and then my brain spontaneously imploded

Last week we started doing a moving reading of Mirror Mirror as we still don't have our own scripts. This is to give us an inclination of what the play will be like, but I think it's also an opportunity for Ms Mace to see how certain people do with certain roles for casting. I hope it's not the latter. She keeps putting the same people in the same roles, which is great for our continuity, but not good for seeing how people go. If I were to have my choice of roles, I think I would like to play the Auguste Clown or the Ringmaster (although if I was basically backfill, I think I would cry. I hate being expendable). EDIT: I just realised that makes me sound really up-myself. It wasn't supposed to. I promise. Everyone seems to have it in their heads that Ringmaster is a male role, but it does specify in the script that it could be either. I even think it could be more effective with a female Ringmaster, as there is the scene where the Girl refuses cake but the Ringmaster sneaks some to eat - a big contrast that I don't think would be apparent with a male Ringmaster.

Something else which I don't agree with - the Voice. I really very much think that the Voice should be male. I know that everyone has different opinions, but I just can't see the Voice being effective as a girl. People have said that it should be female because the pressure to be thin is coming from other girls around you, but this doesn't seem right to me. Everyone feels pressure to be thin at some point or other, and I know that just about all that pressure coming my way has been from guys. Maybe I just have strange experiences, but that's why I think that the Voice should be cast from one of the guys in the class. Also, as anorexia has been studied as a kind of repressed sexuality, trying to regress back to a childish body shape and denying one's identity as an adult sexual being, I think that the dynamic could be very interesting with a male Voice. Comprenez, tout le monde?

I have lists and lists in my head of who I think should get certain roles, and who I think will get those roles, but I don't know if it's appropriate to put them here.

Everyone's had lots of ideas for staging and publicity and costumes and stuff. I love some of them, such as setting front of house as a circus with fairy floss and popcorn and stuff. I also think that creating the appearance of a circus tent inside the theatre would be good, by taking streamers or something in red and white stripes from the centre of the stage on the ceiling out to the edges of the room. Thoughts on theatre in the round/thrust stage: yuck. I prefer the idea of a conventional stage. As well as being harder to perform in, I think it looks a little unprofessional (especially the thrust stage) unless it's done VERY WELL, which I don't think we're capable of doing. Especially with actors leaving and entering the stage. On a regular stage, people can come in from any point on the sides, but on a thrust stage, they can ONLY come in from the back. And if it were in the round, actors would be leaving the stage through the audience, creating distractions. I know it would create more of a circus feel with the audience on all sides, but I don't think it would be as good for practicality.



I've also done a lot of thinking of costume ideas. I'm thinking taffeta and sequins and leotards and feathers and all sorts of glittery things for the general circus troupe. Costumes for 'troupers' would have to be layered on top of each other, to enable them to switch characters (as ducks, clowns, mallrats etc) easily. I can think of so many ways to do that, and still have a complete costume for each character, but it's difficult to finalise ideas without a sense of casting and knowing how quick the changes would have to be.

The Voice I would dress in all black or all white, seperating it from the 'real people' in the play, with a painted face in those two colours. Try to make it less like a 'person' or a 'personality', and more like an emotion with a face. EDIT: On second thoughts, that's a bad idea. Completely ignore it (i'm just leaving it here so that later on I remember that once I thought it was good.

The girl, as a child, I am thinking bright pink and purple and green and blue, with those colours fading to paler pink, brown, grey as she gets older and sicker.

Auguste Clown: bright (possibly blue) hooped one piece clown costume, with contrasting frilled collar and cuffs and a tutu around the hoop. I know this sounds kind of stupid, but I can't find a picture of what I want. In my head it looks good, and I could draw it for you if you really want to see it. Hair frizzed out, with a small hat or bow perched on a rakish angle on top.



Whiteface Clown: Bascially a Pierrot. This is what a Pierrot looks like. Just search for it on Google if you want some more pictures. I think that this style of French clown would be a nice contrast with the Auguste Clown, a colourful garish image which is what most people think of when they think 'clown'. Try here if you want to know a little more about Pierrot.







Family: Well, street clothes goes here. I have colours in mind but that depends what the actors who play them have in their wardrobes.

I have other ideas for specific scenes, such as the ballet scene or the mallrat scene. In the ballet scene, I think that Madame should be in shawls and a walking stick - an old, fussy instructor. The girls should all be in leotards (thinking pale pink), pink opaque tights, and sheer skirts, pink jiffies for shoes. When the Girl enters, I picture her skirt and shoes in white, differentiating her from the rest of the ballerinas, but only subtly. The Mallrats I'm thinking are those Supre-style 13 yr olds you see all over the place. I want them all in matching outfits (different colours, of course), short skirts, brightly coloured layered tops, belts, leggings, chunky jewellery etc. That particular scene is highlighting conformity, and costumes like these would emphasise this.

I know that all these ideas are pretty extravagant and we don't really have the budget for it (or even if the actors have time to alter their costumes between appearances onstage), but I think it would look amazing. I've put a lot of thought into it, and I have patterns lying around for things like clown jumpsuits, pierrot costumes, leotards etc. As I still haven't quite decided whether or not I'll do costumes as an offstage and be marked on it, I'm working on developing these ideas in case it is the path I choose to take. Even if I decide to be marked on my onstage performance, I'd still love to have significant input into costumes.


**phew**. This was a long blog entry. Thanks for reading it all, and letting me just spill all my ideas over onto this.