Whether you are a theatre aficionado or are just now beginning to look into the art, the costumes used are one of the first things that will stand out to you. Costumes are a critical part of theatre performances and can make or break the impact of the play. Of course, you may wonder why costumes are so vital and what started this tradition of using costumes to begin with.
We will jump into the top 8 reasons why costumes play such a huge role in the theatre world, then discuss the history of costumes and what makes a good stage costume.
8 Reasons Why Costumes Are So Important to Theatre Productions
While we have touched on the history of costumes and the overall work that goes into this process, we need to discuss why costumes are so critical. While it may seem self-explanatory that the actors in plays must be clothed, the clothing they wear can make or break a play.
Whether it is a simple outfit or an elaborate design turning the actor into an entirely new being, the costumes are what helps bring a play to life.
Costumes Serve as the First Line of Communication to Viewers
Long before a single word is spoken during a play, the audience can begin to know the characters from their costumes alone. When you enter a play, you may know nothing of the overall plot, but the characters on the stage will establish this from first appearance.
Even if a single word is never spoken, you can get a clear message from a play based on the costume, set, and overall actor’s performance.
A good costume designer understands that the costume itself can say a thousand words without ever making a sound, which is why the focus on what each character wears is so critical. You may quickly notice that a costume does not fit a play if they have not been done properly.
Good Costumes Are a Cheap Way to Enhance the Play
Overall, materials and clothing are one of the most budget friendly ways to create a certain look for a play. When you watch a performance that does not have a high budget, costumes are even more critical. Even performances that do not have the budget for sets or props can benefit greatly from a quality costume.
A major reason why costumes are so critical is because of versatility when it comes to creating them. A quality costume designer can find what they need to achieve a character look without breaking the budget. There are countless options for budget minded designers to use, such as:
- Picking through thrift stores for good pieces
- Checking clothing-specific discount stores, even vintage ones
- Finding cheap, second hand raw materials to craft costumes from
In essence, costumes are one of the cheapest ways to create a look for the characters in any play. They can add color, depth, and visual entertainment for the audience without costing much at all.
They Help the Audience Get to Know the Character
While the dialogue and performance used will greatly influence the character development, costume can quickly teach the audience a lot about each character.
Even just with a quick glance, a costume can fill out character details in the audience’s mind, such as:
- Their gender and age
- Their social status, whether rich, poor, or otherwise
- The character’s temperament, such as a tomboy or a grizzled old man
- Their occupation, especially for plays set in other time periods
Of course, in some plays, the costume may portray that the individual is an animal, a monster, or a variety of other creatures.
A huge part of developing costumes is getting to know each character and ensuring that the costume portrays what the playwright had in mind. When a costume designer does a great job, the audience should know a lot about the character from their costume alone.
Good plays will use basic juxtaposition of costumes to help the audience recognize antagonists and protagonists, such as rich versus poor, pretty versus ugly, nice versus mean, and so on using clothing alone.
It Goes Beyond Clothing for a Complete Look
It is important to remember that costumes go beyond clothing and include practically every element that the character will need during the play. If the play is about a beautiful princess, this will include beauty makeup, an updo or curled hair, fancy dresses, heels, a crown, and so forth. Each of the elements must work together to create the overall look.
Makeup is a huge part of each character costume and is something that costume designers must keep in mind. If you think of your favorite plays or even movies, the characters have standout appearances that everyone knows.
For example, the classic theatre play Wicked has very distinguishable makeup and clothing to establish the two witches. Truly it would not be the same without the green makeup and highly juxtaposed dresses which make the characters immediately pop and separate them in the audience’s mind.
Another important factor of costume design is if the characters use any major props that make them stand out. Characters can use props to distinguish themselves from others in the play and this must be thought out by the costume design team. Overall, the many elements of the costume itself will help the audience understand each character more fully.
Costumes Can Help Show Character Development
Something many may not think of is that costumes can vastly influence the overall character development and the audiences’ ability to see this development. It is important to remember that costumes are not static and can be changed throughout the play. If a character develops, subtle or even very noticeable changes in costume can help with this.
A great example of this is during the classic Beauty and the Beast. Throughout the play, the beast is a major character that must develop and change. At the end he goes through a major transformation into a handsome prince, which must be shown through costume change and can help the audience follow this development.
Of course, these changes in costume may be much smaller and can help the character development be more evident. If a character starts out as sad or depressed, they may use darker clothing to portray this. If they become happier or more upbeat throughout the play, the clothing may brighten in color and show this change in personality.
In essence, good costume design uses visual cues to enhance the nuance and depth of the information available to the audience—even if the audience doesn’t pick up on it consciously!
They Establish a Time Period or Setting
One of the easiest things a costume can do to enhance a play is establish a time period or specific setting. If you sit down to watch a theatre performance and the characters walk out in complete 80s wear, you know that the play is probably set in the 1980s. Comparatively, if the characters walk out in complete 18th century garb, the play is set in this time period.
They Help Establish a Specific Style
This can be even trickier for the costume designer, but the costumes used can help establish a style for the playwright themself. If a playwright has a specific style they want to portray or an aesthetic that they want to establish, this can be shown through costumes. For example, if the playwright wants to create a name in the industry, they must have a style that can be noticed and recreated.
The costume design team will need to work directly with those directing and writing the plays to ensure that what they are creating fits this aesthetic. Those watching the plays should be able to acknowledge this style and notice if it is repeated in the future. A good, established style can be noticed and can help a writer become known in the theatre world.
A classic that many recognize for having a specific stylized view is Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. This play has a very specific aesthetic that can be noticed years from now for this style. This is something that many writers want to achieve and costumes can help with this drastically.
They Increase Actor Methodology
A major part of being an actor is being able to take on roles that are new or unfamiliar, but this is not always an easy process. Many professionals have noted that getting into costume can help them embody the character more fully and bring it more to life.
There is a classic saying about walking a mile in someone else’s shoes. This is a literal possibility when it comes to actors as they must become another person through personifying the individual and also dressing like the character. Transforming into the character physically through the use of costumes, makeup, and hair can help the actor transform mentally.
While each actor or actress will have a different methodology for how they embody the character they are representing, using costumes can help with this process drastically. It can take the actor from simply saying the words to fully embodying who they are meant to be and feeling confident.
A good costume helps the actors feel as if they are the characters. Having their outward appearance match their internal thoughts about their part is crucial for getting the highest level of natural performance.
The History of Stage Costumes in Theatre
To properly understand the importance of costumes in theatre productions, we have to look back at the history and development of theatre and where costuming fits in.
Theatre has been around for thousands of years and has been used across practically every country and area of the world. The beginning of theatre started in Greece and the first costumes were created by a playwright names Aeschylus. These costumes started in Greek tragedies and most costumes at the time were made of longer tunics and stylized masks.
Greek theatre actually became known for these dramatic masks as they were used to portray feelings, genders, and the overall style of the character. During this time, it was common for costumes to exaggerate certain body parts and create humor through this mockery. After this traditional time of Greek theatre and a following Roman theatre era, there was a decline of theatre for several hundred years.
The rise of theatre that many know of today was established when Western theatre become more abundant and the Renaissance era began. During this time, some key areas of development for costume design and theatre were:
- There was a rise in religious dramas that focused on ecclesiastical garments and scripts became more religion based. Religious art of the time was a major starting point for these costumes. The costume designers used classic religious arts to create classic biblical characters.
- During this time, more elements of theatre were created to enhance costume and character development even further. Elements such as scenery were introduced, which are still used in most plays today.
- The theatre became even more lavish than before as it spread more in depth throughout Europe, with the costumes becoming more complex. Leonardo da Vinci and Inigo Jones became prominent designers for the theatre of the time. Nobility began viewing plays and the use of these production elements became more detailed.
As you can see, the history of theatre cannot be separated from the history of costuming, and any aspiring stage director should realize this. While costumes may have become more nuanced over time, that doesn’t change the fact that they have been an integral part of theatre since the beginning. There is simply no proper theatre without costuming.
What Are the Important Features of a Stage Costume?
Now that you know why good costuming is so important, let’s cover a basic outline of what makes a costume actually good.
When it comes to stage costumes, not any old outfit will work, and a lot of thought goes into what each character wears. We will jump into the exact benefits of using stage costumes and what they bring to the play, but it is important to understand the level of work that goes into these designs. It is critical for theatrical costumes to adhere to the storyline and also be durable enough to wear time and again.
Costumes must be able to be put on quickly, worn safely throughout the play, and continue to look nice for multiple plays. The costume designer is a critical part of each theatrical performance and should be held very highly. Comparative to a traditional fashion designer, they must do deep research into the play itself and help bring each character to life.
The process of creating stage costumes is very detailed and requires a lot of work on the designer and playwright’s part. The features that go into these costumes and the work behind them are:
- The beginning of the costume design process starts with the designer reading the script fully and deeply analyzing each character. It is important that they discuss with the writers of the play to understand more fully what they envision for each character. They most look deeply into the time period, the tone of the characters, and any major character developments that take place.
- Once they have spoken with the writers, production team, and other members of the theatre team, they will begin designing the costumes for each character. These costumes can be simple or can be highly complex, depending on budget and the overall look they are hoping to achieve.
- Luckily, costume designers today have a multitude of options when it comes to designing the outfits. They can sketch these costumes out on paper, use digital renderings, find online references, take photographs, and many other options. It is important that costume designers are very organized.
- Once the overall appearance of the costumes is in place, they must begin looking at materials and creating designs. They can use already completed clothing items or they can sew their own items, depending on what fits the costume needs. They will also work with those in lighting and scene design to ensure the costumes mesh properly.
- The director and producing teams will have to approve of all costumes to ensure they fit what the play needs. Costumes will go through countless fittings with the cast and make alterations as needed. Overall, the process for creating and using costumes in theatre is very detailed.
This is another reason why the costume design team should be held very highly, as this can take a lot of research and effort on their part. It is not always easy to find authentic looking clothing from certain time period and many of these pieces may need created from the ground up.
Also, it is important that any hair and makeup used must fit this time period as well to ensure the audience gets a full look of what to expect from the play. The audience should not see a time period outfit with modern makeup and hair. Instead, the complete look must be created to ensure the audience knows the time period and setting that the characters are in.
Costumes – A Critical Part of Theatre
At this point, you probably recognize that costumes are an integral part of each play and something that requires countless hours of thought, planning, and work from the costume design team. Costumes have not only been used since the beginning of theatre itself, but we would argue, are necessary to encourage a performance of the highest quality.
Costumes can be an inexpensive way to help the audience recognize the characters and the character development, along with helping the actors themselves bring these new characters to life more easily.
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https://ourpastimes.com/why-lighting-is-important-to-the-theatre-12260524.html