'NINE: The Musical' Research and Boards

I have been busy working on Nine and still stoked for project as I will have a much more hands-on role and freedom with my work. We have a cast of 11 characters with 2-3 costume changes each which is a huge increase from the last shows I worked on. I think this will be a challenge as I am going to have to work a lot harder - and faster to ensure everyone is ready in time for the show. I want to push myself and really prove my talent in this show.

I began by doing my own research into the themes, I said a while ago that I was going to create boards and I followed through and did it. This is quite a personal achievement for me as I often come up with good ideas but don't always persevere and follow them through. This time I have. 

This production screams sexy, showgirl and avante garde Italian fashion

Basic costume board for the 'Overture' scene

We have girls of all sizes in the production - from extra large to extra small - which means I need to create costume that is adaptable size-wise and keep it sexy. The above board shows my first ideas which I followed up with a trip to the huge fabric store I know of from my first few weeks here in Rome, Fratelli Basetti Tessuti. It felt good to need something and know where I can get it from. It has taken me a while to learn the best places to buy stuff however now I feel confident shopping in Rome and not getting ripped off. Which, believe me, is a challenge in it's self!

In the store I was shown rolls of sequinned materials, some were a million miles away from our budget - I'm talking 80euro a metre here (and I expect some are even more expensive) - yet some were much more in budget. I collected samples to attach to my boards.

The more expensive fabrics... so damn.. pretty...

More sparkles... just cheaper! Hooray!

I am uncertain our small 200 euro budget will cover the sequinned fabric to make the skirts however I enjoyed following through with the process as it was good practice for me. I used research skills from my two years at Coventry and knew the importance of collecting samples and getting a feel for the fabrics. My images and information has all been referenced too - another thing I would never have got into the habit of doing if it was not for our projects on campus. I realise now how even the smallest tasks and skills are important. 

Being in a fabric store that large was actually quite overwhelming - in a positive way. There are rooms after rooms of rolls of fabric, all unique and some really spectacular. Although I am not doing a collection for my final year I definitely want to include the use of fabric in the installation I hope to create. I have always enjoyed working with fabric and I want to create pieces that do not require the precision and accuracy of pattern cutting and making. I have confidence that with practice I would be capable to do so, however I feel it would be more beneficial for me to use my best skills - which is creating from a more artistic perspective where projects are more adaptable and you are able to modify and fine-tune as you go along.

We create a programme for every show and it is really important for everyone involved. It not only informs the audience but commends the actors who take part and help them publicise themselves - which is what the theatre aims to do as a spring board.

Nine programme designed by me - Front and Back

Inside pages of the programme with bios and photographs

My experience as an extra in a film! 'Everest' OUT in 2015

Last  Monday I attended my costume fitting for my role as an extra. Being a costume designer this was really exciting for me as it gave me a chance to see how it's done by a professional. Well, in this case, the assistant of the professional. I was dressed by the assistant designer but I managed to catch a glimpse of  the real costumista as he strode into the room, looked at me, exclaimed "Urgh that's horrible - take it off" and went off out again.

I couldn't help but smile to myself a little as he left the room, I found his mannerisms slightly amusing, the offence he felt from my miss-matched outfit was almost too much for him to look at. 

It made me wonder if things change once you move up to higher ranks. It seems it becomes more deciding 'yes' and 'no' to other peoples decisions than making your own - depending on how many people you have working for you.

There were shelves of mountains boots, boxes of gloves, hats, scarves and earmuffs and finally rails of old school 90's ski and mountain wear. The colours were great, I love the magenta, teal and purple combo's that were so popular for that fashion. 

Wooley hats, scarves, gloves, ear muffs - the lot!

Mountain boots.. I was one of the last so the shelves were a little bare

Rails of 90's ski wear

Colourful body warmers

Ski wear is super super comfy

To the left is my first costume and, as comfy as the blue sweats were, they weren't working as part of costume. We needed to go less pyjama, more mountaineer-er. The solution was a pair of original high waisted Levi's, that if I may add, fitted ever so perfectly - it's a shame they couldn't come home with me!

I returned to Cine Citta on Thursday for my first day of shooting. The producer briefed us before we headed off to get changed. We had an assistant to help us and off with our clothes and on with the costume - I was not expecting such treatment as an extra! We then waited in turn for hair and make up - something else I wasn't expecting. I sat in front of a Hollywood vanity mirror and had my cheeks dirtied and reddened, then my hair fashioned into a very cute Norwegian style low plait. 

It seems as a red-head I was a target of serious face-reddening
in the make-up department

I was really really lucky to have this experience. Not only did I get an idea of how costume works for a film, I got to see how the action on set worked. Unfortunately I could not get any other photo's as phones were forbidden on set (as expected). We went through the process of retaking scenes, hearing the clacker and then the directors words: Rolling, Background action, and then finally Action. Background action was our cue, and with that I tried my best to immerse myself in the scene and act as naturally as possible. I would not have had the confidence to do this a year ago, however after a combination of being at University and most importantly, moving to Rome independently, I was comfortable enough to do it. 

Seeing filming in action and the way the costumes, hair, make-up and set is all designed really enthused me about film making. It gave me an idea for my final year project to integrate video into my branding. I want to create a promotional video and I now have lots of skills from my year in Rome to help me along with it. I will be able to use my lighting skills to set an effective ambience, I have learnt from the Everest filming how important it is to ensure that costumes of extra and actors do not clash with each other - nor can they clash or blend in with the set. This is a useful note that I will take from this experience - the image being shot on camera must work as a whole, every aspect an part of the shot needs to be considered and they must all be in visual harmony with one another. 

Information on the film Everest due for release in 2015 is on IMDB so check it out! I will most certainly be going to the cinema for this one!

Another cheeky photo - I hope I'm allowed to share these..

Women Honing One-Acts: Supporting International Women's Day

Things are moving very quickly now - I like working at a fast pace as it keeps me active and hard-working. 

Last Saturday was the opening night for W.H.O.A - Women Honing One-Acts (A Night of Women Who Write). This runs like a mini festival with three performances - two playrights, and one excerpt from a book by Elizabeth Geoghegan - The Marco Chronicles: To Rome, Without Love. The excerpt is by far my favourite part of the show, it has humour - some witty, some adult, and it creates a very different perspective of 'romance' in Rome from the standard rose-tinted glasses people tend to see it with. This I feel I can relate to which is perhaps another reason why it is my favourite. I see a very commercialised Rome which over the years of tourism seems to me, to have lost it's charm. 

Anyway, I'll save all that for another post!

Promotional poster for W.H.O.A made by me

Period Clothing and A day at Cine Citta - The Famous Italian Film Studios

Period hats and costume in Costumista Scenigrafo

Recently, us at The English Theatre of Rome have been working with Pop-up Rome on a fundraiser for Save The Children. The event, which I assisted in organising, was a theatrical rendition of Shelly's poem about the Italian noblewoman Beatrice Cenci held at the the Cenci Palace. 

The theme was 16th Century, as the performance was this era, so everybody was required to be in full costume. We had a small budget for the costume this time so Gaby and I went to the Costumista Scenigrafo at Giacomo Ponzio, a costume shop that specializes in period clothing. This was another great opportunity for me to learn more about period fashion and whilst there the shop owner told me which styles were from what years and how to pick out certain characteristics from the decades. 

Rails of voluminous period skirts and underlays

Eve and Nikolai were actors in the show and were being fitted for their costume. I was a little envious of them being able to dress up in the extravagant clothing to be honest, I would have really liked to join in. Their costumes look great!

Eve and Nikolai in the dressing room.. Smile guys!

A costume from the period just after the Revolution

Spanish costumes from the 15th Century

Cenci Event

The costume below is inspired by the African fashion that would have been worn by black people during the 16th Century - I wanted the challenge of designing something different from the Italian medieval theme which I knew everybody else was focused on. 

African costume designed by me

A typical servants/peasants costume from the century. Leggings and shoes hired from the costumista, the top resourced from Gaby's wardrobe (budget was very limited as always!) - I am pleased with the combination created here.

Anthony in a one of his best Medieval poses

There was a trip to Venice up for grabs for best dressed. These are the lovely couple that won and it's clear why. Unfortunately I cannot take credit for these absolute masterpieces, the attention to detail and embellishment in these made them stand out from the rest. The hours of hard work that went into these costumes is astonishing. Even the masks.. just wow. 

This week I also had the lucky opportunity to visit Cine Citta (Cinema City), a large film studio here in Rome considered to be the hub of Italian cinema. Gaby is hosting a casting for an upcoming film 'Everest' so I had the pleasure of joining her whilst seeing the sites at the same time. There were some striking fascist buildings - I have noticed they are quite popular here in Rome.

The studios were closely associated with Frederico Fellini, and his office was here at Teatro No.5. As the musical Nine, which we are working on with the University students is based on a film by Fellini, it was fantastic for me to be able to make that link and get a feel of the director and see his work space from many years ago.

Taa daaa!

Cine Citta also has model cities - Rome, New York, Paris. It was so interesting to see how realistically these can appear in film and even in real life - it was hard to believe these buildings are mostly made from plastic and light wood!

'Fake Rome'

The view from behind of the scaffolding - the big give away!

LA Jail... GUILTY

La Paris.. capturing how perfectly my hair can match my handbag...

Whilst having lots of fun at the film studies, Gaby suggested that I should have a go at my own casting for a place an as extra. I heard back later in the week from the production crew and they have indeed selected me for the extra cast! I have a costume fitting on Monday.

I later found out there may be some issues with the payments as the company pay by direct debit into your Italian bank account - which I do not have. These are the sort of problems you are faced with when living abroad. I found a simple solution in that they are happy to send the money into Gaby's account.

The shifts will long, full days, but it will be great chance to meet directors, actors and make a bit of money!

I haven't heard back from NutKase, the company who I applied for a position within. Upon reflection I was probably a little over ambitious. It hasn't knocked me though - I have enough on my plate already and I am learning and achieving so much working at the theatre.

Problems you face as a 'Sound and Lightboard' Operator... (Plus a pretty fascinator I hand-crafted)

We have now finished the showings of Hedda Gabler. As light and sound board operator I was constantly on my toes waiting for cues and preparing the next piece of music, I enjoyed the feeling of working under pressure!

This was a bit of a challenge for me actually and although I knew was I was doing, I got really nervous beforehand. I think it is because you are so aware that one mistake could really affect the show.

We did have one issue with the lights during the show - I opened the first scene with lights and all was fine. Until the lights turned off for a few seconds, then back on. The director was looking at me very "what the hell?!"ish and whilst I pressed buttons there wasn't a fix I knew of. Once I realised the lights were not stopping this crazy behaviour I used my initiative and turned up the lights manually. This is something that I would only ever want to do in a pickle like this as it doesn't look smooth at all and you cannot predict how it will look. I tackled this problem the best I could, and ensured the next night to arrive even earlier to test the lighting.

The intimate theatre space at the L'Archiliuto in an early morning light set

My gadgets - sound board (left), light board (right)

My finished fascinator

Shot from the show - Hedda and Loevborg

We went out for the traditional cast meal after the final show which is Gaby's generous thank you treat to everyone. Hedda, the main character played by Alashiya had written 'suicide notes' to each of us in the form of limericks and we all wrote (on our paper table clothes) a limerick back. I used to really enjoy poetry when I was younger and it bought back how naturally rhyming comes to me! I have explored yet another form of the creative arts whilst out here. Here's my little limerick:

General Gabler he led them all,

With his face I portrayed on the wall,

His young daughter admired,

But her life soon expired

With that trigger she chose to pull

As I think I previously mentioned, Gaby, is also a professor at the John Cabot University here and as part of her curricular work she was given the task to mark and assess a 23 videos entered by Italian students as a competition. The videos were the students interpretations of 'the namesake' the novel on which the first show, Under the Overcoat was based on. We had to work to a criteria and pick out certain aspects of the videos and analyse them to see how well the students did in terms of originality, performance, creative direction and other marking criteria. As a student it was very interesting to have a go at switching the role to professor. I used knowledge from my own previous feedback sheets to understand the basic idea of how it worked, but it was good to have Gaby to show me also how it can be done.

I just applied and received my codice fiscale, an Italian document which allows me to work in the country. Using the Italian systems was definitely a new experience for me, and a challenge if you count waiting in line for 4 hours trying not to melt of boredom. After the LONG wait I have my document and to make the most of this piece of paper I have applied for a part time role at a company called NutKase. They design cases for laptops and tablets and they are looking for someone to work within their marketing team and branding. I have now updated my CV to include my English Theatre Of Rome information and I have to say, (pardon me to blow my own trumpet!) I think it is now looking pretty good. I have dabbled in a lot of the skills required for the job and it would be an incredible opportunity to get the part time position - it will broaden my knowledge on marketing and branding which would come in incredibly handy in my third year and also look great as further work experience. 

Upcycling and Re-cycling - How to furnish your whole home with 'garbage'

Among work, I have also been caring for an old lady which is a excellent way for me to earn some extra money and also to explore Rome and go further into the suburbs! They have the most incredibly huge fancy house so it's quite a luxury going over there. Plus another skill I could put on my CV should I ever need to.

Her gorgeous chocolate poodle bounding up the garden

I've also been helping Gaby out taking some photos of her beautiful country home. She would like to have an online portfolio as a lot of it she built herself - including the kitchen. It's really incredible the work she's done, I find great inspiration in Gaby! Here are some photos of the house. Next time I will take my new fancy pants camera my dad has loaned me for university and get some really good quality photos.

The hand crafted made-to-look-old kitchen. The cupboard doors are built from old window shutters

A close up of the marble kitchen sink

The are taps from an old water fountain in Rome, you can see the mythical create style spout mouths - these are one of my favourite features of the house - truly stunning! Gaby made the sink from a piece of marble she found, and the counters were made from window shutters, pieces of new wood made to look old etc. Upcycling and recycling home-style!

A beautiful view from the terrace, even on a rainy day

Upstairs kitchenette with ultramarine backwall

Downstairs bedroom, recycled bed frame and windowed cupboard turning into a mirror

I am expanding my knowledge of what I like to call Super-scrimping. Gaby knows all the old ways to save money, create things cheaply and how to be incredibly economical, this is a really good skill to be improving on and I often find myself fascinated by the things she has created from bizarre things she has found in the trash! ('Trash!' I have also found myself picking up American words over here… A lot of things are becoming really 'Awesome')

My favourite photo of them all, the old smudgy mirror reflecting the soft sunlight

I spent a lovely weekend back in England with my boyfriend living the life in the ever changing Shoreditch. I grow fonder and fonder of that place after each visit! We visited Greenwich which is where time is kept (GMT) and got a good view of London whilst up there. I have noticed a huge increase in my appreciate for the beauty of England since being away.

Greenwich, London. GMT

Working for the show 'Hedda Gabler': My work in Pop-art, Millinery and Graphics

The last few weeks have been busy preparing for our opening of the show Hedda Gabler, which is tonight.

My wish to learn the skill of lightboard operator came with this show - I will running the light and sound boards - the lights of which I also designed. I am a little bit of a tech-head, so I picked it up quickly and enjoyed it. It's interesting to see the effects and moods you can create using dramatic lighting it really can transform the space. I designed light to create hours of the day for this show - early morning and evening. I learnt to program preset lights into the board which is very useful for light changes. The sound board at the Teatro L'Archiliuto is a much newer and better quality piece of equipment than the one we used for the last show, Under The Overcoat.

One of the requirements of my painting was that it had to look like the actress who was playing Hedda. This was so that the link between the two would be easy to make. To achieve this, I took a photo of Aleshiya and edited in photoshop so that she had more masculine features. This was a challenge. I then added a general's outfit on to her and used this digital image to draw out the shapes for my painting. 

The reason the digital images looks very different is due to the fact that the director requested that the face be more stern and looking forward. I was required to make the necessary changes to create the desired impact. 

"The portrait of the general that stares out and follows you around the room"

Though not one of my best paintings, I am pleased with the outcome. Pop-Art is not my favourite style yet I feel I managed to capture the crisp lines that make it so recognisable.


Here is the first steps of the fascinator, I used feathers from what seems like an old burlesque style, feather pom pom which I bought from a gypsy at the market... It really is fantastic! The feathers are black with that twinge of green and blues depending on the light. I have a feeling it will make an appearance in my final year project somehow.. There are lots of feathers to adorn garments/art with and it will fit nicely with the nature theme of my work.

Using knowledge of fascinators from my first year at university

Gaby left it to me to design the promotional posters for this show, instead of going to the paid professional who usually does them. This gave me a good feeling, I am confident in my ability to create a visually effective poster.

The first poster was creating using a photo taken by the director to provoke underlying themes in the show… He likes getting a reaction for Italians and over here this photo certainly does that! The poster looks far from innocent and certainly has slightly sexual imagery. The Italians also have very strong views on violence to women (it looks like the gun is pointed by someone else however, it is actually her own hand) so it is quite controversial. 

Due to the other poster being a little too 'explicit' for certain promotional uses, Gaby requested that created a second suitable for the Italian magazines etc. I manipulated an image and changed more than enough to comply with copyright laws, this has inspired me to create an image from scratch next time. If I could improve my ability to do it would be a good skill to have not only for creating poster graphics, but also for fashion designs and illustrations. I think it's time to get back on illustrator because I think with a little practice I could nail it!

Aside from owning the English Theatre of Rome, Gaby runs a drama club at the John Cabot University. The students will be performing 'Nine', a story which follows Guido, a director and his relationships with all the women in his life. It is based on a film called 8 and a half, which is a very interesting Italian black and white film. It's quite unusual and the clothes are also fantastic. It also was good for my Italian watching a subtitled Italian film. I have been looking into the fashion worn in the film and will also be looking at Federico Fellini films and avante garde for inspiration.

I am really excited for his show. I will have more free reign for it than I have had for Hedda as Gaby is much more relaxed with decisions. Daniel, the director for Hedda Gabler is very certain about what he wants and has taken it upon himself to do most things. I think we are slightly similar in personality!

To support my work for Nine, I will to create my own research document on fashion through different eras. I am not sure yet what format I would like to do it in. I work very well digitally so I think I'll create A4/A3 boards on Photoshop, have them printed and then add texture and samples to them.