Following on from our previous look at Welsh National Opera’s Costume department, we take a closer look at the work of the Touring Wardrobe section.
Once a new Season is about to begin, Judith Russell – WNO’s Touring Wardrobe Manager – and her team of three move the rails of costumes from the making department to the backstage area of Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff – a process that takes them a whole morning per opera. This can involve up to 20 rails of clothing, 80 or more hats, plus various items of jewellery and accessories. Equipment is also brought over from our stores (and then taken out on tour) – including washing machines, tumble dryers, irons, steamers and sewing machines, a hot box (like an airing cupboard on wheels) and repair kits – everything you could possibly need to keep an opera’s costumes in tip-top shape.
In some theatres, the costume pans (the special containers the costumes are moved in) cannot be manoeuvred into the building, so each item is taken out individually and physically carried in. This can involve four flights of stairs! It is all a matter of logistics, something Judith has become adept at over her 12 years in the job.
Each costume is taken into the relevant dressing room and every item is laid out in order of how it will be put on. If a room is shared by more than one cast member, a plan is drawn up indicating each person’s dressing area within the room. As there may be up to ten people sharing, and with each venue having different dressing room layouts, the labelling of every single item is extremely important. At the sides of the stages, spaces are designated for the quick-change rooms – these are exactly what they sound like.
Judith and her team use a costume plot to plan what goes where, and when, and for who – literally plotting the journeys of all the costume items – so everything is ready for each artist. Items that are taken off need to be removed and stored or put back in a certain place for use later on. These plots are updated constantly and are also used by the dressers. At every venue we use up to 18 local dressers for each opera, brought in to assist the artists getting changed. Judith tells them who they are dressing and our Wardrobe Assistants work through the relevant costume plots with them so the correct costumes are donned at the correct times.
Touring Wardrobe’s remit covers the care of the costumes – the repairs and laundry. Every costume has to be washed after each performance, so it is ready for the following show – and if blood is involved (think Sweeney Todd or Madam Butterfly) then it is essential that the clothes get put straight through the laundry to remove the fake blood before it can stain!
At the end of a run, it is vital that everything is retrieved and packed away ready to be transported to the next venue – this is where labelling comes into its own once again. However, Judith and her team still do one final sweep of all backstage areas before leaving, just in case… it wouldn’t do to leave even an earring behind.