Year 8 Technical Theatre

Introduction to Costume Design

In large scale productions, a wardrobe supervisor is essential. They will organise buying in, hiring and making of costumes. They will take responsibility for the costumes during the production run and after the show.

They will oversee the costumes during the performances, collect costumes at the end of each performance and see to any cleaning or repair that needs doing so their costumes are ready for the next performance.

Professional and amateur companies may have a range of costumes of their own and are generally prepared to lend or hire them out. Most schools tend to keep a few of their own costumes.

In small Improvisations, perhaps each student can look after their own costumes. In bigger school productions, it is helpful for each member of the cast to provide a coat hanger with a label identifying their name and character. Looking after costumes in a school production can be a nightmare because there are a lot of young actors involved. As such- every actor has the Responsibility to look after their own costumes that they have been given, this makes everyone's life a little easier. It is, however, still important to have one adult responsible for organising all the costumes and checking that it is appropriate. Once all costumes are sorted, they are kept in school until the production ends.

1. Can you suggest three things that one can do during a school show to help looking after costumes. 2. Why are costumes important in any live theatre production? Give three reasons. 3. Use research to find out who creates costumes for a big production? 4. Do costumes have to follow a theme of the production? Why? 5. In a live theatre production- who pays for the costumes? 6. Find out what happens to used costumes once a show has finished? 7. Apart from buying some costumes new from shops- where else can you obtain costumes for a performance? 8. What possible problems are there when organising costumes for a show? 9. How can these problems be solved? 10. Why do props have to match the costumes?