Inspiration usually came from a weirdly bent piece of metal or a branch that had been trimmed from the tree in the backyard. Once I had a concept, I would go back to the closet or more likely the scrap bag of fabrics. From there I would start “my build”. To be honest, there were very few times when I sewed an outfit completely, though I sew. No! On such short notice, creativity is the master of invention and costumes were constructed from my wild imaginings. I wish I had photos from back then. It would be interesting to see how many of those creations were truly successful and how many were… not.

Anyhow, those were the early years… the courageous early years where I learned how much I LOVED COSTUMES! I loved the potential. I loved the failures almost as much as the successes because inevitably those unsuccessful ones taught me to take a chance, even try a new technique, damn the consequences. Oh, I just love that! “Damn the consequences!”

In recent years, I’ve been more precise in my practice. Some costumes: My son’s Space Cadet costume was fun; Renaissance outfits for Dane, Patrick, and myself. Those were very demanding projects and didn’t employ any “build” to them. They were straight up sewing projects. No child will forget my "Other Mother" from "Coraline" complete with button eyes that I wear for two straight days. There's just too many to enumerate. The next “build” was my DALEK GOWN. I have photos of that process and will post them in a separate blog entry. The idea there was to de-construct a gown to re-construct it… and then add the DALEK to it. It was a very fast-paced project and really was the longest in the end.

And here I am today! Embarking on a super secret dream that I didn’t realize I had until it was handed to me. I am so in love with this idea! And yet, I admit, it’s a – - BIG. SCARY. COMMITMENT. That’s OK. I have a new motto this year – NO FEAR! Or put more poetically – FEAR NOT! Ha! It makes me feel better when I say that… and that is what gets me through all of the scary stuff I’ve been through in my life only now it has a name – FEAR NOT!

When I accepted this challenge, the first thing Patrick said to me was, “You HAVE to Blog this! Blog the whole process.” Something about that rang so true in me. So this is the beginning of that. Now that my costuming background is exposed, I’ll move on to my process in the next post.

Eternal Mist

Voyaging across the Atlantic from America, hearts beating with anticipation, they were married in the first church they found upon coming ashore. Two new people – one new bond - in the land of love and tears.







He rented the old tower that sat on the edge of the cliffs, knowing how much he and his bride loved the history of the old place. Perfectly positioned, he embarked on his career. It was a romantic dream. He knew that. Throughout childhood, his mother told stories of his ancestors. They were a seafaring lot that started as whalers and fishers, and ended with a small fleet of ferries. The patriarch left Ireland for America, and he left his small fleet as well. Passing from one inheritance to another, the fleet had made its way back to him while he was still in college.







And college is where he met her. Amidst all of the school work, networking, drinking, fun, and chaos, she had appeared… and stayed. They were on different paths when they met but there was one moment when their paths became the same one direction. They were partners in everything. She was there when he set sail.







It was a gloriously beautiful day, the day he first set off. They had kissed in their newlywed way and she ran off, turning and waving, yelling out that she would watch him from the cliffs. And she did run the whole way up the narrow and precarious stair that cut a scar into the cliff just below their home. At the top, she watched in wonder as the final preparation was complete and the small ferry set out. Waving and jumping, tears steamed down her face. “Goodbye! Goodbye.” She shouted until her husband neared the horizon. It was then that she felt the cold of the fog as it lapped over the cliffs nearby.







Recalling her sweet wedding ceremony in the small cottage-sized church and their wedding dinner in the neighborhood tavern, she realized the skip in her step had brought her nearly home. She slowed her pace and was suddenly gripped by the icy fog. Her bones ached; her mind filled with loneliness.







She had promised him that she would go down to the Pointe everyday until he returned home, and everyday she made her way down to the precipice. Her grey eyes peered into the continuous fog searching for an opening, for a glimpse of the sea. The salty ice droplets stung her eyes and she sat as a blind woman fighting the will of nature. Hour upon hour, day upon day, she sat in isolated stillness, never seeing beyond the edge, returning home only when her soaked clothes and aching bones forced her slow drudge to the empty tower.







One day, she did not wake.
No day, he did return.
Who remembers loves embrace
from this inhospitable, beautiful place?



For Patrick, for his birthday, forever.



...

CUT OFF YOUR BROKEN LIMB

On the Monterey Peninsula we have, as of late, been having quite strong winds that have snapped branches and trees all around. The wind today has been especially strong and I had been hearing some strange crackling sounds so I knew it was time to walk the property checking the condition of my trees. Sure enough, the Flowering Apricot tree had several branches broken. It was time to trim them back.

The pruning process is one that I enjoy very much. Its a time to influence the shape of the plant as well as the landscape, and its an important part of the health of the property. And I find this time to be especially meditative where the mind is singly focused and the body is physically active.

I trimmed back the tree quite a lot, shaping the sides, removing broken and damged areas, and cleaning up the base that had overgrown due to abundant rain this winter and spring. While cutting, I observed, to my Horror(!), an aphid infestation on one half of the tree. Inevitably there is also an ant infestation so this discovery is crucial to regaining control of the growing environmnet. When the wind subsides, I will be treating the area to control the infestation.

This was such a productive activity and I know the aesthetic appeal is improved. I encourage readers to walk their properties, large or small, to observe all of the vegetation. This is the only way to "know" your landscape and you'll be aware a changes that threaten your garden. And allow yourself to reap the benefit of quiet solitude and reflection. This is a time of renewal for you too!

Be well, until next time,

From the Sunny Side of the Graveyard,
Beverly The Gothic Gourmet