Now, fair Hippolyta

In 1976 Stratford was bursting with Canadian and International theatrical royalty - Kate Reid, Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, Gordon Pinsent, Jeremy Brett, William Hutt, Martha Henry, Brian Bedford and Maggie Smith. Several were to be visiting for the season but others like Hutt, Henry, Bedford and Smith became members of a company that gave some of the most exciting and memorable performances and theatre experiences of the period.

It was at Stratford that Smith and Beford were to forge a partnership that flowered in The Guardsman, Much Ado About Nothing and Private Lives.  And over five seasons Smith spread her wings in many of the great classical roles:  Cleopatra, Lady Macbeth, Rosalind, Marsha, Milliament, Elizabeth Gray, Beatrice, Madame Arkadina, Judith Bliss  and in 1977 the duel role of Hippolyta/Titania in a gorgeous A Midsummer Night's Dream set as an Elizabethan court masque*.

Susan Benson's costume sketch for Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1977.

It was a revival of the production from the previous year with Maggie Smith replaced Jessica Tandy as the earthly and fairy queens.  Designer Susan Benson created new costumes for Smith - Titania in flowing white, silver and gold floating through the woods almost mocking the stiff black, silver and gold of the court bound Athenian bride.

Maggie Smith as Hippolyta - every inch the image of Gloriana.  And a rollover will reveal her alter-ego  Fairy Queen Titania.  Perhaps the real Gloriana wished she could have been so free-spirited.

The work that goes into the costumes for any production at Stratford is remarkable - whither it is  a sequined cowgirl outfit for a dancer in Crazy for You or the Chaplain's stained and worn shirt in Mother Courage.  As part of a Festival display at the Stratford Perth County Museum (a delightful side trip that is definitely "worth the detour") several designers thoughts on how to dress Gloriana on the stage were on display.  And as with any costumes made in the workshops at Stratford they were stunning examples of the craftsmanship that has become one of the trademarks of the Festival.

One of those displayed was Hippolyta's first costume from that 1977 production. To get a closer look either left click on the hot spots at various points on the costume or left click on one of the titles below the picture.

Neck ruff | Necklace | Bodice | Panels | Border trim | Cuff and Sleeve | Collar | Image Map

A dress fit for a queen!  Fair Hippolyta indeed.

* The first production of A Midsummer Night's Dream I saw at Stratford in 1960 also had Elizabethan costuming though the fairies were dressed à la Turque.

August 28 - 1879:  Cetshwayo, last king of the Zulus, is captured by the British.

Clothing the Music

We were up in Milano in late July to see Il Barbiere di Siviglia and other than the opera had no planned itinerary. It was a weekend to wander Centro, window shop - though we did get break down and buy some fantastic sheets on sale at Frette and I did get that Borsolino - eat, drink, visit the miraculous Duomo and just relax. There was a great deal going on and as always some fascinating exhibitions but only one was on my must-see list: Il costumi veste la musica (The costumes [that] clothe the music) at the Palazzo Morando. It was a peek into the Wardrobe workshops at La Scala.

With the renovation of theatre in 2002-2004 the physical plant of the house was moved out to the Ansaldo Workshops on the outskirts of the city. All the productions are created there and transported to the theatre for final rehearsals and performances. The Benois Pavilion (named after famed designer Nicola Benois) houses the scenery workshop; the Visconti Pavilion (named after director Lucchino Visconti) has rehearsal halls and a stage area identical to the theatre's; and the Caramba Pavillion is the costume atelier.

I had no problem identifying who the first two workshops were named after but Caramba meant nothing to me. A quick search revealed that Luigi Sapelli, who went by the name of Caramba, was a renowned designer of sets and costumes for La Scala, La Fenice, Regio di Torino, Opera di Roma and the Metropolitan Opera. A self-taught artist, he established his own costume design studio and from 1921 until his death in 1936 he was director of decor and costuming at La Scala. So the costume workshop at the new facility was named in his honour.

The shop houses pattern makers, cutters, seamstresses, tailors, milliners, boot and shoe makers and the various other artisans needed to bring a designer's creations to life. In a normal season they will create between 800 and 1000 new costumes and up to 1500 are taken from the warehouse to be repaired and retailored to fit the current company of singers and dancers.

The warehouse currently has an inventory of almost 60,000 costumes for over 280 productions. Some of the costumes date back to 1911 and are kept for their historic value. Others - such as the one worn by Joyce DiDonato as Rosina (right) designed 40 years ago by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle - are used time and time again. The storage wardrobes take up 1400 sq metres (about 15,000 sq feet) of the workshop area.

There is also a full laundry on site as each costume is washed before being sent to the theatre and washed again after the final performance. There is a smaller laundry at the theatre for quick clean ups and freshening.

The exhibition allowed a view into the workshops with examples of costume books for productions, designers' notes and buyers' lists, the materials used and most important a chance to have a close up look at the costumes that are worn on stage.

A left click on the thimble and thread below will take you to a slide show of a few of the photos I took of the exhibition. (And if you wish to stop and look at a photo more closely just use the pause button and simply click through them - many of these costumes are worth a closer look for the sheer artistry involved in creating them.)

A left click on the poster will take you to a slide show of exhibition photographs.

More photos can be found at my friend Opera Chic's - who had an article on the exhibition in August. It was while going through her archives that I remembered I had a few photos myself and should really put them to use.

As an amusing little side note - I saw the poster for the exhibition outside the opera house but no one at the La Scala Bookshop or at their Administration counter could give me directions on how to get to the Palazzo Morando. At least the receptionist had the good grace to apologize and say he hadn't seen the exhibition himself.

The photo of Joyce DiDonato from the La Scala Barbiere is by Marco Brescia & Rudy Amisano, Archivio Fotografico del Teatro alla Scala

16 settembre - Santi Corneilo e Cipriano

Hallowmas Eve

Tonight is the Eve of the Feast of All Hallows - Halloween. It still isn't a big thing in Italy, unlike the British Isles and North America it is simply what the name originally meant: the Night before the Feast of All Saints. Tomorrow will be the big day - Ognissanti is the day for families to come together and remember loved ones who have died and to make a special trip to the cemetery.

I've noticed that pastry shop windows are starting to go all the way with pumpkins, witches, skeletons but candy for Halloween isn't all that popular - a torta di cioccolata, well that's another story. As for pumpkin carving that probably strikes most Italians as the waste of a good filling for ravioli. But the young students at the school where my friend Larry teaches carved jack o'lanterns for a good cause. Larry mentioned on Amoroma last week that for €10 a family could take a pumpkin and participate in a pumpkin carving contest. The proceeds went to the the Haiti Cherie fund to feed street children in Port-au-Prince. There are some really fine and frightening examples of the pumpkin carvers art on display - I particularly love Carmen Miranda.

Trick or treating isn't a big thing and given that most people live in apartments probably not all that practical. And children here don costumes more for Carnivale in March than for Halloween. Which brings me to the pictures accompanying this post. Those would be of my friend Marc B. and members of his wild trick or treating crew. Every year the family go out - en masse, if 4 can be considered a masse - to trick or treat in their neighbourhood. I recall a Star Wars theme one year and it appears that this year has taken on a decided Tim Burton tone. That would be Marc as the Mayor of Halloweentown, Justin as Jack Skellington, Erika as Sally and out of camera range putting the finishing touches on Erika's costume Christiane who I understand will be a witch for the festivities.

Now I may be wrong but it seemed to me that during the last few years I was handing out treats at the door the costuming became more and more mundane and at times minimalist - come on kid a red ball on your nose doesn't mean your disguised as a clown! In fact I recall some older kids just showing up in their pseudo-ghetto drag with a pillowcase and mumbling "trek er tret." So its nice to see the famille B. entering into the full spirit of it all. I hope those candy sacks are overflowing by the time you get home guys.

Happy Halloween Everyone!

31 ottobre - San Quintino