The Process (the running of the show )
During my opportunity to work on the Old Rep's Alice in Wonderland, I worked a dresser and had the opportunity to contribute the finishing touches for a successful show. A couple weeks before the beginning of the show there was a focus on adding finishing touches to the costumes that were going to be in the show, making any changes that the director requested and setting up rails so the costumes could easily be organised.
I hand stitched on faux fur on to the animals costumes ,using a needle and brown thread. I used a running stitch on the jacket and trousers for the mouse and the march hare to give it more of an animal look.
I added more feathers to the eaglet's skirt. I did this by sewing them on. There were already feathers on there that had been glued on using hot glue but this method meant they fell off quickly. Even though hand sewing was more time consuming, the feathers stayed on.
I also sewed on gold trim onto kings coat to give it more detail.
I spray painted shoes that were going to be used in the show using WRX spray paint. I spray painted them in the court yard round the back of the old rep. This allowed for there to be ventilation because it was outdoors and spray paint is a respiratory hazard. This also mean we had to wear PPE such as a face mask, goggles and overalls.
I organised the clothing rails in the dressing rooms by:
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Labelling the rail tags with the characters names
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Putting them onto the rack alphabetically
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Making sure that the right rail tags are in the right dressing rooms before the shows performances began
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Hung up the costumes that were ready for the show in specific chronological order. So they were easily accessible for the actors.
I had to make sure all the costumes are organised and ready for each show. They had to be hung up in the correct dressing rooms in the right order before and after the shows. As a dresser I had to check that the costumes were where they were meant to be.
During the shows I stood backstage and made sure if there was any issue costumes I would be prepared to fix them. During the show one of the spades waistcoats ripped so it had to be quickly stitched together during the shows interval. Being back stage also meant that if actors were missing a parts of their costume, I would have to find it .Also if an actor needed help with a costume change, I was there to assist.
How to: Fix a costume during a show
