Summer Shakespeare!

Every summer for the last nine years, our kids have participated in the Homeschool Shakespeare Troupe. It has been a wonderful experience. Sadly, this is the last year for us. Matthew will turn nineteen in August and he'll be too old. (Even though he was in college this past year, he was allowed to participate because he doesn't turn nineteen until after the play.)

This summer Matthew tried out for a smaller role because after his cardio-thoracic reconstruction, he wasn't sure what his physical limitations would be. Matthew got the role of Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream. For those who haven't read the play, Bottom is a peasant weaver whom Puck gives an ass's head.

So Matthew needed a peasant costume. And a donkey's head.

Here's the costume. (Because Matt's a peasant, I couldn't sew a fancy costume, but I used a wonderfully soft moleskin fabric.)

The donkey's head was much more of a challenge. But I took this...

And made this.

Not bad. But the director (whose husband is an engineer) had a much grander and better idea. Now this is a donkey's head! Plus, the audience will be able to see Matthew's facial expressions.

Plug for the play: it's Saturday, July 25, at 2pm 

at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, Fine Arts Center.

The Comedy of Errors

Here are pictures from The Comedy of Errors. If you ever have a chance to see the play, do it. It is absolutely hilarious.

Matt and I in the green room.

Two sets of twins --only Shakespeare can make you suspend disbelief about two sets of identical twins
being separated at birth.

Antipholus and Adriana

Matt hamming it up.

The bearer of bad news.

Shakespeare Costumes, Fingerless Gloves

This year I promised Matt that I'd make him some costume accessories. His brothers both have gotten huge, feathered hats. And capes and gauntlets. But Matt wanted fingerless gloves. So I said, "Sure."

Of course, there wasn't a pattern. So I traced his hands and went from there.

Here are three paper patterns, and two mock-up gloves that didn't work.

Here's the pattern that did work.

The final version of the glove.

 Here's how it will look on stage. Except he'll have a costume and stage makeup on too.

If you're interested in attending The Comedy of Errors, the troupe is performing it on Saturday, August 3, at 2pm at Roddy Theater, Baylor. The troupe does an amazing job. And it's free!!

Shakespeare Costumes

Mid-July means one thing for me--sewing.

This year my son Matthew is playing Antipholus of Syracuse in Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors. It's one of Shakespeare's earliest plays and it's about two sets of twins separated at birth. It's full of word plays, physical comedy, and puns.

I picked a simple pattern this year McCalls 5907 because Matt is one of twins and so I didn't want someone to end up with a costume that was too hard. I did make some alterations to the pattern. I put in a slit between the middle seam in the front and back to make it easier to move. Matt tends to be very active on stage--I've seen him do a flip before and I didn't want anything restricting his movements (i.e., making him fall). The shirt is one I made a few years back. It's Butterick 4486. I keep hoping that Matt will outgrow it because I want it--it's made from the softest batiste fabric and I'd love it for an oversized poet's blouse.

Here's one of my favorite of Matt's lines:

I to the world am like a drop of water
That in the ocean seeks another drop,
Who, falling there to find his fellow forth,
Unseen, inquisitive, confounds himself. 

Here's another quote from The Comedy of Errors.

They brought one Pinch, a hungry, lean-faced villain,
A mere anatomy, a mountebank,
A threadbare juggler, and a fortune-teller,
A needy, hollow-eyed, sharp-looking wretch,
A living-dead man.

Hmm. Looks like Shakespeare invented zombies.

Here are some links to other costumes I've made. Click here. And here. And here. And here. 

Shakespeare Costumes

Today is begins Shakespeare Camp--this year they are performing Much Ado About Nothing. Since auditions in February, Jacob and Matthew have been memorizing lines and working on blocking. I've been sewing costumes. Every day this week, the entire cast will meet and rehearse. Then they'll have performances on Thursday and Saturday.

Here's a photo of Matthew in his Claudio attire. (His tunic is made of brown velvet, which didn't want to stretch the same way as the lining fabric. grrr.)

Here's photo of Jacob dressed as Benedick, striking a pose. (Yes, I sewed the hat and gauntlets as well as the tunic and shirt. But I made those last year.)

If you love Shakespeare or costumes, here are some links to other costumes I've made over the years. more costumes, even more costumes, and still more costumes. I've got even more costumes, but a couple of years I didn't post photos.