#running wardrobe

[pinkblissjenny]

[tiffanyrussellaucb]

Visiting the National Theatre- Running Wardrobe

Since my work experience on Seven Brides for Seven Brothers I have been more interested in looking into the Running of Wardrobe for Theatre. So, when the chance came about to visit the National Theatre to witness what is expected of the Running Wardrobe team in such an established theatre, as well as looking into other departments of costume and how they correspond with each other.

 Running Wardrobe for the National Theatre is very different to any experience on theatre I have done before- it is a huge, well established company, and as such the demand on the wardrobe team is huge as well. The maintenance for all the costumes is massive, with having a cast of 50 with around 3-5 costumes each being the norm for a NT production.

I learnt a lot about how wardrobe run in such a big organisation, and it answered a lot of my questions. In particular the difference between working for screen and theatre; listening to the experiences of the team, working for theatre is far more faced paced and can demand quick-thinking solutions, whereas Screen demands early starts and late finishes, with a lot of standing around. It has made me question if I want to work for Screen as I had originally intended, or if theatre is more appealing to me because of its pace and the involvement in the production.

Comparing NT to my experience on Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, because NT is such a big organisation, it results in the costume departments being clearly divided to spread the work load. Personally, I preferred my experience on Seven Brides because it allowed me to do a little of everything, from breaking down, dressing, running wardrobe, making etc. because it was a lot more of a smaller production. However, companies like NT do offer permanent jobs, whereas smaller productions are more temperamental.