Introduction

On this page you can read about and see pictures of the costume designs for The Crucible. We would also like to thank Lez Brotherston, the Designer of The Crucible, for his kind permission to use his drawings and designs on our website resources.

In an interview with the Director, Anna Mackmin, we asked what were the starting points and ideas regarding the design which she and the Designer, Lez Brotherston had discussed. What follows are Anna’s comments with additional words by Susan Weaver, Education Projects Officer.

The Director’s comments

‘Lez and I felt it was incredibly important that the costumes weren’t too mimsy. Quite often an approach to this play is to go down the puritanical route which is very clean, quite anal and tightly corseted, if you like. We felt strongly that these people were farmers. A lot of them lived miles out from the town and they would walk everywhere. They wore filthy, tough, hardworking clothes that were very real, very visceral. So the costumes are going to be historically accurate but they are also going to be worn as if they have been inhabited by these people.’

Anna Mackmin

The Designs

The following pictures are examples of some of the designs Lez Brotherston has created for the farming villagers:-

Giles Corey

Tituba

Here we have the costume designs for John Proctor and the second design shows the difference in his original costume after the months spent in jail.

John Proctor

John Proctor

The following show the difference in the dressing of the court officials:-

Deputy-Governor Danforth

Judge Hathorne

How a costume design is realised

To make a costume for a specific production, a designer and our wardrobe department will work closely together to realise an original design.

Firstly, the designer will normally research the play and the historical period it is set in. In close conversation with the Director, they will then start to draw the costume design.

Rebecca Nurse

When rehearsals start the actors are measured and the wardrobe team and the designer meet together to discuss how they can realise the design. From these conversations a pattern is cut and choices are made as to specific cloth and materials to use.

During rehearsals the costume starts to be made and the actors receive regular fittings to ensure that everything is coming together in the way the designer originally perceived the costume but also to ensure that it is workable for the actor on stage.

Decorations are also added, or if a costume needs to look old or dirty the fabric is manipulated or 'broken down' by our wardrobe team.

The costumes have to be ready in time for the technical rehearsals which happen in the week just before a production opens. During this time the team will make adjustments and alterations as necessary so that the costume is ready for the first performance.

During the run the costumes are maintained by the team which includes washing, ironing and making minor maintenance alterations as necessary.

Francis Nurse

The costumes in peformance

Sadie Shimmin as Ann Putnam, Cherry Morris as Rebecca Nurse and Douglas Henshall as John Proctor in The Crucible, photograph by Manuel Harlan

Ian Bartholomew as Deputy-Governor Danforth in The Crucible, photograph by Manuel Harlan

Douglas Hensall as John Proctor in The Crucible, photograph by Manuel Harlan

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