COSTUME MAKING WORKSHOP AT THE RSC

After we had looked at the costume exhibition I had the chance to learn about making costumes at a workshop. The workshop took place in a room where there were lots of examples of different parts of costumes including wigs, shoes and jewellery. We watched a video of a dresser helping an actor get ready to go on stage.

The people running the workshop were from a theatre company called The Wrong Crowd. One of the ladies was a director and the other was a costume designer who often makes puppets.They told us that we could have a go at making costumes and props of either a fairy or Bottom's donkey ears from a Midsummer Night's Dream or a witch from Macbeth. They gave us lots of ideas for making hats, masks and creepy hands using gloves and a special foam material. I decided to make a mask of a witch from Macbeth. I decided I wanted the mask to look really freaky!

First of all I cut off the mouth and chin from a plastic mask. I also made the eyes bigger.

I squished up lots of pieces of masking tape to form a big nose. I wanted the nose to turn up at the end to look like a pig.

I then shaped some eyebrows. I made one higher than the other to make the expression look questioning.

 

 

I then covered the whole mask in a thin layer of PVA glue.

 

When the glue had dried, I painted it a skin colour. I used yellow ochre, white and a bit of red to make the skin colour.I also painted black around the eyes to make them stand out.

I then used lots of strips of fabric that were leftovers from real costumes made by the costume department to make a headdress. I wanted it to look a bit like a veil. I thought the purple colours were quite witchy.

Here I am looking very scary!

 

 

COSTUME EXHIBITION THE ROYAL SHAKESPEARE THEATRE

The exhibition was spread around different parts of the theatre. There were some near the box office, some near the cafe and some in a room near the tower. There were costumes from different plays and from different times. Some of them had been worn by very famous actors such as Judi Dench, Patrick Stewart and David Tennant. Here are some of my favourites:

 

This is a costume from a play called Cymbeline. I love the colours.

These costumes are from The Tempest. The colours and patterns remind me of a stormy sea.

 

 

COMPTON VERNEY ART GALLERY

We visited Compton Verney art gallery, which is near where my grandma and grandad live. First, we looked at the pictures in the gallery. I liked the landscape pictures of the volcanoes. They were painted by artists during the 1800s. We did some art activities:

CAMERA OBSCURA
I really liked using the camera obscura to copy the landscape outside. It works by mirrors.

OUTSIDE
Lots of people had made a shop using only felt tip pens and bits of cardboard. I made Claire's Accessories.

MAKE UP YOUR OWN COLOURS
I made up my own colours. The lady asked us to give them names, which I did not have time to do because I decided to paint a landscape. The outline of the landscape was copied from a painting by the famous painter Constable.