A different kind of fashionable: Costuming Theatre in St Andrews

by Gretchen Mills

St Andrews has a vibrant theatre scene, but most students only see the finished product. What goes into these polished, professional-quality shows is an astounding amount of work behind the scenes, with individual team members spending weeks on their allotted tasks. The role of the costumer is one that often gets overlooked, but when the actors finally perform in their ensembles, “it suddenly works”, says fourth-year and president of the University of St Andrews Gilbert and Sullivan Society, Julia Lisco, “you can see the language of the show.”

However, everything coming together is a demanding process. “It’s all one person, and maybe a couple of their friends helping them”, says Lisco, emphasising how much work costuming is. Third-year Valentine Salinger, who costumed Sweeney Todd and Into the Woods last year, agrees that the audience does not see just how much work goes into the costumes of a show. “Costumes are what bring the show together”, she says, but “people definitely do not realise how much time [goes in] backstage”.

Lisco and Salinger have been sewing since they were young, with Lisco being taught by her grandmother and Salinger designing for local fashion shows. Bella Hirst, a second-year who costumed She Loves Me in the spring and is now the Mermaids Set and Props Officer, got her start in high school theatre, constructing the back half of the centaur Chiron in Percy Jackson and the Lighting Thief. “I’m very proud of that horse butt”, says Hirst, who is now in the process of costuming Witness for the Prosecution and the upcoming autumn musical Little Women. When she originally got involved with theatre, Lisco was a performer, and thought she would continue acting during university, but was talked into costuming by a former Gilbert and Sullivan president, a role she came to love. “I feel like I knew I always loved costuming, but I never really had the opportunity to do it”, she says, echoing Salinger’s sentiments: “I’ve always had sewing as a hobby, and I’ve always loved theatre [...] the reason I got into costuming is because I love sewing”.

All three costumers highlight the creativity of costuming within the show as a draw. “Fashion and costuming are inherently intertwined”, says Hirst, “I would like to think I’m an artist”. But Hirst also notes how much of a practical process it has to be, with many university shows having smaller budgets. “I need to learn to be a bit more practical”, says Salinger, who is especially interested in working with colour schemes and sculpting fabric. “I start off creative, then I get very pragmatic”, adds Lisco, “I have to complete a product”. Despite these limitations, costuming offers a freedom that other backstage roles don’t often have. It allows Salinger to “explore [her] own creative universe”, while Lisco loves to exercise her wildest ideas or “toe the line of too far”. Hirst enjoys “getting to tell that part of the story”. “My partner and I used colours to show love interests were meant to be in She Loves Me”, she recounts. Lisco says that her favourite costume piece she’s ever used was the so-called “lobster jacket” – a bejewelled doublet with puffy gold sleeves, a lobster across the back, and Wikipedia facts about fish written on it, but also notes how proud she is of her work on The Sorcerer, which played at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this summer. Salinger also enjoys pushing boundaries; “I once made this teddy bear skirt, where I sewed a hundred teddy bears onto a skirt I made. [It was] the most fun thing I’ve ever made”. 

Costuming is an art in and of itself, though the get-ups arrive ready on stage for many members of the production team, there is a long process that goes into creating them. It is a process of creativity laced with practicality– a costume must show the personality of the character but also lend itself to movements such as dancing or combat. “My biggest priority when I’m costuming is that the actors feel comfortable,” says Lisco. Salinger says that her theatrical attire must “further the continuation and evolution of the story”. To be a costumer is to practice a complicated and unique art, one that includes both careful strategy and intense creativity– and it is clear that, in the end, the show could not go on without them.