This post is a bit of a 'throwback' to last year, but I wasn't blogging then so I'm sure you'll be able to forgive me.
I was in a production, last November, of a show called 'Happy as a Sandbag', which is in essence a collection of songs and sketches from World War Two. Although irrelevant to the nature of the post, it was also the show in which I was lucky enough to sing a duet of 'A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square', one of my favourite songs from the era, with one of my very best friends.
Of course, along with a World War Two based show comes the copious amounts of beautiful 1930/40s costumes. Along with photos taken during a dress rehearsal, I've also got a few promotional photos that we took at a local museum which I will share with you. The blue/green dress with the lace collar (which I'm pictured wearing above) was definitely my favourite, but the other paler floral dress (which I affectionately named 'the dinner-lady dress') was an original Laura Ashley.
Perhaps one of the most challenging aspects of the 1940s look was tying the headscarf which I wore during a factory-based scene. There seems to be a real technique to the bundling of the hair and knotting of the scarf - a technique which I only managed to properly grasp on the last night of the show - darn!
The costumes are definitely one of the most interesting things about acting. There really were moments, particularly during poignant air raid sirens and heart-wrenching songs, when the costumes truly help you to feel like that evacuee, running to the safety of an air-raid shelter, or the grief-stricken woman, lamenting the loss of a loved one through song. I guess it's like being able to time travel, try on beautiful clothes from your favourite past eras (of which the second world war is one of mine), but still be safe in the knowledge that once the curtain closes, you can return to your computer to blog about the experience, rather than facing the hardship and uncertainty of war.
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| 'Happy' with our 'Sandbag' |
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| Paul and I singing 'A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Sqaure' |
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| Factory Workers (Dancing to 'Thing-Ummy-Bob') - Note the headscarves. |
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| The 'Dinner Lady Dress' complete with snood. Posing backstage with my friend Nathan. |
I'm all for the return of seamed stockings and cotton gloves - who's with me?!
