Meet our Costume Team | LoveCostume2019

Today we’re celebrating our brilliant costume department team on Costume Professionals Appreciation Day 2019 as they feverishly prepare for the opening of our next production Tree which runs from 29 July.

(L to R) Keshini Ranasinghe, Naomi SL Thompson, Sydney Florence, Rebecca Barnett, Catherine Kodicek and Kinnetia Isidore.

We sat down with Catherine Kodicek (Head of Costume), Kinnetia Isidore (Deputy Head of Costume), and Rebecca Barnett (Waredrobe Manager) to find out more about what it’s like to work as costume professional at the Young Vic.

What is it like to work in a costume department?

K: Every day is different, it’s a bit like going on a mad adventure with a team of people with different skills all working towards a shared goal.

C: It is very satisfying to work in costume. The hours can be long and you lose a lot of your evenings but the sense of camaraderie and teamwork is so rewarding. Also, the work is exciting, choosing the right costume, finding the right fabric, searching for the right vintage piece, nailing a quick change, restoring a costume to perfection night after night, there are so many different aspects to the costume world it is an unconventional ‘day to day’.

I can get really excited about finding the perfect button or the exact garment because I know that these elements will enhance the whole production. And whether the piece is going to challenge the audience’s opinions and assumptions or make them laugh or give them a much-needed escape, the costumes are an integral part of it and you have contributed to it and made that connection to another person.

R: I absolutely love working in costume. It means the world to me to be able to do my passion for a living! For me working in costume allows me to become a huge part of the magic of a show. The job can sometimes be intense and thankless but when you open a show and get to see all your hard work and effort come to life it’s something truly magical and it still gives me goosebumps and such an adrenaline rush!

How did you get into costume?

K: It began as an excuse to fuel my vintage clothing shopping addiction and I ended up doing a degree in costume design.

C: I worked in a bank for six years before realising that my Amateur Dramatics costume work was more exciting and gave me more joy. I completed a costume production degree at Rose Bruford College as a mature student, working throughout my holidays and evenings so that when I graduated I had a pretty good CV. I was then very lucky to get a full-time job in the Basingstoke Haymarket when it was a producing house and never looked back.

R: I studied technical theatre at university and did a placement module in which I was a wardrobe assistant on Evita, Slovenia. I was very fortunate that my design tutor was also a working designer and asked me to do the show with him in the summer. From there I made contacts and started doing more and more shows and had a tour as Wardrobe deputy lined up for when I finished.

Rebecca (Wardrobe Manager)

What is the difference between working in costume for theatre and working in Film or TV?

K: Working in costume in theatre is like being in a family, there is nothing like the atmosphere backstage before a show. I think you can get away with being a bit more creative when you don’t have the pressures of viewing costumes under the eye of an HD camera. I feel you are able to build strong bonds and relationships with backstage teams and casts throughout the run of a show, there is something about the excitement of live performance that brings everybody together.

C: Theatre and live events like Opera and Dance are immediate. You can spend a lot of time working on the creation of the show and in technical rehearsal, although the best part is getting to see the show performed in front of an audience. The sense of shared common purpose with a fixed deadline is also galvanizing. Everyone is working towards the same deadline. In film or tv, you may be waiting two years in post-production to see the fruits of your labor.

Once the show opens, it is your job to replicate the show for each audience so that it feels fresh and new every time. No two performances are the same. Unlike film where it is set, theatre audiences reactions form part of the show, there is nothing like standing backstage and hearing an audience react to a line being spoken live onstage.

R: Part of the joy of my job is the live aspect of it. The rush of a quick change and the crazy moments when you have to quickly fix a garment in the seconds when actors come off stage! I have loved theatre from a very young age and think it is truly a privilege and joy to be a part of!

Tree runs at the Young Vic from 29th July until 24th August. Book now.

Photos by Anthony Lee

Behind the Scenes highlights from Stage Managers Day 2018

In the theatre world, sometimes those behind the scenes can get lost amongst the glamour and glitz of what’s on stage – so this year for Stage Manager’s Day we handed our wonderful stage managers the reigns to our Instagram account to reclaim the spotlight and show off what they do best.

See the highlights below!

Twelfth Night runs until 17 Nov at the Young Vic. Limited tickets from £10.

Twelfth Night | Behind the Scenes with our Community Chorus

Come backstage with us, to the loud and bubbly atmosphere of the dressing rooms where our fantastic Community Chorus are getting ready for a performance of Twelfth Night.

Many have a pre-existing love of the theatre – some participating in previous Taking Part community productions, some totally new to the stage.

The 60-strong Young Vic Community Chorus for Twelfth Night spans many different backgrounds, generations and stories. The youngest chorus member is 18, whilst the oldest is in her mid-80s.

Cathy, 86, spent her working life in war zones for the United Nations. She can now be found on the Young Vic stage 4 nights a week. After a spell in Matthew Bourne’s company, Neil found himself homeless, which is how he came to be in Go Between, a Young Vic Taking Part production which was performed by a company who had all had some form of contact with homelessness, either directly or indirectly. Neil now works for St Mungo’s, and brought a group from the hostel to see him perform.

They share the stage with 18, 19 and 20 year-olds who come from our local boroughs of Southwark and Lambeth.

Amongst the backstage hubbub, we captured some quieter moments to gain an insight into what happens behind the scenes of our “joyous and dazzlingly colourful musical“ adaptation of Shakespeare’s comedy at the Young Vic.

Community chorus preparing for the stage. Photo by Leon Puplett.

Community chorus preparing for the stage. Photo by Leon Puplett.

Lending a hand. Photo by Leon Puplett.

Doing hair in the dressing room. Photo by Leon Puplett.

Final checks backstage. Photo by Leon Puplett.

Some extra curricular. Photo by Leon Puplett.

Seeing it from the audience’s perspective. Photo by Leon Puplett.

Backstage excitement of some of our Community Chorus. Photo by Leon Puplett.

The community atmosphere, on stage. Photo by Leon Puplett.

Watching from the wings. Photo by Leon Puplett.

Twelfth Night runs at the Young Vic until 19 Nov. Book Tickets now.

Head to our website to find out more about Taking Part and how you can get involved in their future projects, workshops and productions.

First look inside the Twelfth Night rehearsal room

Take your first look inside the rehearsal room for our upcoming musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night which opens for previews in just two weeks time.

Directed by our Artistic Director Kwame Kwei-Armah and Oskar Eustis, this production is set to be an injection of joy for audiences this Autumn and we can’t wait!

This celebration of love in all its forms features an awe-inspiring community chorus from Southwark and Lambeth with music and lyrics by the critically acclaimed songwriter Shaina Taub.

Twelfth Night runs at the Young Vic from 2 Oct until 17 Nov. Tickets from £10.

Find out more and book tickets now.

Paul Willcocks (Fabian) & Gbemisola Ikumelo (Maria) / Photography by Johan Persson

Silas Wyatt-Barke (Sir Andrew Aguecheek) / Photography by Johan Persson

Gabrielle Brooks (Viola) / Photography by Johan Persson

Gbemisola Ikumelo (Maria), Gerard Carey (Malvolio) & Natalie Dew (Olivia) / Photography by Johan Persson

Director Kwame Kwei-Armah and Melissa Allan (Feste) / Photography by Johan Persson

Gbemisola Ikumelo (Maria) / Photography by Johan Persson

Jyuddah Jaymes (Sebastian) / Photography by Johan Persson

Gerard Carey (Malvolio) and choreographer Lizzi Gee / Photography by Johan Persson

Musical Director Sean Green / Photography by Johan Persson

Gerard Carey (Malvolio) / Photography by Johan Persson

Rupert Young (Duke Orsino) / Photography by Johan Persson

Jonathan Livingstone (Antonio) / Photography by Johan Persson

Natalie Dew (Olivia) / Photography by Johan Persson

Martyn Ellis (Sir Toby Belch) / Photography by Johan Persson

Gabrielle Brooks (Viola) / Photography by Johan Persson

Kwame Kwei-Armah (director) / Photography by Johan Persson

Shakespeare gets a shake-up as soulful melodies and R&B beats weave through this enchanting musical adaptation of Twelfth Night.

This celebration of love in all its forms features an awe-inspiring community chorus from Southwark and Lambeth with music and lyrics by the critically acclaimed songwriter Shaina Taub.

Book tickets now: https://www.youngvic.org/whats-on/twelfth-night

Behind the scenes with The Jungle cast 👀

This week we let Ammar Haj Ahmad from the cast of The Jungle loose on our Instagram Story while the cast were in tech rehearsals. We’ve rounded up some of the best behind-the-scenes footage that he caught backstage here at the Young Vic.

The Jungle opens at the Young Vic from 7 Dec. A powerful world premiere set in the Calais jungle refugee camp. Book tickets from £10:
https://www.youngvic.org/whats-on/the-jungle

    

     

          

       

        

        

         

            

The Jungle runs at the Young Vic from 7 Dec – 9 Jan. Book tickets from £10.

A Young Vic and National Theatre co-production with Good Chance Theatre. Commissioned by the National Theatre

“The laundry bill must be incredible” – How DO our wardrobe team cope with #YVDream Mud?

The Young Vic costume department have been both complimented and commiserated with, by critics and audience members alike as to how they have to deal with our A Midsummer Night Dream mud every night. Especially those white pants…. come on! We talked to Head of Costume Catherine Kodicek about how this is done. 

“Over the years we have been challenged by lots of productions when it comes to the laundry and maintenance of the costumes; oodles of blood from all kinds of injuries, bags of vomit made from soup and other food items, bottles of ink, water with brown dye in it which the actors fall in to, sticky champagne that gets sprayed over them, paint which they cover themselves in, make-up and even a food fight with trifle, but nothing has really compared to the mud in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Not since the *blood rain* in A View From The Bridge has every single item of costume come up completely covered and needing to be transformed back to its clean self.

The key to survival is to have doubles of as many of the costumes as possible so that they do not get washed every single day. Washing and drying can wear out even very robust fabrics. There will always be items from vintage shops and markets that you cannot buy a second version of so if possible make replicas of these. The more duplicates you have the fewer times each item will be washed and the longer they will look good. Some of the actors in the show have between 2 and 6 versions of their costumes.

• Before we let any actual costumes get muddy we did a wash test with some old clothes to see how washable the mud was- the answer was *not very washable on natural fibres*. On man made fabric such as polyester and nylon the mud comes out relatively easy. On natural fibres such as cotton and linen the fabric wants to hold the mud particles and so the mud is harder to get out.

• Using the same method we used successfully on the blood rain did not help us. Every
  heavily soiled item needed rinsing or soaking, scrubbing then washing, rinsing and washing again before it was clean. In the end the magic ingredient to dislodge the mud particles was washing up liquid!!  (an old trick recommended by Upstage Theatrical Dry Cleaners who we use regularly for dry cleaning).

• Every item still needed to be scrubbed and then washed, but the washing up liquid proved to be more successful that any of the oxy action or other *stain removal* products. We discovered that the cheaper the detergent the better, as it produces fewer bubbles and makes rinsing easier.

• We found that drying the suit trousers first and brushing off the surface mud prior to surface washing gave the best results. Finally we also ran the whites through an ecological bleach to freshen them regularly and let the lighting do the rest.”

So there you have it. How to clean a entire company’s costumes every night post mud-roll.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream runs in the YV Main House until 1 April. For more information and to book, click here.

 

11 Questions with the cast of Yerma – Maureen Beattie

Maureen Beattie in Yerma. Photo by Johan Persson.

Maureen is currently staring in Yerma at the Young Vic. She plays Helen in Simon Stone’s adaptation of Lorca’s classic. Here are her answers to our 11 questions:

Can you describe your character in Yerma  in three words?

A terrible mother.

What’s it been like working with Simon Stone?

Bliss.

How did you find the rehearsal process in comparison to other productions you’ve been in?

Unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before.

What are you usually doing 10 minutes before the show begins?

Finishing off my make-up.

What is your favourite play (seen, read or worked on)?

Medea, in a version by Liz Lochhead after Euripides. I was Medea.

What is your favourite midnight snack?

Fried egg sandwich.

What was it that first got you interested in the theatre?

I was always a show off! Also, my father was a variety artiste.

Where is your favourite place in the world?

The Island of Bute, in the Clyde Estuary.

Who is your ultimate hero, and what would you say to them if you ever met them?

My darling brother, who has battled mental illness for decades and yet remains a kind and courteous man.

If you could have been born in any era, which would it be and why?

I’m pretty happy with now.

If you could have any one supernatural power which would you choose and why?

I’d like to be able to de-materialize and re-materialize anywhere in the world at will.

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11 Questions with the cast of Yerma – Thalissa Teixeira

Thalissa Teixeira as Des in Yerma. Photo by Johan Persson.

Thalissa is currently staring in Yerma at the Young Vic. She plays Des in Simon Stone’s adaptation of Lorca’s classic. Here are her answers to our 11 questions:

Can you describe your character in Yerma  in three words?

Plenty.Of.Time

What’s it been like working with Simon Stone?

What work?

How did you find the rehearsal process in comparison to other productions you’ve been in?

It never felt like a rehearsal. 4 weeks went by and suddenly we had a play.

What are you usually doing 10 minutes before the show begins?

Looking for a baby to play with.

What is your favourite play (seen, read or worked on)?

Pomona at the Royal Welsh College/The Gate. It was initially written for our year before getting published and transferred.

What is your favourite midnight snack?

I’m usually asleep by then. And if not, I’m awake till 4 – which means a full on donna dinner. (Lamb, obviously)

What was it that first got you interested in the theatre?

All things. Even the things I hate. But mostly the things I don’t understand.

Where is your favourite place in the world?

Whenever all my mates are at that time. Hopefully on a beach.

Who is your ultimate hero, and what would you say to them if you ever met them?

The 20 plus land activists whom have been killed in Brazil so far this year due to conflicts over logging and agribusiness. I would thank them for their work and say I hope one day minds change.

If you could have been born in any era, which would it be and why?

Ancient Egypt – for the architecture.

If you could have any one supernatural power which would you choose and why?

To speak every language in the world. Or to be able to be in two places  at once … speaking different languages.

 

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If You Kiss Me, Kiss Me | FLASHBACK!

With Jane Horrocks on stage on our main house singing her own gritty and soulful versions of the new wave music she grew up with, we’re throwing it back with these blast from the past snaps of our If You Kiss Me, Kiss Me cast and creative team from way back when.

But can you tell your Rat Scabies from your Kipper? Answers are at the bottom of this post!

  

  

          

From top, left to right: Bunny Christie, Daniel Hay Gordon, Rat Scabies (Photo by Gavin Watson), Michael Walters, Jane Horrocks, Kipper, Fabienne Debarre, Joe Hancock, Conor Doyle, Aletta Collins, Lorena Randi and Andreas Fuchs.

If You Kiss Me, Kiss Me plays at the Young Vic until 16 April. To book or find out more, click here.

The Sound Of Yellow – written by Mike Clarke, a participant in Taking Part’s community show

The Sound of Yellow

Way back at the start of the year, a group of hopefuls auditioned for the chance to be in a new play. We were told that it was about Synesthesia, a condition in which people can see colours or experience tastes by simply hearing a certain word. It’s bizarre, yet truly magical and much harder to explain than I originally thought so here is a proper description.

That video is the very same shown to us by our director Matthew Xia at our audition. In fact, it was after watching that video that two members of our cast discovered that they too were synesthetes.  The energy was buzzing! The Sound of Yellow was already reaching out, and had already infected us all. Sounds exciting, doesn’t it?

We were also informed that the play was going to be ‘verbatim’, which means that some of our lines were going to be quotes from actual synesthetes. We were going to be playing real people. So, no pressure!

In the weeks that followed our ‘Two Boroughs’ group met, and played games and bonded. We saw shows together; the splendid A View from the Bridge and the show that inspired our own, The Valley of Astonishment by Peter Brook and Marie-Hélène Estienne. We were very privileged to meet them both along with the cast and fellow synesthetes. They continued to visit us over the weeks to give us their insight into their process and help us translate our script to an unsuspecting audience.

It was only a week before the play when we met up with the other groups participating in this event; Kairos Community Trust, Foundation 66, St Mungo’s Broadway & the Open Voices Choir. We finally got to see the bits of the play we had only read on paper come to life. Each group had been working on a different section, so seeing the whole thing come together was exciting!

Over the weeks we had been teased with images and models of the set. With tales of ever changing lights, smells of beef and disinfectant, 3D glasses, lights and sounds all in one tent. Well, the stage guys at the Young Vic did not disappoint. Our stage was an ever changing canvas, painting different colours, smells and sounds in a fully interactive space. It’s hard to explain (closest thing I could get was the holodeck from Star Trek) but was a wonder to experience. The play had street performances, it had audience participation, it had sounds, tastes, and lighting to affect as many senses as possible. It had a choir! It had moments of happiness and pure joy. It also had moments of utter gut wrenching sorrow. It was able to take you there safely and bring you back to the safety of yourself. By looking at your own reflection, you saw (we hoped) a whole new you. Not the you who had started watching this play as, but the new ‘enlightened’ one.  That wasn’t supposed to be as pretentious as it read. Oh well.

I remember getting ready to go, the show was over it was time to get back to reality via a few celebratory drinks at the bar, when I was stopped by one of the members of Foundation 66. He asked me simply, “What I was going to do now?” I replied with, “Go to the bar and hang for a bit”. He corrected me with, “No I mean, what are you going to do now? Now this is all over?” I replied, “I don’t know what I’m going to do now.” That’s when it hit me. This wasn’t just some play; this had been a life force and life line to so many people.

The Sound of Yellow was never going to be a straight forward play. Over the weeks it had become a piece of organic material. A living breathing thing, that kept evolving and growing, needing our sustenance, wanting to be much more than just a performance piece. And in that final moment, I think it achieved it.