Costume and the Actor
Mark Twain coined the phrase ‘Clothes maketh the man’. In the acting business, the costume really does add a layer to the performance that helps the audience to suspend their disbelief. For the actor, it’s often a pain in the backside. It’s something to complain about. If ever the actor is feeling uncomfortable about their performance, it is the costume that will get the blame.
I know of a school that refers to the costume that their students wear as ‘character clothes or clothing’. It’s a cute idea, it’s denying the theatricality, it’s denying the costume in favour of giving ‘the character’ – a non-existence form – an appareil. Quirky. It’s like dressing your imaginary friend.
Costume is a tool of your trade. It is your work clothes. Does the soldier feel more of a soldier because their wearing their uniform and not their civvies? Of course! When you put on the clothes of work, you prepare to go to work. The football player does the same thing and so does the astronaut. Feral says that it is only through costume that the actor really becomes ‘other’. I agree, ‘other’ for the audience. Otherwise the soldier does not look like a soldier either. Even though they know they are, and perform the actions of the soldier. One of the greatest problems facing invading forces in Iraq was that they couldn’t tell soldier from civilian because the Iraqis and their friends from further afield disrobed upon invasion. It is the audience that uses the costume most of all.
Understandably since the costume is a tool of the trade of the actor, the actor sometimes wants to have some say over what they wear. They consider it somehow their creative right. I understand, yet, unless working collaboratively, I would advise you to leave it to the professionals. Astronaut, football player and soldier DO NOT choose their clothes of work, why should you? You’re reasonable answer would be that it is part of the creative process. Yes, but not yours. You also do not get to choose the words that you speak and often the direction that your character takes. It is a small mind that needs to control the costume when the performance is your remit. I respect your desire to expand your creative boundaries, if so, take up sewing and darting and whenever you’re not gainfully employed as an actor, you can begin a sideline as a costumier. Otherwise – leave it to the professionals.
Whilst it is someone else’s responsibility to choose, design and make your costume. While it is someone else’s job to wash, press and hang your costume. It is your responsibility to take care of it. Quite often, you do not get the chance to ‘wear it in’. This has to be done on stage. For this reason, women trip over long skirts and men stand on them. Why? Somehow rehearsal skirts are not the same. I’ve seen so many actors leave their costume on the floor at the end of the night. Why? Because magically, it reappears laundered and pressed on a coat hanger the next day. Whilst the people whose job it is to do this WILL do this, because it’s their job, you do yourself no favours with them by behaving like a teenager, leaving your clothes on your bedroom floor. It is a lack of respect for the tools of your trade and it should be discouraged at all levels.
But I do not wish to take away from the actor the joy that they feel when they have the opportunity to play dress up. It’s very energising to finally slip on your ‘second skin’. French director Ariane Mnouchkine believes there should be no rehearsal without costume, that costumes are an essential part of the process. I don’t want to get into the minutae of that argument, other than to say something simple. I heartily agree, the sooner you can pull on your work clothes, the sooner you can go to work.