The time has come for the beginning of the much anticipated - and dreaded - third and final year on the course! As such it is also the start of the first of two major projects of the year.
At the end of last year we were given a list of options for our first project, and as with a professional job we were asked to apply for the three options that we most wanted to do, in order of preference. I am delighted to announce that I got my first choice and shall be designing costumes for the AUCB production of 'A Midsummer Nights Dream'.
The performance is to be held in April of next year and we will have ten weeks to get the designs finished for hand in on the third of December. Next term I shall be able to work with the makers and potentially a costume supervisor in overseeing the realisation of my designs.
This project comes with an unusual twist. Part of the set design is going to be taken by digital media, working in collaboration with peer and set designer Oliver Barker. Due to Oliver therefore having less of the set, Oliver is going to have a small set of the costumes as well.
The Characters and Division!
In the play there are three distinct sets of characters that, while they do meet and co-mingle still remain as separate groups.
These groups are ; The Athenians, The Fairies, and the Mechanicals.
The Athenians are a group of eight characters with the possibility of an ensemble. They are made up of the four lovers, Demetrius, Hermia, Lysander and Helena being the four mains from this section, followed by Theseus, the Duke of Athens, his fiancé and Queen of the Amazons Hippolyta, Egeus Hermia's father, and Philostrates the Duke's master of revels.
The Fairies are pretty well explained by the name - they are a group of fairies headed by their King, Oberon, and Queen Titania. Following them are Robin Goodfellow (in this to be Oberon's son) and the named fairies Moth, Mustardseed, Cobweb and Peaseblossom.
The Mechanicals are a group of performers, come together to perform a piece for the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta. They are made up of six characters; Nick Bottom, Peter Quince, Snug, Francis Flute, Tom Snout and Robin Starveling.
After discussing it between us and with our tutors we have decided that for Olivers costume section he will take the Mechanicals, with myself designing for the Athenians and the Fairies. This means that I will be designing for fifteen characters, the majority of which due to the text will have costume changes.
We have also found out who our director is - Kenneth Robertson, one of the tutors from the acting department and we are both very excited to be working with him.
This is set to be a collaborative project across the University, with myself and Oliver from the BA (Hons) costume and performance design course working with the acting course and with digital media. It is going to be a very exciting and demanding project where communication will be key among all parties involved. I have already bought and begun to annotate my script after reading it through and cannot wait to get started!
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