Cymbeline: Shakespeare’s Fairytale

Shakespeare’s Cymbeline by Such Stuff Player, April 2014

This was my second show with Such Stuff Players and it was a pleasure to work with the costume design team. there was a lot of freedom in the creation of the costumes for Cymbeline, as it wasn’t placed in a historical era, and the director wanted it to have the feel of a Grimm’s fairytale.

The costume team works together to set the final vision and uses a communal approach to plan and make final decisions. In addition, any of the young actors who wish to participate in the process are encouraged to do so at whatever level they desire. Those of us with more experience mentor those with less and the result is truly an amazing team effort.

Here’s just a few of the costumes I made or helped mentored.

 

The Soothsayers

The little girls loved their face makeup, which ended up being different every performance.

Pisania and Imogen

Pisania, the faithful servant needed to look strong and capable, but earthy. Imogen desinged and sewed her own dress. I customed-dyed the sheer (an old curtain in my stash) in order to match the blue of the under dress.

Imogen dresses as a boy in the later half of the play. The costume is entirely sourced from my sophistical reenactment clothing.

 

Belarius
Belarius, the strong older man who stole the princes and raised them in the wild, needed to look powerful and wild! The actor was comfortable going shirtless. His vest was built from an old leather jacket. He custom created his arm braces himself.

 

Philario, the Italian Lord

Philario needed to look different from the English in order to convey the idea that the plot had moved locations. His suede tunic was made from an old curtain found at Art Junction. The lower sleeves and trim were sewn from the remainder of the dust ruffle that became a King’s robe.

 

The Complete Cast

I built or mentored about half of the cast costumes.