Starlight Express

Bournemouth Musical Theatre Productions run of Starlight Express finished last night and was a smashing success!

For this show with BMTP I was not only wardrobe mistress but in addition I was the makeup designer, and also designed and made several costume pieces for the show. I created each performer a makeup design specifically tailored to their character and costume. The makeup for this was an interesting challenge to design for a full show of trains - the costumes were primarily hired, we had been sent photographs of them and it was a case of making sure the makeup matched the costumes and character but in addition to this we had several ensemble performers who's costumes were being decided later, and costume parts that I was designing based on body armour ordered by head of costume the brilliant Lisa Stead.

Being wardrobe mistress on this show was actually quite a simple job once the run had started - other then dressing one performer who had five quick changes there were no other changes in the show, the rest being keeping on top of any running repairs and there were remarkably few!

I also had the opportunity to create my first large scale costume prop in a long while - a train 'pilot' piece for the character Poppa. As our performer playing Poppa was a last minute addition due to the original performer having to leave the production, he was unable to skate and therefore a prop was requested to distract from the fact he was the only performer not in skates. Using a zimmer frame provided by Lisa, I researched old steam trains and discovered the pilot piece, originally used to clear snow and debris from the track, and using correx and acrylic paint turned the zimmer frame into a pilot piece.

This was not my first time designing makeup for every single character of a show, and I found it a joy and an incredibly interesting challenge as this was my first time designing for all of them as trains- once they were all in costumes and makeup it was wonderful seeing all my designs as a cohesive group. 

Of the costume pieces, I was in charge of Poppa, the body armour of the components (Purse, Volta, Wrench and Joule), Rhurgold (the German Train), Turnov (the Russian Train) and Electra. Electra in particular I was incredibly excited for as his costume is one that due to his role as the new, electric train it is crucial for him to have an impressive and fundamentally different visual impact. Lisa provided lights for Electra and the components for me to incorporate into the costumes.

Poppas base costume was provided by Lisa, a sepia coloured set of dungarees and shirt that I was given free reign to do whatever I liked with. We needed an identical duplicate for one of the races as our performer playing Poppa could not skate, being a last minute addition to the cast due to original performer unfortunately having to leave the production. I designed the patterns of cogs and panels to be painted onto the costumes, and once I received approval of the designs from Lisa I got to work! As his character was a rusty old steam train, very beaten up and worn by time I wanted to reflect this in his costume and makeup, entirely aged metal and rust colours with cogs showing behind rusty panels, rivets brown from age and really visually play up that aspect of his character.

For the components I wanted to visually represent their roles as Electras carriages and the individual characters, using takes on coolant, health, money and hazard symbols, incorporating them into both the body armour designs and the makeup to make sure there was no mistaking their character or role down to the most subtle detail in having them individual but clearly connected to Electra, incorporating stripes and lightning bolt designs in colours that would not only compliment their characters but tie them together as a unit. For their makeup, I designed them to mimic Electra in the white base with lightning bolts on the cheeks in colours tailored to each of their costumes, with thin coloured lines on their noses for contour and lines on the forehead framing their individual character symbol, and eyelid makeup going back into their hairline, again mirroring Electra in both shaping and colour though not as bold or big as Electra as he needed to stand out with a massive visual impact. To make sure that all aspects of the makeup were clear and precise to represent their roles as the brand new trains I designed each element to be outlined by thin, precise black lines.

For Electra, as the electric train and as his hired base costume had set colours already in place, it was all about creating as much visual impact as possible using white and gold lightning bolts on bright blue, with bright blue and white stripes on the arms and epaulettes. I stitched lights onto all of the components body armour and Electras using a clear thread so as to not have any visual breaks in the lights. For Electra I was given a sound-reactive light piece that was incredibly effective during the show - this was interesting to attach to the costume as their was an incredibly fragile connection that I had to be careful not to bend or twist. The best way I found to add this was using a box made of correx plastic that, with a hole cut into it behind the light panel, could effectively hold the wires and have the connector stabilised within it without causing a negative visual impact on the costume. So that we could turn the lights on and off as needed I attached the battery packs to the top and underneath of the attached box and painted them to make them a part of the costume.

For his makeup I again used the lightning bolt symbols, incorporating the shape into his forehead design and adding shaping to his nose with lightning bolts in opposing colours on each side, with each eyelid a different colour mirrored by the opposite on the lower lid. For his lips and chin I wanted to make it another point of interest, making his top lip red and bottom one blue - broken in the middle by white, with the blue striping down his chin on each side of the break again. Each shape and line was accented with a strong metallic silver as well as thin, precise black lines to make sure each element stood out to maximum effect.

Turnov and Rhurgolds body armour was particularly interesting to work with due to the countries and trains that they represented.

For Rhurgold the German train, due to the bold colours of the German flag I wanted to incorporate that as much as possible using thick, clear, bold lines in both the armour and the makeup, reflecting the clear, precise air of the character. At the theatre a light was added to the front of his costume by Lisa which created a fantastic effect.

 For Turnov, being the Trans Siberian Express, I researched the train itself which is still running and found the star symbol is prominently on the front. I wanted to keep that in and make it a recognisable feature for the costume and makeup. My research into the makeup of previous productions showed a tendency towards the masculine and androgynous, and as our Turnov was female I wanted to make the Turnov makeup feminine while still being strong and dignified as the character is, so I used red for the lips and eye lids, with a line of white under the eyes and again incorporated the star design onto both of the cheeks maintaining character and lending femininity while not detracting from the strict air of the character.

It is difficult not to make this post so long when I want to go into detail of the design decisions I made for everyones makeup as each had their points of interest and reasoning behind each visual decision that I made but I don't want to run on too long. However there is another set that I want to mention as they again were an interesting challenge to design a cohesive group of very individual characters and that was the original four main carriages - Pearl, Dinah, Buffy and Duvay. On these I kept the bases soft, the colours strong and defined but the shaping and patterning was smaller and a lot more delicate then on the components to have the contrast between the two groups.

With that I will let the production photographs speak for themselves as the Producer Dougie has given me permission to post them!