A Midsummer Nights Dream Production Shots

Week 17 Plan

Day	Morning	Afternoon	Evening
Saturday	MSND	MSND	MSND
Sunday	Theory	Theory	BIC: 6.30
Monday	Cut out	Meet with tutor to discuss finishing and BE	Mark tack
Tuesday	PPP tutorial Put WC together	Put WC together	PPP
Wednesday	Prep for fitting	Fitting	BIC: 6.30-11
Thursday	Alterations	Alterations	PPP
Friday	BE Suit	BE suit	BIC 6.30-11
Saturday	Theory	BIC: 12-6	theory
Sunday			BIC 6-11

Week 16 Reflection

I spent the majority of this week working on A Midsummer Nights Dream, when creating my plan I should have taken into consideration how much of my time this would take up and because of this I didn’t achieve as much as I had planned however I did manage to get a lot of work done considering I was at the theatre assisting in wardrobe and dressing for the majority of the week. I did get work done on my hat and I have begun to block the brim and I have stretched the main part of the hat. I spent several days in the dye room with Bethany to create a recipe for my 3PO waistcoat, as the fabric needs to be dip dyed. I then managed to cut out and dye my fabric on Friday. I am happy with how they dying has taken and I have shown it to the designer and she is also happy with it. I will need to paint into the dye to create the effect in the design but this will happen at a later date.  Whilst I was at the theatre I managed to get uni work done in between dressing. I have finished the trousers for 3PO to the photo shoot stage; I just have to wait for the lining to be dyed by the supervisor before I can add this to the trousers. I also need to speak to a tutor on finishing methods. I also spent time working on my BE trousers and I have also managed to finish these completely; I now need to remove the tacking and press them. All I have to do now is complete the jacket and the first part of my EMP project will be complete. This week had been so busy I haven’t had much time to keep up with my theory work however I feel that I am on top of it. I have managed to work on PPP organising the photos for my portfolio, complete my CV and designing my business cards. Next week I am going to push my self to work hard and I feel that if I keep to the pace I have worked this week, without the pressure of MSND I will be able to get a lot done. 

A Midsummer Nights Dream - Saturday

By Saturday everything was running very smoothly and there were only minor repairs to the fairy costumes. There was a matinee performance and then an evening one. In between the performances I pressed and cleaned shirts again and did some minor repairs on fairy costumes. After the final show we had to bag all the costumes, pack up the costume room and load it into the van as part if the get out. 

Working on this production has been a really good experience. When I entered the theatre for this production I felt that I new what I was doing and that I was confident in all the tasks I had to achieve. I believe I have built on past experiences of assisting in wardrobe and dressing and after this experience I believe I would feel confident in working backstage in a theatre after graduation. 

A Midsummer Nights Dream - Friday

There were minimal repairs before the next show; the main ones were to the fairy suits. I also took in Lysander trousers as they were too big and they didn't have any braces. I also helped with Bottom's quick change as Amy who usually did it had to leave early and the play was running slightly late. The change mostly went well however the tights from the previous night had ripped so a new pair had been made however these didn't fit so we had to find a sourced pair. This put pressure on the quick change but we got the actor on stage in full costume on time. The performance as a hole went very well and all of the actors were really happy with how it ran. 

A Midsummer Nights Dream - Dress Rehearsal / opening night

I went into uni early to source jewellery, shoes and bags form the costume store and collect a dress and boots. I then had some time to do some work on my 3PO project before leaving to go to the theatre. On my way down to the theatre I brought some bra strap clips that were needed for some of the dresses. Once I arrived at the theatre I helped with alterations and repairs on the costumes. The main repairs were on the fairy costumes. We then had the dress rehearsal that ran really smoothly. After the dress run we made any final alterations and prepared for opening night. I cleaned the make up stains out of shirts, dried and pressed them. Opening night ran really well and was a good performance. After the show we prepped for the next day.

A Midsummer Nights Dream - Tech Rehearsal

I arrived at the theatre for the evening tech rehearsal. I helped out with last minute alterations; adding poppers on shirt to reduce the time in a quick change and adding more fabric to the fairy suits. Grace, the supervisor, talked me through the quick changes and showed me where they took place. My quick change is with John who changes between a mechanical and a fairy. I spent the rest of my time in the costume room helping with all the changes that take place thought the show. After the tech rehearsal we sorted the costumes and prepared for the costume rehearsal.

A Midsummer Nights Dream - Tuesday

I helped out with the final alterations and preparations for the show before it was loaded up and moved to the theatre. The main things that I helped with were altering the necklines of Hermia's nightdresses’ and making the cummerbunds for the musicians. 

Trouser Fitting

As the trousers are needed for a photo shoot I had an early fitting to check that they fitted correctly. This was lucky as the trousers came up to big. I have had several fittings with the calico toile so it was odd that they didn’t fit and I am unsure where I have gone wrong with them. However I noted the necessary alterations and I will change these ready for the photo shoot. It is really lucky that I did arrange this previous fitting as my next fitting for the waistcoat is the day before the photo shoot and I would not have had time to make the alterations. 

Side Entry Trouser Pockets

I have created side entry pockets before however I have never created slanted ones as is shown in my design. I referred back to Metric Pattern Cutting for Menswear to see the shapes if the facings that would be needed.

I then constructed the pocket in a similar way to all side entry pockets. Starting by stitching the facings onto the Silesia, then attaching one side of the pocket to the trousers, folding it over, rolling the seam and securing. Then tacking the second piece of pocketing behind and stitching around the pocketing, the pocket is then caught in with the waistband and trouser side seam. 

As I am not creating these trousers in a traditional way and they are being used for a very physical piece of theatre I am also overlocking my seams to make sure they hold. 

Week 16 Plan

Day	Morning	Afternoon	Evening
Saturday	Make up trousers	Make up sleeve	-
Sunday	Theory	BIC 2-8	BIC go to Leane’s
Monday	Finish trousers	1:30 Hat making 4:30 trousers fitting	Trousers alterations Model making fundraiser
Tuesday	Dye room	Dye room	PPP
Wednesday	Hat making	Prep for dying	PPP
Thursday	Dye fabric	Dye fabric	MSND
Friday	Cut out	Cut out	MSND
Saturday	Theory	MSND	MSND
Sunday	BE	BE	BIC: 6.30