Stage Directions: What does it take to be a dresser in the theater? In this very informative video from the National Theatre, watch some of its talented dressers change the costumes from Amadeus in under 40 seconds. (They even put a clock on the changes.) C’mon, we all have to show the dressers backstage some love! They have a tough, and often unappreciated job!! The Amadeus costumes were designed by Chloe Lamford.
4 comments:
Costume quick changes have always been very impressive to me. When actors fly off stage and have to be back on in less than a minute with a completely different outfit, an incredible challenge is posed for the dressers backstage. However, the video clearly shows that the change is a highly and precisely choreographed act. As a result, the two dressers and the actor are very calm and silently perform each intricate move of the greater whole. The amount of practice that must go into getting the change up to speed is impressive, for, one wrong move, or one sequence done in the wrong order, and the change may not be completed in time, or worse, the actor could trip and fall or cause some other sort of commotion backstage. The video really does show, though, how much practice has gone into the change, for their movements are so fluid and practiced, it almost appears as if the video has been slowed down. Quick changes are one of the many integral parts of theatre which few people know about or properly understand.
While I have no doubt that these quick changes are meticulously choreographed and practiced so they can be executed in the necessary time, but the two changes shown in this video must be staged. Maybe this is because I have observed only a couple professional quick changes in interestingly set up venues, but even with changes being rehearsed, I feel like the adrenaline of a quick change on both the performer’s and sometimes the dressers’ end are not as calm as the people in this video seem to be. I would bet that during the actual show, these quick changes happen a little bit faster and that the performers are a lot more jittery. The adrenaline rush of working the run of a show and having to get transitions completed in the time during a live run that the dressers talk about loving in their work is something I can totally relate to. Being on the run crew for a show is so thrilling and satisfying work.
Quick changes are a really cool effect on stage and I see why they would be desirable even though they are difficult. It’s interesting that they weren’t using velcro or some other type of easy fastener to make the change even faster, but that was presumably a design choice because it would be obvious it wasn’t the real thing. I really like the quick change in Book or Mormon, because they predisposed us to not take any notice of the blackout, and then used it for changing. It was certainly clever and achieved the “spectacle” element of the show. I guess some people on wardrobe get turned into dressers. These quick-changes didn’t seem too fast, but it did still look like a challenge. The other thing that surprised me is that I assumed if they were expecting a quick change, that they'd just layer clothing for the scene before, so the outer layer could just be pulled off to reveal the underlying costume.
“A method to the madness” basically sums up the process of a quick change. As a child, I always wondered how actors were able to change clothes so quickly when it takes me an hour to pull together my casual look for the day. Now, as a technical design student, my appreciation for the technique has grown exponentially. When a costume is made, each quick change must be taken into account which affects the design of the costume and its functionality. It must be able to stay on, but easy to remove. Changes can be as quick as a few seconds so it goes to show how fast people have to be. I felt the video did a great job of demonstrating those points. The costumes were complicated, yet they were able to switch a dress in just over 30 seconds. The video highlighted how glorious and impressive the job of costumes is.
Post a Comment