Over the past 6 weeks, we have hosted a series of weekly Tuesday ‘Make It’ sessions alongside our DAS rehearsals. This has been a chance for us to assemble a working team to tackle the larger-scale bulk makes required for both Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Hushabye.
As you can see from the photos, this has been an all-hands-on-deck endeavour, with everyone getting involved. Big thanks to Liv, Poppy, Cantarra, Lula, Tristan, William, Evie and Flossie for their hard work in helping with measurements (120 in the cast is a LOT of measuring!) and with getting stuck in on making soldier costumes.
Special thanks are also due to Kat, who has single-handedly been churning out 47 Toot Sweet aprons, sweeties and kerchiefs from home as well as master-minding the creation of the music box and hair removal machine for the funfair. She is a 1-woman-powerhouse of ingenuity and we are so grateful to her for her artistic eye, clever solutions, and incredible graft in helping to generate so much bulk make material for the show. Kat, you are a superstar.
We are also honoured to be joined by volunteer Susan, who has a background as a professional fashion design and textile artist in London. Susan is taking the lead on the specialist makes for the Baron and Baroness costumes, and it was so exciting to get a chance to do proper costume fittings last week, with muslin toiles being tested prior to the full costume creation.
In addition to the props and costume creation on the side, we’ve also been introducing props creation into DAS sessions too! Polly, Laura and Teagan introduced the creation of stained-glass effect fish that swim under the sea, and the juniors have been getting involved themselves, designing and creating their own fish and then rehearsing with them.
And Polly made a dolphin.
We’ve particularly loved getting a chance to teach and learn new skills across the generations – from shirring elastic to hot glueing to ironing. We’ve got a very full costume rail at the theatre now, and more costumes arriving every week. This show is epically huge – we can’t wait!
And sometimes young people demonstrate particular specialist skills – i.e. Lula has a knack for distressing t-shirts and creating an authentic ‘hidden children’ look for the costumes for the caves. Using tea-staining and a pair of fabric scissors, she’s worked wonders on a set of children’s t-shirts and vests, creating an authentically distressed look.
