I guess you could say acting is a way of taking a walk in someone else’s shoes, only they more than likely don’t exist in reality, and if you’re doing it right, they’re kind of your shoes, too.
A few weeks ago as we began to have final costume fittings, Liz Blake White (playing Chloe) told me how excited she was to get her shoes for the show and start wearing them in rehearsal: “They just add something special to getting into character!”
She’s quite right--and it’s not just the shoes, either. While the clothes don’t make the man (or woman), they certainly help you craft your character’s movement vocabulary, particularly in a period play. Grant teased me one day in rehearsal that I moved as though I live in jeans.
Well, I do.
For the past four days or so, I’ve been living in long, airy Regency-period dresses with big pouffy sleeves in lovely, feminine fabrics.
While corsets weren’t typical of the period (the Regency empire waist freed ladies up for era from full-torso corsets for a little over a decade), a little foundational structure helps remind me of the extent to which my movement is constrained, but not so much that I can’t aim for the physicality of a 13-year-old girl.
After a few hours of wearing dresses that fit rather closely to the upper body, I get to change into my nightgown, which is equally lovely, though far more billowy. It’s dreamy and ethereal, and ridiculously comfortable. (Also, it is what my four-year-old self would have termed “a good twirler.” This is particularly important, and if you see the show, you’ll know why.)
Everyone’s costumes are incredible. Rebecca Cairns and Annie Hoskins have outdone themselves again! Their work is beautiful, functional, and informs so much of the work we do as actors.
The funny thing is that this applies to the 1993 cast as well! As a child of the early 90s, I didn’t pay much attention to fashion in the first place. Little Mermaid shoes went with everything, even a white and black polka-dotted ruffle dress with matching bolero jacket trimmed with yellow ric-rac. (Oh yes, it was quite a sight, especially when topped off with that 90s classic, the bowl cut.)
I suppose it never really occurred to me that there was a style in the 90s.
Oh, but there was.
Turtlenecks. Big sweaters. Pants that come up to your ribcage. Pleats--everywhere. “The Rachel” was becoming a singular trend in ladies’ hairstyling. It’s all here!
It’s so wonderful to be working in, on, and around the gorgeous set (designed by Brian Barker) in these delightful costumes, juggling so many fabulous props against a backdrop of music and light. If you pause and look around in the quiet of backstage, you think, “hey, this looks like a show.”
I am so pleased and honored to be a part of a production that is coming together so brilliantly.
With that, I believe it’s time to review some dialect notes and go to bed. We preview tomorrow and open on Friday! Please join us--and stick around afterward to say hello! For now, enjoy a teaser of the phenomenal hair design--here’s the first trial of Thomasina’s Hair, Look #2 of 3.
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