From doing Stage Experience I was offered the job of dressing on Motown the Musical while it was at The Alexandra. I was assigned 2 female ensemble members to dress (Olivia and Deearna). I quickly realised this was probably the most complex dressing job I've ever had, as there were many pairs of shoes and jewellery to contend with as well as dresses, which I've never really had to change before. I went through the rail with the wardrobe assistant Onai and worked out the order of the costumes throughout the performance and what shoes and jewellery went with them. This is when I realised the value of putting costume labels in everything. Thankfully the firs few days of work were the tech run so we managed to work out choreography with the actors and practice changes, which also gave the actors a chance to learn their costumes too. At the first dress run we altered the changes to different locations to give the quicker changes more time. I found it interesting doing this job in a professional capacity for the first time as it was a different atmosphere for me. I was used to there being people teaching me and giving me advice or marking my efforts throughout the run, of course the head of wardrobe (Suzanne) kept an eye and asked questions and gave advice but it felt like we were reaching a mutual understanding instead of her teaching me, which was nice as it felt like she recognised my training and we just altered my learned method so it fit her way of running wardrobe. I also learned extra pieces of the process that weren't really necessary at Stage X or AUB. Like that before and after each show we collected the baskets with their show underwear in them, and set the socks in the baskets in their shoes ready for the quick changes.
I also filled out time sheets for the first time. I have also never had a cast swap in a show before, on a couple of occasions I dressed the swing when my actor was unavailable, meaning I had to quickly learn her costumes and give her a run through of the changes so she knew what she was doing throughout the show.
I was able to learn a lot from Onai and the two other female dressers I worked with, Sarah and Hannah. They helped me a lot, talking me through the paperwork and just sharing experiences working in the theatre industry. It gave me an idea of what a job as a dresser was like. I also worked with hair and makeup for the first time, as me and the 'wiggy' worked round each other during quick changes.
Each night when I came into work I would go up to side stage where my trundle was and pre set act one costumes on the chairs assigned to the actors I was dressing, then I would collect the baskets from wardrobe and set them in the dressing room, take the socks from them and pre set them in the shoes. I would then take the top of the show or beginners costume up to the dressing room. I would then complete all the changes for act one. At the interval I would hang all the act one costumes back up and set the act two costumes on the chairs. I would then complete all the changes for act two and during the finale would set their dressing gowns on their chairs ready for the actors. I would spray the costumes as they needed and take any costumes being washed up to wardrobe. Once the actors were changed I would collect the socks and baskets and take them up to wardrobe. We also filled out a change plot for our actors and handed them to Suzanne for the new dressers whenever the show moved venue on the tour.
I didn't realise how it would effect me at home. As I was working late evenings I hardly got to see my sister while I was on this job, as she was already at work when I got up and she went to bed just as I got home. The schedule was an adjustment as when I wasn't at work I the morning I was just tired at first until my body clock adjusted. I also suddenly had less time to do my hobbies, and when I did have time I didn't want to because I was tired. I realised that I hadn't thought about how much time working took up and I don't think I fully prepared myself for that. But I enjoyed the experience immensely and found it very rewarding to support the actors. I have always thought of the role of dressing as 'look after the actors', therefore I do my best to make their job as easy as possible for them and give them a smooth and calm change track throughout the show, and if little things like setting their dressing gowns and slippers for them when they come off stage tired helps at all I will do it, because the job is rewarding for me when a show has gone well for them.
https://motownthemusical.co.uk/tour/
https://www.atgtickets.com/venues/alexandra-theatre-Birmingham/
I also filled out time sheets for the first time. I have also never had a cast swap in a show before, on a couple of occasions I dressed the swing when my actor was unavailable, meaning I had to quickly learn her costumes and give her a run through of the changes so she knew what she was doing throughout the show.
I was able to learn a lot from Onai and the two other female dressers I worked with, Sarah and Hannah. They helped me a lot, talking me through the paperwork and just sharing experiences working in the theatre industry. It gave me an idea of what a job as a dresser was like. I also worked with hair and makeup for the first time, as me and the 'wiggy' worked round each other during quick changes.
Each night when I came into work I would go up to side stage where my trundle was and pre set act one costumes on the chairs assigned to the actors I was dressing, then I would collect the baskets from wardrobe and set them in the dressing room, take the socks from them and pre set them in the shoes. I would then take the top of the show or beginners costume up to the dressing room. I would then complete all the changes for act one. At the interval I would hang all the act one costumes back up and set the act two costumes on the chairs. I would then complete all the changes for act two and during the finale would set their dressing gowns on their chairs ready for the actors. I would spray the costumes as they needed and take any costumes being washed up to wardrobe. Once the actors were changed I would collect the socks and baskets and take them up to wardrobe. We also filled out a change plot for our actors and handed them to Suzanne for the new dressers whenever the show moved venue on the tour.
I didn't realise how it would effect me at home. As I was working late evenings I hardly got to see my sister while I was on this job, as she was already at work when I got up and she went to bed just as I got home. The schedule was an adjustment as when I wasn't at work I the morning I was just tired at first until my body clock adjusted. I also suddenly had less time to do my hobbies, and when I did have time I didn't want to because I was tired. I realised that I hadn't thought about how much time working took up and I don't think I fully prepared myself for that. But I enjoyed the experience immensely and found it very rewarding to support the actors. I have always thought of the role of dressing as 'look after the actors', therefore I do my best to make their job as easy as possible for them and give them a smooth and calm change track throughout the show, and if little things like setting their dressing gowns and slippers for them when they come off stage tired helps at all I will do it, because the job is rewarding for me when a show has gone well for them.
https://motownthemusical.co.uk/tour/
https://www.atgtickets.com/venues/alexandra-theatre-Birmingham/