 |
| INTRODUCTION |
| THE PLAY |
| PRIMARY TEACHER'S RESOURCES |
| Literacy Ideas |
| Drama and Movement Ideas |
| Art and Design Ideas |
| The Designer |
| Music Ideas |
| PSHE Activities |
| Moon myths, stories and superstitions |
| Fact Files |
| Suggested Poems and Stories |
| Suggested Websites |
| Bibliography |
The Designer
|
Costume Designs by Paul Wills
In the wardrobe, Battina hangs upside
down.she wears a home-made bat costume - black cape with bat wings
and dark glasses. Her bat
persona is to some extent deliberately cultivated to annoy and challenge
her parents. However, that doesn't mean it's all an act;
Battina really doesn't see why being a bat is such a problem. To describe Battina in three words,
I would say imaginative, strong-willed and intelligent. Taking the ideas that Richard
has indicated, plus the personality Laura has described, Battina
comes across as a little girl who hates pink and wants desperately
to be a bat so her clothes have been designed to reflect her desires
and personality. As you can
see from the drawing she is in her 'home-made costume'. Her top, or jerkin as it is called, is made
of fur just as a bat's body would be and we will be using fake fur. I chose to make her wings from PVC as this is
a great material to make a good bat flapping sound with. On her head I gave her glasses that are like
flying goggles and her bat head, to make the costume look even more
'home-made', is a pair of pants and I added a bra to give her better
bat ears.
MR STICKLER A humourless, constantly irritated
man...a moderately high flyer in the financial sector probably. His tie is pulled tight up against his throat
and he plucks at it, barely able to breathe. Edward Bryant - Actor - Mr Stickler Mr Stickler's costume again reflects
his personality and I wanted him to look very pristine and business-like. His trousers are the pinstripes popular in the
1950's and reflect his 'office like' manner. His braces add to the overall effect and combined
with his tie, give him plenty to fiddle around with and to constantly
straighten and re-straighten until he looks (or he feels he looks)
exactly right. The glasses
were added to reflect his age and his intellect.
MRS STICKLER The kind of perpetually miserable
woman who spends too much time at the gym in a tiny pink Lycra bodysuit,
but gets no pleasure from it. An
unhappy, frightened woman, a slave to other people's opinions. Mrs Stickler has forgotten how
to have fun. She only feels
safe when she is sticking to the rules and her life has rules for
every eventuality. Nicky Goldie - Actress - Mrs Stickler Mrs Stickler is a vision in shocking
pink and is everything her daughter does not want to be. Her suit is a 1950's Chanel cut made from boucle
which feels a bit like material crepe paper. Her glasses are turned up at the corners and
she wears a pearl necklace that Mr Stickler would have bought her. Her shoes are pink to match her suit because,
for her, everything has to be matching.
She will also have a bleach blond wig which will be in curlers
as she is obsessed with having perfectly coiffured hair. Paul Wills - Designer
A fantastical, lavish personification
of The Moon. She chooses
to adopt a female persona, but she makes no attempt to try and "pass"
as a woman. She is not a woman or a man. The core of The Moon is the diva and she steps
out of the wardrobe wearing a long white evening dress.. with a
huge bald head. She is a who or a what! Neither man nor woman but a mish mash of possibilities
left to the audience's imagination.
Plainly male with a bald head she has taken on the role of
female and lives her days as the diva, the Grande Dame of the Astrological
World. She is vain, funny, daring, abrupt, a carefree
spirit with a voice to match. In
her eyes she's Liza Minnelli, Bette Davis and Barbra Streisand all
rolled into one and she knows it.
Enjoy her while she lasts! Edward Bryant - Actor - The Moon The Moon describes herself as
'her own special creation' and I needed to design a costume that
reflected the description of her as well as considering the combination
of the bald headed actor in a diva gown.
So, the design makes the Moon neither male nor female but
accentuates both. The dress is very much a female dress and has
a silver bodice which is used to create a waist but we are not hiding
the masculinity of the actor so his hairy arms and chest will be
on show. The skirt part of the dress is split up the
side and made from a kind of 'white wedding dress' material. As you can see from the drawing it flares out
at the bottom to give the character the quality of floating as if
like a floating moon. The
neckpiece is white and made of marabou which is like ostrich feathers
so it is fluffy but will also glitter and sparkle and the gloves
also have feathered tops. At hip height you will see what we call a 'bum-roll'
which is designed to look like a half-moon and will be made with
a white, light reflective material.
Finally, her headdress will fit on the back top part of her
bodice and stands as if like a moon halo.
To help create the effect it will include a lightbulb which
will be secretly hidden inside. Paul Wills - Designer
A silent character, this is nonetheless an intelligent bear, who is probably the most perceptive character in the play. Gentle, loyal, something of a stooge, but without him the Moon would be totally lost. He will never leave her. A bear with a brain, a heart and a big sense of fun and mischief. He is what a teddy bear come to life should be. To reflect the character of Major
I designed him a costume that was a cross between an astronaut and
a bear to reflect the sides of him that are Ursa Major, the star
constellation, as well as its' alternative name of The Great Bear.
As you can see he has astronaut tubing on his costume and
moon boots which will then have his bear claws exploding through
them. His helmet is similar to a jet-fighters helmet
and will light up. The rest
of his body is made from a combination of two-tone silver material
and white fake fur, to reflect the combination of star and bear. The silver astronaut material is made from a
fabric that was specially selected for the design and looks like
a hologram so the effect will be like a material rainbow.
Like all bears has also a furry tummy which, when rubbed,
will light up. Paul Wills - Designer
UNIVERSE 'We're going on a journey.on a
great adventure.bye bye Earth.this is my universe. Look there's
Venus, a planetary vamp. Asteroids
darling, such playful little pets. and look
what a treat! Leo the Lion out for a stroll' Before deciding on a design for
all the stars and planets Battina and The Moon see on their journey
through the galaxy, we needed to also think what was going to be
workable in performance. So I decided to design one outfit, the Universe,
which we could then quickly add separate layers to thereby creating
the other planets and stars. The
Universe is therefore the base outfit designed with the idea of
a 1950's astronaut which will have little lights all over it which
will glow like stars on a black sky.
All the additions to the base outfit for Venus, Leo and the
Asteroid will be made by our Props Team rather than the Wardrobe/Costume
Department. Venus - for Venus I decided to add the headdress of a globe but, as The
Moon says of Venus 'she suffers from terrible wind', so I also gave
her a glowing globe bottom. Leo - for Leo I designed, rather than another layer of costume, a shadow
puppet of a Lion which will have moveable arms/paws and be covered
in tiny little lights as if the stars have come alive. Asteroid
- for the Asteroid I decided upon a
silver headdress and a matching glove which reflects the tail of
an asteroid in full flight. Paul
Wills - Designer |
| RELATED LINKS |
| www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk |