So, I was having the beginnings of thoughts about the costuming for our whole cast. I've seen a few posts about the costuming for specific characters, but I think we should come together and figure something out as a cast. We need some kind of unifying structure to the costuming. I remember us talking about modern dress back when we were with Matt, but then this week I saw Katy rehearsing the Duke/Valentine "Rope Scene" (not to be confused with the Proteus/Silvia "Rape Scene"...one letter, big difference.) and the one thing that made me stop in my tracks and scratch my head was the fact that Valentine was in a bright red magician's cape. For whatever reason, this completely shocked my senses of what our show looks like.
One idea for what could unify us, if we have anachronistic elements, such as capes and swords, would be colors. Color in costuming is a huge signifier for the audience. Like almost every time I see Romeo and Juliet (even the Gnome version), inevitably one house is always in one color and the other in the opposite (Red/Blue is the most common). It's almost like the entire household shops at the same single color store. In real life, that kind of uniformity would seem ridiculous, but on stage it reads so well. Imagine if Proteus (since it's me, and I think about myself a lot, obviously. Wouldn't you too?) every time he switches personalities, also switches the colors of his shirt. While everyone else has their colors, and stays true to them, Proteus continually shifts his colors, like a chameleon, to suit his environment.
Let me know your ideas :)
I have also been thinking about the costumes for our piece a lot. I like the modern themed idea. Working in a "cloak" could be as easy as switching it to a trench coat, or something of that nature. I do like the different colors idea, for the every shifting Proteus. Maybe you could shift for Valentine's color to the Duke's to an evil color. Costuming is just an awkward thing to do when it is based off of what we have access to. I'd like to suggest we, Cast B, meet and discuss costuming before rehearsal on Monday, like if we can all be there around one we should be able to hammer a rough idea out and present it to whichever director we have that day.
ReplyDeleteSo even thought I'm in cast A... I too had this thought for Proteus. Though I was going more subtle than an entire shirt change and use ties to try and elicit the same stage pictures. We'll see what happens. Finally, I might suggest that Proteus shifts his colors not like a chameleon but like Proteus, his namesake.
ReplyDeleteMy major concern with costuming at the moment is the fact that I will now be thrown over AJ's shoulders and carried off and on stage. I'm concerned about whether I'm wearing a dress here, because I think Sylvia should be to show she's not like Julia, and I want to make sure that whatever I'm wearing doesn't get torn, or become cumbersome in the process of getting off stage.
ReplyDeleteI haven't really thought about clothing for Launce. I feel like Launce is a character who doesn't really care very much about appearance and so he isn't really concerned about how he looks. Matt Davies and I one day discussed possibly adding a bow to Crab's leash to show that he has become fashionable since arriving in Milan, which I thought was hilarious.
ReplyDeleteTo respond to Michael, the only real protean shift Proteus has is from Julia to Silvia, otherwise it is more Iago-like deception where he fits his tactics to attain his goal. Plus, for me, I have several flannel shirts in bright primary colors, that I could wear under a black vest, so the looks would be the same but the color would change. I personally wouldn't want to go too subtle because this is an early comedy and not as nuances as, say, the comedy sections of his later romances. I would want to wear a similar color as Valentine, at the beginning, and by the end be the complete spectral opposite of him.
ReplyDeleteYEAH a real conversation on this blog FINALLY!
ReplyDeleteI respectfully disagree, I feel that his shifts are subtle though Protean throughout. From Valentine to Julia to Sylvia to the Duke to Sylvia to Valentine to Julia, he, to me, seems to have a hard time focusing his energies and being consistant until his total humiliation and the recognition of shame at the end. I think his Protean ways cease with "My shame and guilt confounds me" A short line!, which helps bring out the fact that for one significant moment he does not know the best thing to say and does not have a snazzy antemetabole to make it all better. So I think reducing his Protean status to simply the romantic love switch does not really look at the whole character.
Your shirt idea sounds good, though I wonder why you think that you need to not be subtle. I think the text is blatant enough, being somewhat subtle might give the character more depth than being an obvious caricature. Plus my own need for subtlty derives my being an audience member; I hate when costuming is so overly obvious and revel in it when it has amazing hints at ramifications. But AJ, this is not to influence you just to further clarify my thoughts.
Finally, I find it curious that your reduction of the Protean facet of his character revolves around his goal of I assume Sylvia, yet you want your costuming to reflect the relationship with Valentine. Why the separation there? Why not have the costuming reflect the love story? Or why not more fully consider the Protean impact of the relationship to Valentine? Just some thoughts to consider.
THANK YOU FOR RESPONDING AJ! Hopefully we all as a class can begin to use this in a constructive manner together.
See, for me, I find that his one focus for the majority of the play is on Sylvia. Him gaining favor from the Duke is never mentioned by him as a new shift, but rather it is him manipulating the Duke in order to further his goal of Sylvia. His aide to Thurio, again, is all in order to get closer to Sylvia, which he specifically states to the audience. I think that discounting the power that love has over Proteus is an oversight. Love is the only thing that keeps him from going with Valentine at the beginning, and then "love" is what urges him on to betray his friend. There is really nothing to suggest that his affections are focused back onto Valentine at the end, and he only focuses back onto Julia after realizing that she is there and so is Valentine. I honestly believe that had the Duke not shown up and allowed Valentine to be with Sylvia, then Proteus would have kept trying to win her.
ReplyDeleteThe costuming topic has a few answers, first, from a practical standpoint, my already owning multiple shirts of similar styles but different colors kind of dictates that it would be my shirts changing. Also, I want to make my Proteus and your Proteus different. Inevitably they will be due to character choices and acting styles, but if you did ties, and I did ties, then both Proteii would have the same gag, which defeats the purpose of having two separate shows for me.
Having the shirt be the same color as Valentine's clothes would be to show the audience that there is this allegiance there, the friendship, at the beginning of the play, which you only get one and a half scenes of. Then, after Proteus sees Sylvia, the changes start. I was thinking one shirt for the discovery scene with the Duke, one for when I deal with Thurio ("Under the color of commending him..."), and one for the rape of Sylvia. So, the costuming would reflect the love story that has come from the ashes of this friendship.
I think that costuming should reflect the character and the play, and since I'm not playing Proteus like a villain in a tragedy, with subtle layers, I don't think my costuming should be all too subtle. I'm playing him like the villain of a comedy, who has their emotions on their sleeve (literally in this case) and who, after the soliloquies, the audience can see is a villain. I honestly hope that they don't sympathize with me, or else the rape scene becomes a betrayal of the audience as much as a betrayal of Valentine. If the guy you know is evil does evil things, then there is fulfillment in the audience, when the hero does evil things, it causes dissonance. With the ending as brief as it is, if the audience sees my Proteus doing something evil, yes they'll think I'm evil, but they won't spend the rest of the play wondering why I did it and lose the rest of the show.