Margaret costuming, part I

The aesthetic was "vaguely World War I"-- emphasis on the vague --where most people would be in military uniforms. As I mentioned, I tend to prefer to applying a very unified design to a show's array of costumes, here I mostly shot to honor Dave's preferences and keep the characters looking distinctive from each other. To be honest, things worked out even better than I expected, hitting my main goals as well as suiting some of my personal design theory. The cast was good enough to allow me to take pictures for my portfolio, so I thought I'd show them to you and explain what I was thinking.


Here is lovely Caitlin as the main character Margaret. Dave wanted her in red to make her stand out visually and to indicate her powerful personality. Caitlin has a fabulous figure that not many people are blessed to have, which made finding red dresses to fit her a bit tough. The best I could do was a dress of mine I thrifted a while back fortunately made of a stretchy fabric, which I've always liked because of the high-low skirt and the unusual combination of one flutter sleeve and two spaghetti straps on the other side. One of these days I'd like to make a copy of it by hand. The fit isn't perfect on her, but overall I think it's all right. Over her shoulder is my red blazer-- which Caitlin once remarked upon seeing as "very sharp" --to make her seem more serious and offiical in other scenes. The shoes were costume heels I thrifted specially for the purpose, which were sexy and striking but apparently quite uncomfortable. Apologies, Caitlin, you made them work beautifully even so.


Here is Plesser as the Duke of Suffolk. This is probably my favorite costume in the show. I found the jacket and the pants at the thrift store in Waltham, separately even though they match so well. The red collared shirt is from club storage, actually quite nice, chosen because of his allegiance to the red-rose Lancaster family. It also made a nice subtle connection with Magaret The "boots" aren't actually boots, but rather a pair of brown dress shoes under the leather half-chaps I wear to horseback ride. The belt belonged to Plesser, fortunately matching the color of the boots. I like this ensemble particularly because it looks very, very much like pictures of my my great-grandfather in his WWI cavalry uniform. I made the sash myself out of synthetic red shantung, trimmed in yellow braid I had among the sewing notions my mom packed up for me. He looks very handsome, and I don't think I came up with a sharper look for this show.

Here are Charlottte and Steph as the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester. It's a little hard to tell in Charlotte's picture because of the weird light, but I fashioned a uniform for her out of a blue blazer and a pair of navy tuxedo pants I found at the Garment District, which made me decide that the color of this couple with be blue. I wanted to get Charlotte a real military dress uniform, but I couldn't find one in any store I could get to in the time I had; there wasn't time to order one online. So I had to improvise. In order to make the blue wool blazer more like a dress jacket, I sewed red and gold braided trim on the cuffs, the pockets, and across the shoulders. More gold fringe like on Plesser's sash was sewn to the shoulders, and a larger version like what you'd find on the edges of a rug went across either breast. At Charlotte's suggestion, three more gold buttons were put on to make it look more like a men's jacket. A white mandarin-collared dress shirt she had completes the look. I wish I'd had time to take in the waist of the tuxedo pants, but otherwise they created the right look. Beside her is Steph in the iridescent blue dress with the cowled back that Emma so graciously lent us. I think it's very flattering on her, and the way it shimmered beneath the lights was lovely. I am very glad they ended up in the blue because it made them stand out nicely against all the olive-drab in court, and because it made for a great moment when Margaret and the duchess faced off and created a great visual of red versus blue.

To be continued in another installment!

"Your tears serve but to wash my wounds in salt." - Biweekly Theater Writing Challenge #9

Last night I found myself inspired and started working on this scene. It would be part of Sundan, where our tragic hero's closest friend Bastian finds out that he's loves their friend Juliana. From Sundan I am going for shame turned into rage at his helplessness to positively deal with his feelings and his situation. With Bastian I'm trying to convey that mixture of pity for the sufferer's plight and profound embarrassment on their behalf that you are seeing something they would rather hide. As a person who is often deeply ashamed to be a victim or to be helpless in dire straits, the situation resonates with me on both sides. Though it could use some polishing, I think I'm on to something, and I believe there is some real poetry among these lines. It needs a clearer lead into the scene, and it needs a firmer ending, but the meat of it is something real.

BASTIAN: Jesus wept, sweet Sundan, can it be so
That you love our fair friend Juliana?

SUNDAN: Speak not of this to me.

BASTIAN: Heaven forfend but I see past your eyes!
O most ill-starred and tragic turn of fate!
O most pitiable of fortune’s dogs!

SUNDAN: Speak not of this! As you love me, speak not!

BASTIAN: Never till this moment had I seen.
How canst thou have hid a thing like this,
A weight and meaning of such vast import,
With scarce a word or nod even to me?
Have I not shed my blood beside you, kept
Your counsel, stood first among your men,
Your dearest friend, and yet you told me not?

SUNDAN: This thing was never meant to leave the dark,
Not before your eyes nor Juliana’s!
When hope is dead before even its birth,
What profits aught for it to come to light?

BASTIAN: How long? How long have you lov’d her, Sundan?

SUNDAN: Ever, always, then and now.
A truth I buried deep for fear that she
Would never look on me as I on her,
Until the day when I resolv’d to speak,
A boy in my command won her away,
And sure I saw what I had ever known.
Wherefore do you groan and grimace so?

BASTIAN: My heart is torn in two for you.

SUNDAN: Your heart must no rival in tenderness,
That I am most wretched of love’s fools,
And yet Bastian bravely suffers so.

BASTIAN: I pray forgive but pity lays me low.

SUNDAN: Villain that you are for that pity,
For naught but its cruel blade may bleed me else,
As torn and bare as this has left me.
You drag my darkest bruises out all whilst
You twist in borrow’d shame for my sad state.
For shame hide thy long and louring face!
Your tears serve but to wash my wounds in salt.
Beset me no more with condoling blows
Lest you draw your keen compassion from its sheath
And with your loving kindness cleave me raw.
To think we make much of love and mercy!
Of mankind’s wonder, gloried gifts of God
To raise us to more than ungentle beasts,
One murders me by inch and ell for years,
The other works but to draw out my pains.
I’ll no more of man’s glories, sir, and pray
God may make me unmoved as a stone
To be no more burn’d with human warmth,
Or else consum’d, to bleed for this no more.

BASTIAN: In justness to your wishes I defer.
I’ll not presume to prick your plight anew.
For all the grieving fullness of my heart,
I can do naught to set things right for you,
And my empty words make you no solace.
Beyond them I have nothing.

SUNDAN: If have you nothing, I’d have that nothing from you,
For nothing can be remedy alone,
In only nothing may my sorrows end.

BASTIAN: You speak as with some evil toy within
You as I could not bear to see you act.
I fear behind those palled eyes does haunt
The glimmer of some desperate thing.

SUNDAN: Fear not but that all desperate things have chas’d
On heels one after other through my mind.
But long time can teach us patience as we
By no means other, hard or well, may learn.
Time I’ve had in plenty in this state,
In no lesser measure than but pain,
And my stern schoolmaster has laid it out
To learn elsewise is where perdition lies.
With soldier’s steadfast pace, I soldier on,
And as in war, in time all turns to scars.

BASTIAN: Thy wounds look fresh to me, old friend,
Fresh as engaged rings on fingers slipp’d.

SUNDAN: New wounds are habit too by now, so just
The same I’ve learned to bear them as they break.
There is no ministering to this hurt,
So well content to do me no more pain.

BASTIAN: Forgive me more most hollow words, but know
Naught would I spare to change this thing for you.
If it within my power lay, the earth
Would shake and groan to see it were not so.

SUNDAN: Then were my Bastian Atlas, with shoulders broad
To move both the earth and a lady’s love.
Leave me, old friend. Spare me the burden of your eyes.

(Exit BASTIAN.)

SUNDAN: It is as if I crumble piece by piece.
Now Bastian has my ancient secret out!
In span of years I ne’er myself betray’d.
It is this gnawing madness breaks me down;
With each day it wears more away my soul.
Sure that Marcus envies no man his joy,
Nor genders no man’s pity. There is no way
That he does not exceed my measure.
Oh, if my old friend could see the whole of it.
No mercy Bastian owes to me besides
Such pity as we show a fallen horse
With leg too shattered again to rise.

Things right now

Just finished my most recent blank verse assignment for school. I kind of hate it, but I think it satisfies the requirements. At this point that's the best I can hope for, while maybe I'll incidentally get better at generating unrhymed iambic pentameter. I do not much think this course study has made me much better a poet than I was before, so honestly I'm feeling like it was kind of a waste.

For my next regular playwrighting assignment I have to write a one-act play, which is supposed to be about an hour long. I have no idea what that will be about. I had a tough enough time figuring out stories to run just ten minutes. But I only have a few weeks to do it in, so I'll better get cracking.

Margaret opens tonight. I've seen the show at rehearsal several times now, but I'm going to try to attend as many performances as I can in order to support them (not to mention enlarge the audience.) There is also a photo call beforehand, which I'm going to try to be present for so I can take pictures of the costumes. I want to have them for my portfolio, and to e-mail to my mother.

I normally would have ballet tonight, but I want to be there for opening night. Also, my Achilles tendon is a little sore, presumably from pliés, and I really don't want to do permanent damage to it. Still, I hate missing class. I enjoy doing it, it's a great workout, and I don't want to fall behind in my learning. My progress has been spotty; some nights I feel like I'm improving and following along fairly well, some night I feel clumsy and weak. My arms are still ugly. I just wish I were better at remembering exactly what the exercises we do in class are so I can more effectively practice on my own between classes.

Today is a sad kind of day.

The newest addition to our little family

My grownup corner is no longer in quite the same state it used to be. My beloved butcher block is under the window now, while my collection of copper pots hangs on another wall. But it sure does look lovely against the blue wallpaper, and the adorable little spice rack that blendedchaitea* made is a charming companion for it. And doesn't the newest addition to our little copper family look nice? :-D

I'm beginning to think my journal needs a "home decor" tag, given how often I write about it lately.

Big beautiful copper bowl

As I've mentioned, I'm a huge fan of copper cookware. It delights me to no end to have it in my kitchen. Unfortunately it tends to be very expensive, especially when bought new. Today when I was doing my final costume run for Margaret I was in the Framingham Savers, on my way out, I spotted this lovely copper mixing bowl, ten inches across and about five quarts in volume.



And this is no piece of junk copper. Most of the copper I've been fortunate enough to find in thrift stores tends towards the cheaper sort, thinly coated, lacking the heft that characterizes the good stuff. This, however, is sturdy and substantial, not to mention a sizeable piece. Mauviel, the premier manufacturer of copper cookware in the world, sells a bowl of this size for $130.00.

I paid $2.99. HELL, YEAH.

Margaret's garter

Just wanted to post about a little bit of costuming I made for Margaret-- though it is a small, simple thing, I am pleased with how it came out.

For one scene Margaret needs to have a garter that she can take off and put on York's head as a mocking crown. I didn't know about this until relatively late in the process, so I found myself needing to make one on short notice. Digging around in the bits and pieces in my sewing box, I found inch-wide elastic, dark red ribbon, and white lace with large holes up the band in the middle. The ribbon was the perfect width to go through these holes, so I wound it in and out of them, over three on top and then under one below. I left a tail of ribbon hanging out on either end. Then I measured Caitlin's leg to make sure the elastic would be just snug enough. I stretched the elastic as far out as it would go and pinned one end to my shoe and pulled the other end taut with my hand. Working to keep it pulled out the whole time, I sewed the laced and ribbon part onto the elastic so that the non-stretchy lace would not keep it from stretching as necessary once it was attached. Then I sewed the ends up together and tied the tails of the ribbon in a little bow. This is how it came out.


Despite my efforts, it is not as stretchy as I hoped it would be. Fortunately it fits on Caitlin's leg well enough and can be easily put on and taken off. I like the look of it a lot; it's pretty and elegant and I am pleased with my utilization of the resources I had available. I really lucked out with the ribbon width and the holes down the middle of the lace. It's a nice little handmade touch that I am pleased with myself to have made.

Official Invitation: Hold Thy Peace presents MARGARET, A TIGER'S HEART

Here is your official invitation to Hold Thy Peace's next main stage show, Margaret: A Tiger's Heart, a cutting together of Shakespeare's Henry VI plays and Richard III threads that center around Margaret, a French princess who was prominent in the War of the Roses. I hear the costuming was thrown together a week before the show. Don't you want to see how that mess came out? ;-)

MARGARET, A TIGER'S HEART
Directed by Dave Benger
Assistant Directed by Jenna Schlags and Lenny Somervell
Produced by Jonathan Plesser and Yoni Bronstein
Staged Manged by Elena Livak

Starring such familiar names as:
Caitlin Patridge as Margaret
Jonathan Plesser as Suffolk and Prince Edward
Charlotte Oswald as the Duke of Gloucester
Stephanie Karol as the Duchess of Gloucester
Andrew Prentice as Edward of York
Emma Lieberman as Lady Bona

Thursday, Oct 21st- 8PM
Friday, Oct 22nd- 8PM
Saturday, Oct 22nd- 8PM
Sunday, Oct 23rd - 2 PM

In the Shapiro Campus Center Theater

Tickets are free, donations gladly accepted

The Cap-Iron Man dynamic I want to see in Avengers

I just saw the new trailer for the Avengers movie. It didn't really give me much of what I was hoping for. Yeah, yeah, action's great and all, but frankly the only thing that really interested me was the tiny little character moment between Cap and Iron Man near the end, when Cap asks "Take away the suit and what does that make you?" and Tony's answer is, "A genius billionaire playboy philanthropist." This moment, brief as it was, gives me hope that the movie will contain what I feel is the most interesting aspect of this story, the potential fraught relationship dynamic for Steve and Tony.

Though I do like them eventually becoming friends, when they first have to work together I want them to clash. They are so different, they come to superherodom from such disparate places. Steve is politeness, waiting for the one, and all-American values, where Tony is glitz, sass, chicks, and booze. Steve just wanted to serve and do the right thing, Tony's got a lot of self-aggrandizement in there. And both of them have some reason to be considered for the leadership of the group (Tony because he wants it and Steve because it's kind of his natural place) which puts them in competition. Given that, I will be extremely happy if we see conflict between them not just based on the ways their personalities clash, but also because of the massive insecurity each inspires in the the other.

One of my favorite things about the way Cap was portrayed in his movie was that he was adorably still just a little bit awkward. Yes, post-serum he's gorgeous and built like a god and becomes a capable and respected leader, but he's still more used to being the dorky ninety-pound weakling that got beaten up and made fun of. He's not that smooth when dealing to other people, he's not used to women wanting anything to do with him, and he doesn't have complete confidence in himself. He clearly thought of himself as just a guy, nothing that special, just trying to do the best he can. I tend to find the version of Cap in the comics so perfectly awesome in every way that he's always been very boring to me, but that dash of awkwardness and insecurity in an otherwise strong, capable, and gorgeous man made me love the Cap in the movie.

Given that conception of Steve, I want Tony to make him really feel like he's that dorky kid again. It might seem like a small thing in the grand scheme of things, but it tends to stick with people when they grow up feeling like they're just not that awesome. Tony's this rich, handsome, urbane playboy genius, the cool kid that Steve has never really gotten to be. Also Tony's sort of a jerk, which I imagine would make it even more irksome. Remember how he got insecure about Howard Stark, assuming that of course Peggy would go for a rich ladies' man rather than a geek like him? I want to see that same thing, only more so, because it's one thing if you're aware that someone's much cooler than you, it's another if you're placed in a slightly competitive position with that person while they're also kind of an ass. So Cap will focus on what a dick Tony is so he doesn't feel so awkward about being less cool.

And on the flip side, I want to see Tony getting insecure about how much a better man and a greater hero Steve is than him. Steve is principled, valiant, strong in ways that should make Tony very aware of the ways in which he is weak and venial and vain. He probably grew up hearing stories from his dad about what it was like to work with the great hero. Tony is trying to see himself as a hero too, but who is he next to Captain Freaking America? So he's going to try to compensate for it by playing up the significance of his coolness and success, and they're both going to bluster the hell out of each other in order to hide the fact that each one feels just a little bit inferior to the other. And then over the course of the movie they'll come to respect rather than envy each other, and in time go from rivals to friends.

Anyway, that's what I'm hoping for. I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens. Doesn't look like I'm going to get my All-Shirtless Avengers like I wanted, so please, powers that be, do at least this much for me.

Random notes on Margaret costuming

Things go well. I would say we have about half of all the pieces we need, due to a vigorous scouring of the thrift store, club storage, and a raid of whatever might be useful in my own closet. I have found a bunch of military uniforms that will likely serve, though they all will require a little taking in to fit their wearers. Thus is the trouble with thrifting; selection is based on luck and you get whatever you find. But for the stage I know a couple quick fitting fixes; I find adding two darts in the back of a blazer do wonders for taking in across the chest and shoulders. There's also a bunch of cuffs I want to take up, both in sleeves and pant legs. These are minor fixes that I could even do with pins if I had to, but if I find the time to sew them that's probably better. Not bad for two days' work, eh?

Today me and the other two costumers are going to hit the army surplus store. I'm hoping to get the last handful of military jackets and suits there, as well as a few pairs of fatigues and maybe hats. That will hopefully finish off the major, "character-identifying" pieces. After that we would just need supplementary pieces like shirts to go under jackets, belts, and boots. Boots are always a pain, as nobody ever seems to have them and they're too expensive to buy new, so I guess we'll have to do one last thrift store raid to get anything even vaguely combat-like we can find.

I also need just a couple of color-specific things before I can nail done some final piece assigning. I have decided that the king of France and his sister Lady Bona will wear the same color, and that Gloucester and his wife the duchess will wear the same color. It's a small touch of my costuming theory that I can put in. To that end, I have procured two fancy dresses for the actresses arthoniel* and katiescarlett29*, one in dark green and the other in dark blue. The green is a dark forest stretch velour with criss-crossing straps in the back, the blue is iridescent with a cowl back borrowed from arthoniel*, the one she wore to the fancy party. Fortunately both of them fit into both. The deciding factor, then, will be what color military dress uniform I can find for nennivian*, who is playing the duke of Gloucester. I am planning on choosing this with care-- I want Charlotte to look good, and perhaps in solidarity for the efforts she has put into making her male performance, I want her costume to work with her performance as much as possible. I already have a number of other people in green or olive military pieces, and I'd like to have more contrast, so I think my preference is for blue, which means that I'd put Steph in the blue dress. In that case, Emma would wear the green and I will have to find a green dress shirt for Ben, who is playing the King of France. But if all I can get for Charlotte is a green dress uniform, it will have to be the other way around, and Ben will need a blue shirt.

The sizing on those dresses I eyeballed pretty nicely for Steph and Emma's bodies. I didn't do quite so well on another dress I bought, a diaphanous light blue gown with a drape over the bust. It was meant as another alternative for their costuming but didn't fit either of them. I should have known, based on how it fit me. I have an odd habit, you see, that when I'm costuming a show where any piece I'm considering buying I feel compelled to try on myself, even if it's intended for a person of a totally different size and shape from me. I guess the theory is if I know what body I'm trying to fit, I can extrapolate how it might work on them based on the differences between us once I see how it fits on a body like mine. This technique... does not always work. I think the fact that we're used to our own bodies as what's "normal" for us means that we don't always recognize the ways in which we're unusual, or at least not average. I sometimes don't have a good frame of reference for how much thinner I am than average, so if, say, a possible costume garment is a little bit too big on me, I might think it will fit someone who I perceive to only be a little bit bigger than me. Often in reality it ends up that because I am a good bit smaller than an average person, that average person I'm aiming to fit is going to need more than just a little bit bigger than me. Or I'll try to remember how much smaller I am, and think that something that's absolutely huge will be better filled out by a larger person, when in fact they are nowhere near that big. Thus this problem meant that light blue dress would not work as intended. Fortunately it ended up fitting Samantha, the girl who's playing Warrick, and will serve when she's playing a lady-in-waiting in the background. I had not been optimistic when I asked her to try it, and she is a tall statuesque girl, but I guess she doesn't have the same sort of bust or hips that made it unworkable for Emma and Steph.

Which brings me to another thing that always strikes me when costuming. When trying to find things for the best possible fit for the wide variety of the cast's forms, it becomes necessary to assess, and frankly discuss, the shapes of your actors' bodies. This is something that under normal circumstances I don't think people feel it's polite to do. When dressing actors, I will do it out of necessity with no critique or comment one way or the other, and then right after feel a little guilty about it as if I've said something rude. I think it's almost as if you are assumed in that case to be evaluating where it's no one's place to make value judgments about the bodies of others. But even though I must confess I have been known to make those judgments, in this process I have no trouble looking at everyone's shapes dispassionately. You can't really dress people properly unless you look at this stuff. If someone can't fit into a dress because of their hips, I need to be aware of that in order to find something that will accommodate those hips. If someone doesn't have the shoulders to fill out a jacket and they look swallowed by it, then I need a jacket to fit narrower shoulders. Even though in other cases it might be considered focusing on things that might be perceived as flaws, in this case it is appropriate, and without judgment.

Related to this, comparing people's measurements is an interesting way to see the differences in how people are built. I find it fascinating that a six-foot guy can have a 27" inseam, and a five-nine girl can have a 30" inseam. Though it occurs to me that I should have taken slightly different measures. I learned how to take measurements based on seamstress's techniques, which are more useful if you are making the garment yourself than if you are trying to find it in ready-to-wear. Wish I'd measured the men, or women playing men, around the chest rather than just sleeve and shoulders, because that's the usual sizing by which jackets and blazers are sold.

Got a ton done in just a short amount of time. Here's hoping today's trip is equally productive.

Vanity table finished!

I just had to post a close up of how lovely it turned out. The varnish just makes it glow. I am so pleased.