Friday night was the last King Lear performance at the Desmond Tutu Theatre, at Marjon. I had worked earlier in the day so joined Bryony around 4:30pm (Jess had been there to help with the laundry earlier), and introduced myself to Natasha the director and Abi the stage manager. 

The first job was getting the laundry out, and returning everything to its place on the rail. We checked that the breaking down hadn't been washed out, and had to add mud to some garments- a pair of trousers, and a jumpsuit. We found the painted mud had stayed in, but larger pieces of the built-up Flint's mud had come off. Bryony had taken photos before the wash which we used as reference to notice the difference and make the mud the same as the night before. 

Next, we went through the list on the wall - there were only a few things left by then, such as sewing labels on a few pieces that didn't have any. There was some spare time so I went through the tech bible making a list of who needed hair and/or make-up and stuck this in the front of the bible, to save people flicking through each actor's pages next time. 

The actors started getting into costume at around 6pm, and we introduced ourselves to actors, letting them know to come to us when they were ready for hair and make-up, or for anything costume related. 

The biggests job with hair and make-up were bodypainting Edgar with brown, green and blue all over, which we did together to save time, then gelling his hair to hold the leafy headband. We then put in and styled Regan's and Goneril's hair extensions, using the tech bible reference photos. We also put silver dye in the hair and beard of Gloucester to age him. Most of the others did their own make-up or on each other, but a few came to us for reassurance or to do little bits. 

Photography: Daniel Grindod, 2017

During the show, there were thankfully no costume alterations or fixes needed. After the show had ended it became hectic again. The actors very excited, having finished their opening week, and their last performance at Marjon. I picked up costumes left on the floor and put on them on the rail first, then discussed with stage manager Abi how to organise the tour box. We folded the costumes into the crate, with a separate one for shoes and props. I then organised the costume box to take on tour - with pins, threads, spare flint's mud for after laundry again, hair sprays, gels, extensions, pins, etc - and labelled everything so it is easy for the next dressers, and let Abi know what was in there. I also emailed a list of everything in the box and some notes to Becky, design assistant for King Lear, to forward onto those going on tour. 

I really enjoyed working backstage on this show, and it went smoothly, as all the actors were calm and friendly, probably from having performed it twice before. I thought Abi was a brilliant stage manager, as she was very organised and let us know in plenty of time when things needed doing, but also let us take initiative and authority on our end, and appreciated when we did (for example, when I took the costume tour box to her all ready to go, without her needing to worry about it). Working together with Bryony was good as she hadn't worked backstage before, so I could help her out and she became more confident throughout the day. Even though I have dressed on shows before, I've never been there for the get out, so I enjoyed seeing that process of what the actors, and especially the stage manager has to do to make sure the show is all packed up and ready to tour. 

4 Available at: https://www.facebook.com/TheActorsWheel/photos/a.1405255092847104.1073741835.420695347969755/1405255699513710/?type=3&theater

[Accessed on 16th May 2017, at 21:36].