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showAuth({"version":"1.0","encoding":"UTF-8","entry":{"xmlns":"http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom","xmlns$blogger":"http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008","xmlns$georss":"http://www.georss.org/georss","xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-708938817000327103.post-2797134993228346858"},"published":{"$t":"2000-04-11T11:41:00.000+09:30"},"updated":{"$t":"2017-08-10T11:44:27.140+09:30"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"lifestyle features2"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Keeping 'em in stitches (SA Weekend)"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-bBhDVqi64GI\/UrOKb4GYsTI\/AAAAAAAAA4w\/jmWDBQ-0yKs\/s1600\/port-feat-shakespeare.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"https:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-bBhDVqi64GI\/UrOKb4GYsTI\/AAAAAAAAA4w\/jmWDBQ-0yKs\/s1600\/port-feat-shakespeare.jpg\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\nTHERE would be few things worse for a fashion designer than for one’s latest looks to be greeted with hysterical laughter.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nBut when the curtain goes up on her creations in \u003Ci\u003EThe Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)\u003C\/i\u003E, that’s exactly what costume designer Ailsa Paterson is aiming for – and she’s never disappointed.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca name='more'\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n“It actually takes a little while for the laughter to die down before the actors can start the show,” she says.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n“Usually that’s the last thing you want, but it’s great.”\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nStill, when one of your costumes features a prominent codpiece made out of a peacock plush toy, you’re practically guaranteed to have your audience in stitches (pun intended).\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAfter a successful premiere in 2010 and a popular return season in 2011, the State Theatre Company comedy – which famously features Hamlet, done backwards, in three minutes – is back for another run before embarking on a three-month national tour.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nPaterson’s eye-popping costumes have undergone some slight modifi cations since the show’s debut –\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nlike waterproofing.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n“We had to do some things like making launderable removable lining, now that we know how sweaty the boys get,” she laughs.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n“The show is extremely physical and sometimes the costumes were dripping in horrible sweat by the time\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nthey came back last time.”\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nHer gaudy, Elizabethan-inspired creations are so attention-grabbing, they’re practically a character in\u003Cbr \/\u003E\ntheir own right. Not that the show needs it – with actors Nic English, Tim Overton and Damian Callinan racing through all 37 of the Bard’s plays in under 100 minutes, they’re already playing at least 30 characters themselves.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n“There’s a very conscious theatricality to the show, these three actors are playing actors playing Shakespearean performers,” Paterson says.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n“The basic premise is they are three actors touring the world in a travelling theatre wagon, they roll up into town, unfold the wagon, put on their costumes and put on a show. It’s based on the idea of Elizabethan pageant wagons, but it’s a very contemporary, camp, glitzy, showy kind of version of that.”\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAnd while Shakespeare’s works may be abridged, costumes are anything but short on detail. Each is constructed from a dizzying array of modern fabrics like stretch lycra, sequins, Chinese brocade, leather and even PVC, in a humorous, modern take on Elizabethan fashions.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n“I did quite thorough research into the historical costumes of the time and while I have used those silhouettes quite faithfully I’ve then just gone to town using interesting contemporary fabrics and drawing off contemporary fashion ways of revisualising those costumes,” Paterson says.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n“Elizabethan costumes were usually very brightly coloured and used a combination of fabrics, so I’ve done that but we’ve also incorporated fabrics that look fantastic on stage under lights like a lot of sequins.”\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe costumes are also peppered with visual gags – like the peacock codpiece, made from a plush toy found\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nat the Adelaide Zoo, which Paterson has rigged with tiny lights to fl ash at comedically appropriate moments.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nIt’s a bit of a departure for the NIDA graduate, whose last job was designing costumes for State’s April production of Hedda Gabler.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n“That was a very serious, depressing production, so it’s kind of wonderful to have the contrast of working on something so lighthearted,” she says.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n“Generally if I do a show that requires period costuming, there’s a sort of seriousness to how you approach that and historical research that makes you want to do quite a faithful interpretation. It’s more about a realistic look for the characters.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n“And often you want the costumes to be quite unobtrusive as well, not distracting, so this is the complete opposite where they can be ridiculously over-the-top distracting and hilarious. It’s fun.”\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003EFirst published in SA Weekend, July 27, 2013.\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/708938817000327103\/posts\/default\/2797134993228346858"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/708938817000327103\/posts\/default\/2797134993228346858"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/www.petrastarke.com\/2000\/10\/there-would-be-few-things-worse-for.html","title":"Keeping 'em in stitches (SA Weekend)"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"https:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-bBhDVqi64GI\/UrOKb4GYsTI\/AAAAAAAAA4w\/jmWDBQ-0yKs\/s72-c\/port-feat-shakespeare.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"}}});