Rapunzel costume check
Written by Cath Moyse - Fri 26th Jan 2024
The children were fitted with very colourful bird ponchos in either autumn or sky blue colour themes topped with sparkly gold baseball caps. There was a bit of confusion with one poor little bird putting on their poncho back to front, but that was soon sorted. A bit of adjustment was needed to the feathers hanging from the caps to allow for different sized heads and various hair styles. Jackie and Cathy (our amazing costume designers) made a mental notes to write names inside the caps to stop them getting muddled up in the dressing room.
Nicky was modelling a curly black wig and hooked nose for her role as Mother Gothel. She wanted to practice wearing the nose as it makes breathing difficult, especially when dancing and moving around the stage. She also has a few hairy moles on order (facial, not the burrowing kind!) to complete the look.
Felix's fiery red phoenix costume was completed with a red choker (a feather boa would be too itchy to wear on stage for long periods). Daisy was challenged to get her fingernails painted red with orange flames for panto week.
The King and Queen have coordinated green and gold outfits. There was a lot of discussion about which crowns looked best and whether or not the King should wear a wig.
We had an amusing interlude braiding long skeins of yellow wool into a plait for Rapunzel. You've heard the joke "How many costume designers does it take to braid a five foot long plait?". The answer is at least four!
Dame Penny wears five costumes during the show, and each one needs a specific wig plus coloured tights, oversized earrings and matching jewellery. Mark made careful notes of what will be needed for each costume change as the dressing room will be very cramped and time between scenes extremely short.
Matt was on hand to take professional publicity photos and Julia also took some video clips of the cast promoting the show (complete with squawking parrots!), so look out for these on social media over the next few weeks.
