Laurie Metcalf in The Doll’s House Part 2
“I like being trusted that I’ll be able to figure out the technical stuff,” she said. “It sounds boring, but in the opening few minutes of our play there are a lot of decisions that had to be worked out. Where does the hat go? When do the gloves come off? How do I get rid of them? When you’ve worked this stuff out, it looks natural, but these little details can be maddening. So I like to be trusted that I can figure this stuff out on my own. And then I like to feel confident that a director has my back and can tell me when that’s too big or too emotional or just too much. Because generally I start at 100 miles an hour, so I like being told to rein things in. I like being told that’s funny but the wrong time to have a laugh. I like knowing that someone is out there looking at the big picture.”
I love this quote from Laurie Metcalf. She is a brilliant actress and a thoughtful one. She takes the time to figure out what her props are, how to wear them and where to put them when she needs to get rid of them. This is something that costume designers really need to think about. It’s great to design a beautiful hat that works perfectly with the design, but unless it doesn’t shade the actors face and they never take it off, there usually needs to be a plan. Obviously when working with an experience actor like Ms. Metcalf you don’t need to worry. She will look at the design and figure out what she needs to do and if she has a problem, I’m sure she would let you know.
But if, like me, you are working in a school with actors who are just learning their craft, it’s you who will need to do the planning with the director. Several times I’ve made period hats only to have the actress carry them onstage and put them down on a table. At no point was there an opportunity created for her to take off her hat once she is onstage. I put this on me. I should have communicated with the director and actor more clearly and provided suitable rehearsal props. Sometimes I have and frankly the director just didn’t think it was important enough to include in the blocking. I think that when you work professionally the situation gets better.
Basically anything and everything that the actor touches needs to be planned for. Once when I was working as a costume crafts-person at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival I got a request to make a bag for a messenger to carry. He needed to pull out a letter to give to someone onstage. This was for Cymbeline and it was set in pre-Roman Britain. So I asked the assistant costume designer what size and shape the letter was. It could have been a scroll for all I knew. But she didn’t have that information so I went to the props department to find out. They hadn’t made the letter yet and brushed me off. So I made a leather bag that would hold a 4″ x 8″ letter and of course it was too small and the bag came back to me for changes. Even in the best theaters a little communication goes a long way.
Costume props are very close to set props. There is a lot of crossover. Costume props are usually what the actor wears or carries and are considered clothing. Purses are costume props and suitcases are regular set props. Is a really large bag a costume? That is something to work out in production meetings. I’ve often found myself working closely with the props master, especially on letters or special pieces like a brooch or crown that is both a prop and a costume. Costume props often include armor and the belts that swords hang on, while the swords themselves are props. Sometimes many pieces of the costume are being made in the costume props area of the shop but I consider costume props to be what the actor needs to handle onstage.
What the costume designer needs to do when the designs are approved is to go through each rendering with the director and make sure that all the pieces of the costume are accounted for and understood. I make lists of each piece of the costume to give to the stage manager and I provide rehearsal pieces as soon as I can. Then the only trick is to keep communicating, with the director, the stage manager and the actor.
Costumier 