What is Costume?

Firstly, Kim asked us to list what costumes are for. I came up with the following:

• To portray character.
• To aid the actor.
• Make the production more naturalistic or fantasical.
• Literal costume, for childrens theatre.
• To represent social status.
• To show the historical context.
• To be representational, menaing that you don't neccessarily need to have the whole costume to portray your character. For example, we were shown someone playing the Cricket from Pinocchio, who simple dressed like him, as opposed to being literal and painting themselves green.
• Must be specific to occassion.

In the lesson, we improvised with costume, and were provided with one item per scene. Our first item was a pair of yellow rubber gloves, our second was a 1950s style skirt, and our third and final one was a christmas headband. The scenes were a minimum of 10 seconds.

With the yellow rubber gloves, our group created a scene about a family. I wore the gloves, playing the mum washing up. John played the Dad, and Lauren, Beth and Elsie played the children. In a way this showed status, because the parents were clear authority figures over the children.

With the 1950s style skirt, Beth wore it and was a dancing couple with Lauren. Me, John and Elsie performed the handjive behind them. This shows that the skirt automatically told us the time era we were meant to set our scene in.

Lastly, the christmas headband led us to create a scene specific to occassion. Me, John, Elsie and Beth knocked on Lauren's door, singing christmas carols. She wore the headband to show she was in the festive spirit.