Summer Volunteering

It seems odd to be writing a post about what I did in the summer but I feel that I have so busy it has been hard to find some time to actually sit down in front of my laptop and write about that I have been doing and been apart from (of course not including the part time bar job to pay my way :p).

So as I normally do I sent out many emails to look for a new opportunity for some job experience to learn new skills, techniques and make more connexions in the industry that I'm so desperate to become a part of. Finally I got a reply from a local theatre 'The Phoenix theatre' in Blyth (Northumberland) offering me a volunteering placement for the summer to help them with their up coming production that their younger group was putting on. They were doing 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat' and from a designers point of view this is very exciting.

For most of the production the young actors and actresses where in the same costumes but adding or taking anyway elements for different scenes and characters. For example the boys (the brothers) where in pants and waist coats and would then come on stage with sheep props, and then had different hats for different scenes ect. But of course the character with the most costume changes was Joseph, and I had the pleasure of designing and making one of this costumes which was a huge honour and very exciting!! 

The scene that I had to make the costume for was when Joseph becomes the pharaohs right hand man and he changes out of his loin cloth into a more expensive looking Egyptian style coat. So with my instructions from the head of the costume department and from the director of what exactly they wanted I went on to start my designs where I would do a few different styles with key features to see which would be the most appropriate and liked the most.  

After receiving a few extra pointers I can up with the final design with again tweets where made to the design so that it would be able to be put on with ease and quickly as this costume change would have to be done on th stage. And this was my final design;

This was all very new to me aswell as I have never designed or made anything for a man, although I did not find many complications. 

Along side of making this I was also helping out with any of the accessories that needed to be done for the brothers and the choir girls, it was a great experience to be a part of. And I managed to see the whole thing through and I was there back stage helping the young actors and actresses get ready for the stage for example adding safety pins to skirts or clips in hair. It was great to see how everything ran and the order things were done in.

I also had the opportunity to actually sit in the audience one night and see the whole production for myself. I felt so proud of the people that were involved and how great it loved and sounded the whole thing came together and it looked amazing!! And of course I was proud of myself that a costume that I had made was been worn by a real actor on a real stage for a real audience to see it, and to top it off my name was in the show program (which has always been a dream of mine to get me name in a productions program) 

Overall I had a fantastic time and thought that it was a great experience where I have learnt a lot! I look forward to returning to the theatre in the near future!