Updating - A-Roving!

To update you on my costume supervising for A-Roving, let me take you through the developments since my last post on the subject.

Over the last few weeks sourcing has begun in earnest with what is now a cast of 11. Having been given now two thirds of my budget I have completely outfitted two of my performers, with the majority of the costumes for 2 more, partials for the majority of the rest of the cast and I am coming out (cautiously) under budget still having over half of the money I was already given left to work with. Charity shops have been a blessing. Have currently been scouting charity shops in Ringwood, Winton, Christchurch, Highcliffe and Boscombe. Strangely very little has been needed to be bought in a shop other then some of the T-shirts and shoes.

For the majority of the performers, after sending them their designs I have managed to find items from their designs that they already own and put them on their costume bible sourcing sheets, but as a few of them own nothing from their costumes it has come - where possible - to the borrowing stage. With almost any production with a low budget costume, where possible, is almost always sourced from the actor or a friend/family member where possible. This makes it possible to source some of the bigger or more hard to come by items from shops and free's up more of the budget.

There was a minor issue with one of our characters costumes in terms of shoes - they always seem to be the issue. Having a small budget and a performer with size 12-13 feet who has no suitable footwear whatsoever is a challenge. Thankfully ebay provided the answer with a pair of plimsoles that I will be painting with fabric paint donated by my sister to achieve the right colour and look. This method is one that I am also using for another character in the performance who I designed very specific footwear for. This project has been all about thinking outside the box.

There has been one minor design change to one of the costumes - where one of the characters the director and myself had decided on plain blue shorts but in a stroke of luck I found in a Charity shop in Ringwood a perfect pair of blue and white shorts patterned with compasses. With the blue and white pattern not to bold or busy they were perfect. After consulting with the director we have decided to use them.

In another stroke of luck after a meeting last week with the director we were able to get into the AUCB Acting Department Props cupboard. This was a treasure trove for luggage and also supplied, surprisingly, a stretch of offcut fabric that I am going to use for one of the performers head scarves.

Photographs of the costumes will be put up soon - keep an eye out!